Did I waste my money?

[hometheaterman]

So seeing as how Dicks Sporting Goods has all shotgun shells on sale for buy one get one half off I decided to go look for some 3" Federal 00 buckshot with the flight control wad's. Well, they didn't have any only 2 3/4" which I didn't want.

So I ended up picking up some of the 3 1/2" Winchester Supreme High Velocity 00 buckshot. I know a few guys I hunted with last year used this and liked it okay although I'm not sure they even patterned their guns with it.

Almost everything I've read no matter the kind of gun seems to love the flight control wad's from Federal. However, I don't read much about these Winchesters. I know it sort of depends on the gun but in general most I've seen seem to pattern fairly well in one gun if they do in another similar one. This I guess isn't always true.

So can I expect a decent pattern from these things or are they not very good? They will be used for deer hunting btw.

 

[Floppy_D]

I really like the flightcontrol wads, they've worked well for me. I'd expect they'd do well, but the obligatory "try and find out" applies. I've only shot a couple 3 1/2" 00 buck loads, and they were most unpleasant. No doubt they'll do the trick to whatever range your pattern permits.

 

[gglass]

3 1/2" Winchester Supreme High Velocity 00 buckshot

Just the thought of it hurts my shoulder!

 

[Youngster]

It's pretty good stuff, one of my favorites. I have no experience with the 3.5"ers but the shorter 1450 fps loads tend to be among the better patterning premium 00 loads despite the extra velocity, though not in the same class as the FliteControl stuff.

 

[mnrivrat]

You only wasted your money if your shotgun is not chambered for 3&1/2" shells.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Well...

I doubt you'll have to worry about burning through them all at one sitting. Chances are they will last a while.

lpl

 

[Rshooter]

Lemme see, 3 1/2" Winchester Supreme High Velocity, two boxes of 5?!?, should last you a lifetime.

You are a better man than me.....

 

[Jack2427]

I have 3 10 gauge shotguns, an Ithaca Roadblocker, a foriegn made short barrel double, and a Browning BPS. They are for extreme situations, particularly with 3.5" magnum loads(I use the BPS for bear protection in AK).
I also have a couple of 12s with 3.5" chambers. I have fired all of them with the biggest loads I could find , here are my conclusions:
Never, and I mean NEVER fire any of the above indoors. The blast and flash will disable you for a few seconds at least, or more probably longer. They are all so loud as to almost assure you of some permanent hearing loss. They will cause a total disruption of your gun control (pun intended), and you will not be able to recover nearly as fast as with a lesser, but still effective load, remember we are not stopping polar bears here.
There is a reason that no LE agency uses 10 or max 12 gauge loads for duty use, and it has nothing to do with being nice to the BG. It has to do with not disabling their personnel, if even for a moment, and it has to do with not having a hearing loss situation.
Just take those 10 rounds to the range and fire them in rapid succession, you will get the idea. And that is outdoors (hopefully).

 

[hometheaterman]

I don't go to a indoor range so not firing any indoors isn't a big deal. I bought them to use deer hunting. I've had a box of these in the past but can't remember how they shot or what they felt like. However, most buckshot kicks hard to where I can only fire one or two shots. I fired 4 shots in short sleaves last year and my arm was hurting the next day from it. However, I find that if I'm in my hunting clothes which are coveralls that are pretty heavily insulated that firing with that while it hurts isn't too bad. So for hunting they don't bother me quite as much. So while I don't like the kick of shells it's not a huge concern.