Long range shotgun - crows

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Master Carper

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Dang it boy!!! That sounds like fun!!! :thumb:

Do you have to have a barrel that gets you half way to the target or will your loads work with a short barrel. My Benelli has a 21” barrel. :anyone:
It's a whole lotta fun!

Me personally, I like the longer barrels for the increased velocity and longer sight plane.

I have shot these same loads in my 30" 870 barrel, but patterns were not worth a poot much much past 40 yards.

With my 34" barrel, I can get 100% patterns a little past 60 yards, which is why I can stretch the distance on it.

My 30" barrel will keep a 100% pattern at 40 yards, but will start opening up pretty good after that.

With a 1 1/8 load of magnum #2 lead shot, there is exactly 100 pellets per load.

At the velocity I am pushing these loads, non buffered loads were a little disappointing, but still good to around 60 yards or so. With the addition of buffer though, patterns tightened right on up and became much more uniform.

As far as your 21" barrel goes, I have no earthly idea how well it would pattern. I had to shoot a LOT of different loads in my barrel to be able to get a "good" load, then I went through a LOT of different choke tubes before I found one that gave me the long range patterns I was looking for, that made long range crow shooting possible.
 

retrieverman

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It's a whole lotta fun!

Me personally, I like the longer barrels for the increased velocity and longer sight plane.

I have shot these same loads in my 30" 870 barrel, but patterns were not worth a poot much much past 40 yards.

With my 34" barrel, I can get 100% patterns a little past 60 yards, which is why I can stretch the distance on it.

My 30" barrel will keep a 100% pattern at 40 yards, but will start opening up pretty good after that.

With a 1 1/8 load of magnum #2 lead shot, there is exactly 100 pellets per load.

At the velocity I am pushing these loads, non buffered loads were a little disappointing, but still good to around 60 yards or so. With the addition of buffer though, patterns tightened right on up and became much more uniform.

As far as your 21" barrel goes, I have no earthly idea how well it would pattern. I had to shoot a LOT of different loads in my barrel to be able to get a "good" load, then I went through a LOT of different choke tubes before I found one that gave me the long range patterns I was looking for, that made long range crow shooting possible.
My go to shotgun is the Benelli, but I also have a Belgium A5 Magnum with a 30” barrel. Thank you for posting this. It’s sounds like something I‘m going to have to try. :thumb:
 

Master Carper

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Let me explain my "crow board" and how I go about determining my maximum shooting distance.

Take a 2X4 and cut it to a length of 10".

Center drill one end of the 2X4 and insert a hardwood dowel. I use a 3 ft. long dowel 3/8" or 1/2" in diameter.

Paint the 2X4 black.

This is your crow target board.

Shoot the target, and if you can consistently put on put at least 3 pellets in your target, then you should have no problem killing crows out to that distance.

My 30" barrel will keep a minimum of 3 pellets in the target board out to 60 yards, but my 34" barrel will keep 3 pellets in the target board out to a couple of feet past 90 yards.

Yes, I have killed a few crows grave yard dead at 90 yards, but at the same time, I have also had to run down a few crows to finish them off.
 

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