Well I finally got the chance to pattern my single shot NEF 20GA Pardner with MOD choke. This was very informal pattern testing as I was also instructing Mrs. 336A how to properly use and shoot her Mossberg 20GA Super Bantam. For shotshells I brought along a box of Federal promotional #7.5, the ones that come in the 100 round box at Wally World. I also had a box of Federal Personal Defense #4 Buck shot http://www.midwayusa.com/product/95...shot-24-pellets-box-of-5?cm_vc=ProductFinding. The only reason that I used this was it was all I could find for 20GA buck shot so I couldn't just pass on it. I also brought along a variety of slugs to test, I brought along some Rem, Win, Fed Truball, and Brenneke K.O. slugs.
For the actuall pattern testing I just used a Turkey pattern target and shot at 25 paces for the birdshot. For the buck shot I used 25 paces as well as 15 paces, the slugs were tried at 25 and 38 paces. Many are probably asking what is up with the paces thng? Well the Gun club officials now prohibit the use of shotguns on the rifle range as some yahoo apparently destroyed the rifle taget stand one day. So everthing has to be done at the pattern board on the skeet range where there are no distance markers.
Anyway I was delighted to find that the 20GA threw very good patterns with the #7.5 Federal birdshot loads as well as the buck shot, the pattens printed to the bead and were very even Now for the Slugs, I already knew that this gun printed slugs about 4-5 inches low at 25 paces/yards as is typical for these guns. This is fine with me as I never intended to use this this gun beyond 50 yards anyway. My reasoning for this is that IMHO using only a bead on a shotgun is just to imprecise for shots much beyond 50 yards as the bead subtends to much of the aiming point for accurate shooting much beyond that range. Plus the terrain that I like to hunt always limits my shots on deer to a max distance of 50 yards and usually my shots are closer to 30 yards. I used your typical rifle target which has the 5 4" circles to help with the slugs shooting low I aimed at the top of the 4" circle, now on to the results.
Remington Sluggers: These shot about 2" below center at 25 yards and 4" low back at 38 yards. This is the slug that I used to take a nice sized doe last deer season at around 50 yards. I just put the bead on her back.
Winchester: These seemed to shoot a bit better than the Rem at 25 yards, one slug was just below the bull with the other 2 about 1" below it. Back at 38 yards they were the typical 4" low and about a 2" group.
Federal Truball: these did ok at 25 yards but were totally useless beyond that as they went way right for some reason.
Brenneke K.O.: I had high hopes for these as I have had very good results from them in 12GA Mossberg. Unfortunately these shot considerably lower and about 4" to the right however the grouping was the best of the day. At 38 yards I had a beautiful 1" group.
Again remember while shooting the slugs I was aiming at the top of the 4" circles. From the results it looks as though I will be using the Winchesters. While Remingtons were just as good and maybe just a tad tighter at the longer distance I experienced a pierced primer , plus I like the slightly heavier 3/4 OZ wieght of the Winchester slug. I also understand that the results could be skewed as the bore was pretty well fouled from shooting the other ammo before moving on to the slugs. However it does still give a good representation none the less.
For the actuall pattern testing I just used a Turkey pattern target and shot at 25 paces for the birdshot. For the buck shot I used 25 paces as well as 15 paces, the slugs were tried at 25 and 38 paces. Many are probably asking what is up with the paces thng? Well the Gun club officials now prohibit the use of shotguns on the rifle range as some yahoo apparently destroyed the rifle taget stand one day. So everthing has to be done at the pattern board on the skeet range where there are no distance markers.
Anyway I was delighted to find that the 20GA threw very good patterns with the #7.5 Federal birdshot loads as well as the buck shot, the pattens printed to the bead and were very even Now for the Slugs, I already knew that this gun printed slugs about 4-5 inches low at 25 paces/yards as is typical for these guns. This is fine with me as I never intended to use this this gun beyond 50 yards anyway. My reasoning for this is that IMHO using only a bead on a shotgun is just to imprecise for shots much beyond 50 yards as the bead subtends to much of the aiming point for accurate shooting much beyond that range. Plus the terrain that I like to hunt always limits my shots on deer to a max distance of 50 yards and usually my shots are closer to 30 yards. I used your typical rifle target which has the 5 4" circles to help with the slugs shooting low I aimed at the top of the 4" circle, now on to the results.
Remington Sluggers: These shot about 2" below center at 25 yards and 4" low back at 38 yards. This is the slug that I used to take a nice sized doe last deer season at around 50 yards. I just put the bead on her back.
Winchester: These seemed to shoot a bit better than the Rem at 25 yards, one slug was just below the bull with the other 2 about 1" below it. Back at 38 yards they were the typical 4" low and about a 2" group.
Federal Truball: these did ok at 25 yards but were totally useless beyond that as they went way right for some reason.
Brenneke K.O.: I had high hopes for these as I have had very good results from them in 12GA Mossberg. Unfortunately these shot considerably lower and about 4" to the right however the grouping was the best of the day. At 38 yards I had a beautiful 1" group.
Again remember while shooting the slugs I was aiming at the top of the 4" circles. From the results it looks as though I will be using the Winchesters. While Remingtons were just as good and maybe just a tad tighter at the longer distance I experienced a pierced primer , plus I like the slightly heavier 3/4 OZ wieght of the Winchester slug. I also understand that the results could be skewed as the bore was pretty well fouled from shooting the other ammo before moving on to the slugs. However it does still give a good representation none the less.
