I'm shaking out an 18.5" Mossberg 12 ga pump shotgun. I got the chance to test the gun with some different rounds at 10 yards distance.
Intriguing results from the Federal Tactical Low Recoil 00 Buck, 9 pellet (LE13200), 2 3/4" shells with the Flite-Control wad that is intended to tighten up the shot pattern. Recoil was indeed manageable. It shot to the sights, and the patterns were uniform and very tight - squash ball-sized groups at 10 yards. Basically it was just coring big single chunks out of the paper target.
(I had a great pic of a target ready to show you but unfortunately this forum doesn't seem to let members attach JPEG thumbnails anymore -- it says even my tiniest photo size "exceeds forum limit" now. That wasn't true two weeks ago.
But, I digress.)
This ammo is impressive. It does exactly what it is designed to do. The Flite-Control tech is so effective at keeping the shot together that I suspect some would find it too tight. You are practically shooting a slug at close and medium ranges -- but with less recoil and less risk of overpenetration. On the other hand, if you had to use the shotgun defensively out to 25-30 yards, a well-placed shot with this ammo would still keep the entire pattern of buck on target, while other buckshot rounds would fling strays out to the sides.
I also tried some Remington #1 Buck 2 3/4" shells -- full power, sixteen pellet load. It kicked my butt! I need to replace the Mossberg's over-long factory stock with something more in the 12" to 13" LOP range. But this was clearly harder recoiling ammo. Pattern was a big difference from the Flite-Control buck -- the pellets were uniformly distributed at 10 yards across the width of the target's torso. Good, uniform pattern; just a lot looser.
Similar results with some basic birdshot skeet loads I tried in the Mossy. I got even, torso-sized patterns at 10 yards.
A man's got to know his limitations, in the words of Harry Callahan. I doubt I can train effectively with full-power buck in this pump shotgun. Gonna stick with the reduced-recoil. (And get a shorter stock.) The Federal Tactical load appears to be excellent quality. Whether I standardize on it depends on what I conclude about the desirability of a very tight pattern in a HD shotgun.
Intriguing results from the Federal Tactical Low Recoil 00 Buck, 9 pellet (LE13200), 2 3/4" shells with the Flite-Control wad that is intended to tighten up the shot pattern. Recoil was indeed manageable. It shot to the sights, and the patterns were uniform and very tight - squash ball-sized groups at 10 yards. Basically it was just coring big single chunks out of the paper target.
(I had a great pic of a target ready to show you but unfortunately this forum doesn't seem to let members attach JPEG thumbnails anymore -- it says even my tiniest photo size "exceeds forum limit" now. That wasn't true two weeks ago.
But, I digress.)This ammo is impressive. It does exactly what it is designed to do. The Flite-Control tech is so effective at keeping the shot together that I suspect some would find it too tight. You are practically shooting a slug at close and medium ranges -- but with less recoil and less risk of overpenetration. On the other hand, if you had to use the shotgun defensively out to 25-30 yards, a well-placed shot with this ammo would still keep the entire pattern of buck on target, while other buckshot rounds would fling strays out to the sides.
I also tried some Remington #1 Buck 2 3/4" shells -- full power, sixteen pellet load. It kicked my butt! I need to replace the Mossberg's over-long factory stock with something more in the 12" to 13" LOP range. But this was clearly harder recoiling ammo. Pattern was a big difference from the Flite-Control buck -- the pellets were uniformly distributed at 10 yards across the width of the target's torso. Good, uniform pattern; just a lot looser.
Similar results with some basic birdshot skeet loads I tried in the Mossy. I got even, torso-sized patterns at 10 yards.
A man's got to know his limitations, in the words of Harry Callahan. I doubt I can train effectively with full-power buck in this pump shotgun. Gonna stick with the reduced-recoil. (And get a shorter stock.) The Federal Tactical load appears to be excellent quality. Whether I standardize on it depends on what I conclude about the desirability of a very tight pattern in a HD shotgun.
