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Mossberg 930 SPX; 3" and 2¾" rifled slug loads

RDub

.22LR
Hello

So after wringing out this SPX with buckshot ammo, I thought I should give it a whirl with rifled slugs.

I collected several samples of rifled slugs, five from Winchester, five from Remington, seven from Federal and three from Brenneke. I mainly wanted to see what kind of velocities I could get with an eighteen inch barrel, but while I was at it, might as well see what I can do at 50 yards with the factory sights.

FED-ammo-sized.jpg


Win-ammo-sized.jpg


Rem-ammo-sized.jpg


BRENNEKE-ammo-sized-2.jpg



These were all shot off a Caldwell Rifle Rest at 50 yards. Targets were 5½” circles. Sight settings were not changed during this shoot. I wanted to see how they all shot relative to each other. The only thing that changed was where I put the front sight. Starting off with Win/Rem loads I was able to cover the circles with the front sight. But as light conditions changed, it was better to shoot with a six-o’clock hold for the remaining ammo. All five rounds in each box were shot.

Velocity data was taken with an Oehler model 33. Skyscreens centered at 15’.

WIN-REM-7-15-19-sized.jpg


FEDERAL-7-15-19-sized.jpg


BRENNEKE-7-20-19-sized.jpg



I had a weird chronograph issue come up while shooting the Win/Rem ammo, targets #3 and 7 only one round registered correctly. All the others were registering in the high 3000’s FPS. After a conversation with Mr. Oehler it was determined that the jacks and sockets needed a cleaning. That solved the issue.
So, the one that did register is on the target.

As was the case with the buckshot ammo, all the ‘managed recoil’ ammo did not cycle in this gun. The Federal offering actually did cycle some rounds, but not all five.

It’s interesting, that the Win and Rem 3” mag ammo turned in the best groups. The Rem 2¾ 1oz didn’t do too bad either. The Federal 2¾ Truball 1oz had four almost touching with one flyer. I wonder if that was just me.. The worst group goes to the Federal 3” Power-Shok 1¼ oz load.

The fastest 2¾ 1oz load was the Brenneke KO. With all the Brenneke loads, the advertised and actual velocities were very close. The most accurate 2¾ 1oz load was the Remington and the Federal Truball. That’s how it turned out today anyway..

I have three more Brenneke ordered; the 1¼ oz Green Lightning, the 1oz ATS, and the 3” 1 3/8oz Black Magic Magnum. That one should be fun to shoot… So I’ll shoot those as soon as I get a chance to complete this project.

The Brenneke ATS, Green Lightning and the 3” Black Magic Magnum rifled slug ammo arrived so I shot them this morning, thus completing this project. The pics on the original post have been updated.


There was an apparent wad separation with one of the ATS rounds, which I’m thinking is the reason for the flyer off to the left..

The Green Lightning did very well. The last round wandered off low. Velocity was very consistent.

With the 3” Black Magic Magnums, the velocity was all over the place. But even so, any one of those would be very effective. Good bear medicine.



Here is a summary of advertised and actual velocities;

Scan0080-sized.jpg


So, some observations about this Mossberg 930 SPX.

As mentioned before, the gun will not cycle ‘low’ or ‘managed recoil’ ammo.

If you are going to keep the gun un-chambered with rounds in the magazine, with the intention of racking a round when the gun is called upon, just make sure you rack it in hard.. Don’t baby it. If you do the round might not make it in the chamber and you’ll have to assist it in. This usually happened when I failed to remember this. . Not a good scenario in a high stress situation. Using full power ammo this gun experienced no feeding malfunctions at all.

During the slug shoot, I noticed most of the slug groups started out very good, then as the barrel heated up the slugs #4 and 5 started wandering a bit. This isn’t that unusual with firearms and that was certainly the case here. Three round groups would have made the groups look better.

Well other than that, the SPX is a pretty solid shotgun. I’m happy with it.



The range;

The-Range-7-15-19.jpg


Well hopefully this was helpful or at least interesting.
 
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I'll be perfectly honest, and it's not because of personal bias, but I really like how those Remington managed recoil slugs shoot out of my guns too. Looks like your 930 was right in the sweet spot too.
 
Yes, it's great ammo.. I'm glad they make it. Sounds like there are some mods for the 930 that would make it more functionable with the lower pressure loads. Maybe later.
 
The Brenneke ATS, Green Lightning and the 3” Black Magic Magnum rifled slug ammo arrived so I shot them this morning, thus completing this project. The pics and data on the original post have been updated.
 
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