Plated Shot or Lead Shot??

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HS/LD

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I always want to get the 'best' ammo for my particular gun, and after spending $200 on ammo a couple of days ago I was curious as to the experience people have had here?

For a "Serious Social Interaction Shotgun" which is better for buckshot, plated or not?

Now I understand I need to pattern my gun with each load / brand, but should I pattern with copper/nickel plated / hardened buffered shot or standard lead? Example the difference between Remington's:
Express 2 3/4" 9 pellet 00 buck
and
Premier 2 3/4" 9 pellet 00 buck
Same velocity just less pellet deformation....

Now I know that nailing a home invader with standard lead shot of any kind is more than enough to do the job, so is hitting him/her with an shovel handle.

I just like the Idea of having the best that I can buy in my gun.:)

So if both shot and fed well and both groups were acceptable which would you load with?

I am thinking of buying about 20 rounds of each Rem/Win/Fed in plated and unplated and patterning each....

I will let you guys know the results.

Any input is appreciated thanks again.

HS/LD
 
Shoot what works best, the details are not important.

Pellet deformation is not always a bad thing, you want a pattern after all.

Buy some of each, grab a buddy and go pattern. The buddy helps spread some of the punishment around.
 
For the record, hickory shovel handles have greater impact on target than fruitwood, but ash has a better sectional density....

Let me trot out my old canard. Measure the longest shot opp in your house, add a yard for GPs and pattern the candidates at that distance.Go with whatever gives the tightest pattern.

For "Serious" ammo outside the house, it still will be the tightest, right?

As for empirically stating one or the other is better in sonorous tones,nope. Too much variance possible.

Plating over hard shot works better than plain hard shot, but hard shot,in the little shooting I've done with plated(Remington police stuff) soft shot,beat the soft plated stuff by a bit. YMMV.

Maybe I oughta talk one of the big ammo makers into making Dave McC signature buckshot, using depleted uranium pellets cryo de-stressed, industrial hardchrome plated 000 and rubbed with garlic before being loaded into all brass 2 1/2" shells. Does it sounds commercial(G)?

In a serious vein, test a few brands out and go with the tightest pattern....
 
Dave McCracken,

Your observation makes sense. Some of the plated shot on the market uses hard pellets, some does not. But remember, as the size of shot increases, the need for shot hardness somewhat decreases.

In the end, pattern your shotgun and use what is best for your application.

Bob
 
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