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930 SPX 2¾" Fed flightcontol, Hornady, plus others 00 Buck

RDub

.22LR
Hello

I got seven more 2¾” shells to test for pattern and velocity. I’m doing the same thing as last time, shooting a round at seven yards (21 feet), and a second at 14 yards (42 feet), and the real tight patterning rounds, a third at 21 yards (63 feet).

Three from Hornady;

Hornady BLACK 8 pellet 00 Buck
Hornady Critical Defense 8 pellet 00 Buck
Hornady American Gunner 8 pellet 00 Buck

Two from Federal;

Federal Power Shok 12 pellet 00 Buck
Federal Vital Shok 9 pellet 00 Copper Plated Buck with Flight Control wad

And;

Remington 9 pellet 00 Buck
FIOCCHI 9 pellet 00 Buck

2-00-Buck-full.jpg


2-00-Buck-sml.jpg


I’m shooting a Mossberg 930 SPX off of a rifle rest. Chronograph is an Oehler 33. Skyscreens centered 10’ from muzzle.

First the Fiocchi rounds.

Although they were very fast, patterned very well, and was very light on recoil, this translated into a round that doesn’t generate enough pressure to cycle the Mossberg 930 action. So this is a pump gun only round.

FIOCCHI-9-00-Bk-14-yds.jpg


The Hornady ammo was very fast and patterned nicely. I didn’t have enough targets to shoot all of them at 21 yards, but I did shoot the BLACK at 21 and it did pretty well. When shooting the BLACK at 14 yards the wad stuck itself onto the target.

Hornady-BLACK-8-00-Bk-14-yds.jpg


Hornady-BLACK-wad.jpg


Hornady-BLACK-8-00-Bk-21-yds.jpg


Hornady-Critical-Def-8-00-Bk-14-yds.jpg


And when shooting the American Gunner at 14 yards I encountered something very weird. There were only two holes on the target and the wad made a hole off to the right. The velocity reading was a little over 1800 fps. So I circled the two holes and the wad hole and shot another round. That time it looked a lot better. So I wonder if somehow only two pellets wound up in that particular shell.?

American-Gunner-oops.jpg


American-Gunner-14-yds.jpg


The Federal 9 pellet 00 with the Flight Control wad did very well out to 21 yards.
The Federal 12 pellet 00 round patterned a little better than the Remington counterpart.

FED-2-9-00-Bk-14-yds-jpg-Flight-Control.jpg


FED-2-9-00-Bk-21-yds-jpg-Flight-Control.jpg


FED-2-12-00-Bk-14-yds.jpg


The Remington round did what I expected it to do. Just a good solid round.

REM-9-00-Bk-14-yds.jpg



That's it for now..
 
I have some Hornady Tap (blue hull) low recoil buckshot that shoots amazingly light but velocity around 1200 fps. It's a little slower than many of the "full house" loads but it's still plenty accurate and packs enough wallop to do what it needs to.
 
I'll look around on-line for some of those.. Haven't seen any locally. Are you shooting those out of an auto or pump?
 
I have only shot them out of pumps at this time.

I'm not 100% positive that they would work in my Charles Daly semiauto because it's chambered for 3-1/2 inch magnums and has a pretty heavy spring.

But I wouldn't be surprised if they worked fine out of my Emperor Arms semiauto. It even cycles my handloads that are a little below 1100 fps, which are lighter than most handicap/low brass target loads.

The Hornady Tap are marketed for LEO and aren't as common to find as their other shells.

Target sports generally keep some in stock but their prices have increased the last few years. That's why I started loading my own. I can make my shells basically any way that I want to.

I loaded up some reduced recoil/velocity slugs for a buddy of mine a few years ago and he let his nephew use the shotgun while deer hunting. It turned to run about the time he pulled the trigger and he hit it in the rump and it traveled all the way through the deer and exited out of its' neck right behind the ear.

Most people don't believe me when I tell them that from a "low brass" load, but my buddy took a picture of it while he was starting to butcher it that shows the entrance and exit wound.
 
Looked around and found some at Bud's for a reasonable price. If I get some I'll check it out in the 930.
It's looking like anything labeled 'low recoil' has trouble in the 930. We'll see. Thanks.
 
I've heard of some having trouble and others not. Even if the 930 doesn't eat them, I'm sure you have another scattergun that will. It won't be money wasted. They're really some soft shooting buckshot for sure. But I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about them.
 
@RDub, thanks for all of your testing results! I did some testing of various off-the-shelf #00 Buck out of my new (to me) 930 Breacher Barrel with cylinder bore and got pretty wide spreads at 15 yds & 25 yds. Anxious to try some of the Flitecontrol loads, myself.
 
flitecontrol wads are a good design.

It allows the wad to slow (faster than the shot) which basically lets the shot "leave" the wad a little farther away from the gun, which helps keep the patterns a little tighter.

Some of the best long(er) range turkey loads use flitecontrol wads.
 
flitecontrol wads are a good design.

It allows the wad to slow (faster than the shot) which basically lets the shot "leave" the wad a little farther away from the gun, which helps keep the patterns a little tighter.

Some of the best long(er) range turkey loads use flitecontrol wads.

So I hear. I picked up the last box of 2-3/4" Flitecontrol #00 my local gunstore had. An out of town buddy is saving me a few boxes of 3" Flitecontrol #00 that he ordered last week.
 
Nice! That photo tells the story. Did you have to order that #1 Buck? I'm having trouble even finding the 00 Buck Flitecontrol here locally.

Yes. You pretty much have to find it in stock somewhere on line. Both the #00 and #1 are generally pretty hard to find in stock. Then, suddenly, it will seem to be available every where for a short time.
 
Hi
Yes I have to get this kind of ammo on-line. Except for some of the very basic loads nothing much is available here locally.
Midway and Cheaper than Dirt is a good source.. Midway does a $49.00 or more free shipping occasionally, and Cheaper than Dirt is $99.00 or more free shipping all the time. I look at it like a gun store with a 49 or 99 dollar minimum...
 
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I have some Hornady Tap (blue hull) low recoil buckshot that shoots amazingly light but velocity around 1200 fps. It's a little slower than many of the "full house" loads but it's still plenty accurate and packs enough wallop to do what it needs to.
New owner of a used Mossberg 930 SPX. I tried the blue hull Hornady TAP and it was about 50% cycle rate. Not really FTE or FTF but the bolt stayed closed and didn't try to eject. I had to hand cycle it. Now, it could also be that I wasn’t behind the gun enough. This is my first shotgun but not my first gun. And my fist time with a semi-auto shotgun. It might have just enough power to cycle but only if the gun doesn’t move.

That said, the place that is selling it has it marked $1 a shell, 10 round boxes. So I may buy some more for a future pump gun. (Dang it! I got the 930 instead of a Shockwave but this may lead to me getting a shockwave too!)
 
Hello
As you can see I had no luck with the lower pressure loads either. I believe what we might be dealing with is something known as 'dwell time'. It's the amount of time the gas has a chance to work on the action from the gas port to the muzzle, and the amount of pressure built up between these two points. If there is insufficient time/pressure between these two points the action won't cycle. So what this means is, either the gas port has to be moved further back toward the action, or the barrel has to be longer. To prove this, try shooting these loads in say a Browning auto or a Remington 1100 with a 28-30" barrel. I'll bet the lower pressure loads will cycle just fine.
So I'm afraid us SPX owners are stuck with the higher pressure loads in the stock configuration. OR3GUN has an aftermarket tube that is supposed to cure this.. I haven't tried it so I can't speak to it..
 
Hello
I believe what we might be dealing with is something known as 'dwell time'. It's the amount of time the gas has a chance to work on the action from the gas port to the muzzle, and the amount of pressure built up between these two points. If there is insufficient time/pressure between these two points the action won't cycle. So what this means is, either the gas port has to be moved further back toward the action, or the barrel has to be longer..

Or, enlarge the gas ports.

Or, use a weaker action spring.

Or, all of the above.
 
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