I just picked up a 12 gauge Mossberg 590A1 Blackwater shotgun and wanted to pattern it to find a home defense round that would work for me. What a great excuse to put a few rounds down range.
I’ve read some reviews about using #1 Buck for more devastating wound cavities or #4 Buck for “less” penetration in case of a miss.
I went to Walmart, Dick’s, Gander Mountain, Olde English Outfitters (where I bought my Mossy) and the Vandalia Armory (shooting range) looking for ammo. None had #1 Buck and only GM had #4, and that was an extremely limited supply/selection.
As with all guns, I believe choice of caliber or ammo is pointless if you can’t hit your target and the only way to increase accuracy is with lots of practice. I can’t really practice much if there isn’t much supply near me. Having a shotgun is definitely not an excuse to slack on going to the range, just because one thinks they don’t need to be as accurate. When one misses, the consequences are potentially more devastating than with any other weapon. 00 Buck it was, then.
From here, I grabbed a variety of shells, managed recoil, high velocity, improved wadding, etc. I stuck with 2 ¾” to provide maximum round count (8+1) in the shotgun. I figured I’d start off with about 25 rounds of target load to break the gun in a bit. Below is a list of what I picked up and their specs.
For Warm-up/Break-in:
Federal Target Loads, 7 ½ shot, 1200 fps, 25 round box, $5.49 (on sale at GM)
For Testing:
Remington, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $5.99
Remington Managed Recoil, 8 pellets, 1200 fps, 5 round box, $4.99
Federal Power-Shok, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $5.99
Federal Vital-Shok, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $4.99
Winchester SuperX, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $4.99 (though Wal-mart has a 15 round box for $9.99)
Winchester Supreme High-Velocity, 9 pellets, 1450 fps, 5 round box, $8.99
Hornady Versa-Tite Wad, 8 pellets, 1600 fps, 10 round box, $12.99 ($6.495 per 5)
Hornady Light Mag, 8 pellets, 1370 fps, 5 round box, $8.99
My test plan was to do a 5 shot patterning of each brand at 15 ft and 25 ft. Why those ranges? For the home defense situations that most fit my situation, that’s about all I’d be dealing with. Sure, in SHTF and Zombie situations, I should pattern test out a bit further, so maybe I’ll do that another day. **I did just see someone patterning at 10 & 25 yards...maybe I should follow this in the future? I just did what I figured I would encounter.**
I’m not going to draw any conclusions on which ammo you should purchase or use, after all everyone has their own preferences and unique situations, so I’ll just give the data I collected.
Test Conditions:
Firearm: Mossberg 590A1 Blackwater, stock, w/ 25 rounds of Target ammo previously fired for break in.
Location: Vandalia Armory (Vandalia, OH), Indoor range
Targets were set electronically at 15 ft and 25 ft
Shots were taken from a natural (no sandbags/barricades) standing position.
Targets were taken home where the groupings were measured between furthest pellets.
Some explanations of what you’ll see below:
Average grouping is the average grouping of the 5 shots.
Range of Grouping shows the min and max sizes of the 5 groupings.
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes is the difference of the min and max sizes taken from the Range of Grouping. This can help in seeing potential consistency of pattern.
Results at 15 feet.
Brand: Remington
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 2.5”
Average Grouping: 2.3”
Range of Grouping: 2”-3”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Remington Managed Load
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 1”
Shot 2: 1”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 3.5”
Average Grouping: 1.9”
Range of Grouping: 1”-3.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2.5”
Brand: Federal Power-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 2”
Average Grouping: 2”
Range of Grouping: 2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 0”:
Brand: Federal Vital-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 1”
Shot 2: 1”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 1”
Shot 5: 1.5”
Average Grouping: 1.3”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Winchester SuperX
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 3”
Shot 3: 4.5”
Shot 4: 5”
Shot 5: 3”
Average Grouping: 3.7”
Range of Grouping: 3”-5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2”
Brand: Winchester Supreme
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 6”
Shot 2: 4”
Shot 3: 4”
Shot 4: 6”
Shot 5: 4”
Average Grouping: 4.8”
Range of Grouping: 4”-6”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2”
Brand: Hornady Versa-Tite Wad
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 1”
Average Grouping: 1.8”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Hornady Lite Mag
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 1”
Average Grouping: 1,8”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Results at 25 feet.
Brand: Remington
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 4”
Shot 2: 4”
Shot 3: 4.5”
Shot 4: 3.5”
Shot 5: 3.5”
Average Grouping: 3.9”
Range of Grouping: 3.5”-4.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Remington Managed Load
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 6”
Shot 3: 3.5”
Shot 4: 4”
Shot 5: 5”
Average Grouping: 4.3”
Range of Grouping: 3”-6”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 3”
Brand: Federal Power-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 4.5”
Shot 2: 3”
Shot 3: 3”
Shot 4: 3”
Shot 5: 3.5”
Average Grouping: 3.4”
Range of Grouping: 3”-4.5””
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
Notes: 1 flyer in the group (Shot 1). All pellets, except one, were in a 3” area. The last pellet was at 4.5”.
Brand: Federal Vital-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2.5”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 1”
Average Grouping: 1.9”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
Brand: Winchester SuperX
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 5”
Shot 2: 5”
Shot 3: 5.5”
Shot 4: 5.5”
Shot 5: 6.5”
Average Grouping: 5.5”
Range of Grouping: 5”-6.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
Brand: Winchester Supreme
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 7”
Shot 2: 5”
Shot 3: 5.5”
Shot 4: 6”
Shot 5: 6”
Average Grouping: 5.9”
Range of Grouping: 5”-7”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2”
Brand: Hornady Versa-Tite Wad
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 6”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2.5”
Shot 4: 5”
Shot 5: 5”
Average Grouping: 4.1”
Range of Grouping: 2”-6”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 4”
Notes: Shot 1 had 2 flyer’s at 6”, where most were in a 3” pattern. This was the most inconsistent patterning I saw. I saw nice and tight 2-2.5” groups, wide 5” groups and then a tight 3” group with some flyers.
Brand: Hornady Lite Mag
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 3”
Shot 3: 4”
Shot 4: 2.5”
Shot 5: 2.5”
Average Grouping: 2.8”
Range of Grouping: 2.5”-3”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
For my situation and preference, I’ll be using Federal Vital-Shok. This is based on the consistent, tight groupings at various ranges. While I won’t have slugs loaded for home defense, the “flite-control” wad may provide some added range if the scenario does change. Even so, the 4 round speed-feed in the stock is loaded with slugs.
The reason behind the tight grouping seems to lie in the “flite-control” wad and in-line with what others on this board have experienced. I was very impressed with what I saw and I want to do further testing.
I found this on another site:
“In a conventional wad, as soon as the wad leaves the barrel, it has petals that open up in the front and dispense the shot into a cloud so that the shot isn't protected in any way. With the FLITECONTROL wad, as soon as it exits the barrel, the shot is kept inside the wad. There are no slits in the shot cup portion and the shot is contained in the wad for an extended period of time, say anywhere up to 10 yards, depending on the configuration of the wad. What happens is the slitting in the overpowder [rear] section opens up and starts slowing the wad down. Instead of releasing the shot in a cloud, it starts slowly backing away from the tight shot string sitting inside the wad, and releases the shot that way. The biggest difference is that the FC wad is a rear-braking wad that pulls itself off the shot and conventional wads kind of throw the shot out there.”
Use this information for what you will but be sure to pattern your shotgun yourself as you will likely get different results than I have. Choosing 3-4 different brands would probably be sufficient. My shoulder held up fairly well through the round-up, but it was a bit red, slightly bruised the next day!
PS - I'll plug AIMPRO Tactical while I can. I ordered a hi-vis follower and heavy walled heat shield from them and they were outstanding on email and on the phone. Being Active Duty Air Force, they even knocked about 20% off the price for me as well. Very pleasant and easy to work with.
I’ve read some reviews about using #1 Buck for more devastating wound cavities or #4 Buck for “less” penetration in case of a miss.
I went to Walmart, Dick’s, Gander Mountain, Olde English Outfitters (where I bought my Mossy) and the Vandalia Armory (shooting range) looking for ammo. None had #1 Buck and only GM had #4, and that was an extremely limited supply/selection.
As with all guns, I believe choice of caliber or ammo is pointless if you can’t hit your target and the only way to increase accuracy is with lots of practice. I can’t really practice much if there isn’t much supply near me. Having a shotgun is definitely not an excuse to slack on going to the range, just because one thinks they don’t need to be as accurate. When one misses, the consequences are potentially more devastating than with any other weapon. 00 Buck it was, then.
From here, I grabbed a variety of shells, managed recoil, high velocity, improved wadding, etc. I stuck with 2 ¾” to provide maximum round count (8+1) in the shotgun. I figured I’d start off with about 25 rounds of target load to break the gun in a bit. Below is a list of what I picked up and their specs.
For Warm-up/Break-in:
Federal Target Loads, 7 ½ shot, 1200 fps, 25 round box, $5.49 (on sale at GM)
For Testing:
Remington, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $5.99
Remington Managed Recoil, 8 pellets, 1200 fps, 5 round box, $4.99
Federal Power-Shok, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $5.99
Federal Vital-Shok, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $4.99
Winchester SuperX, 9 pellets, 1325 fps, 5 round box, $4.99 (though Wal-mart has a 15 round box for $9.99)
Winchester Supreme High-Velocity, 9 pellets, 1450 fps, 5 round box, $8.99
Hornady Versa-Tite Wad, 8 pellets, 1600 fps, 10 round box, $12.99 ($6.495 per 5)
Hornady Light Mag, 8 pellets, 1370 fps, 5 round box, $8.99
My test plan was to do a 5 shot patterning of each brand at 15 ft and 25 ft. Why those ranges? For the home defense situations that most fit my situation, that’s about all I’d be dealing with. Sure, in SHTF and Zombie situations, I should pattern test out a bit further, so maybe I’ll do that another day. **I did just see someone patterning at 10 & 25 yards...maybe I should follow this in the future? I just did what I figured I would encounter.**
I’m not going to draw any conclusions on which ammo you should purchase or use, after all everyone has their own preferences and unique situations, so I’ll just give the data I collected.
Test Conditions:
Firearm: Mossberg 590A1 Blackwater, stock, w/ 25 rounds of Target ammo previously fired for break in.
Location: Vandalia Armory (Vandalia, OH), Indoor range
Targets were set electronically at 15 ft and 25 ft
Shots were taken from a natural (no sandbags/barricades) standing position.
Targets were taken home where the groupings were measured between furthest pellets.
Some explanations of what you’ll see below:
Average grouping is the average grouping of the 5 shots.
Range of Grouping shows the min and max sizes of the 5 groupings.
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes is the difference of the min and max sizes taken from the Range of Grouping. This can help in seeing potential consistency of pattern.
Results at 15 feet.
Brand: Remington
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 2.5”
Average Grouping: 2.3”
Range of Grouping: 2”-3”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Remington Managed Load
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 1”
Shot 2: 1”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 3.5”
Average Grouping: 1.9”
Range of Grouping: 1”-3.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2.5”
Brand: Federal Power-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 2”
Average Grouping: 2”
Range of Grouping: 2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 0”:
Brand: Federal Vital-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 1”
Shot 2: 1”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 1”
Shot 5: 1.5”
Average Grouping: 1.3”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Winchester SuperX
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 3”
Shot 3: 4.5”
Shot 4: 5”
Shot 5: 3”
Average Grouping: 3.7”
Range of Grouping: 3”-5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2”
Brand: Winchester Supreme
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 6”
Shot 2: 4”
Shot 3: 4”
Shot 4: 6”
Shot 5: 4”
Average Grouping: 4.8”
Range of Grouping: 4”-6”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2”
Brand: Hornady Versa-Tite Wad
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 1”
Average Grouping: 1.8”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Hornady Lite Mag
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 1”
Average Grouping: 1,8”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Results at 25 feet.
Brand: Remington
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 4”
Shot 2: 4”
Shot 3: 4.5”
Shot 4: 3.5”
Shot 5: 3.5”
Average Grouping: 3.9”
Range of Grouping: 3.5”-4.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1”
Brand: Remington Managed Load
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 6”
Shot 3: 3.5”
Shot 4: 4”
Shot 5: 5”
Average Grouping: 4.3”
Range of Grouping: 3”-6”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 3”
Brand: Federal Power-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 4.5”
Shot 2: 3”
Shot 3: 3”
Shot 4: 3”
Shot 5: 3.5”
Average Grouping: 3.4”
Range of Grouping: 3”-4.5””
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
Notes: 1 flyer in the group (Shot 1). All pellets, except one, were in a 3” area. The last pellet was at 4.5”.
Brand: Federal Vital-Shok
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 2”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2.5”
Shot 4: 2”
Shot 5: 1”
Average Grouping: 1.9”
Range of Grouping: 1”-2.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
Brand: Winchester SuperX
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 5”
Shot 2: 5”
Shot 3: 5.5”
Shot 4: 5.5”
Shot 5: 6.5”
Average Grouping: 5.5”
Range of Grouping: 5”-6.5”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
Brand: Winchester Supreme
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 7”
Shot 2: 5”
Shot 3: 5.5”
Shot 4: 6”
Shot 5: 6”
Average Grouping: 5.9”
Range of Grouping: 5”-7”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 2”
Brand: Hornady Versa-Tite Wad
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 6”
Shot 2: 2”
Shot 3: 2.5”
Shot 4: 5”
Shot 5: 5”
Average Grouping: 4.1”
Range of Grouping: 2”-6”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 4”
Notes: Shot 1 had 2 flyer’s at 6”, where most were in a 3” pattern. This was the most inconsistent patterning I saw. I saw nice and tight 2-2.5” groups, wide 5” groups and then a tight 3” group with some flyers.
Brand: Hornady Lite Mag
Shot Groupings (in inches):
Shot 1: 3”
Shot 2: 3”
Shot 3: 4”
Shot 4: 2.5”
Shot 5: 2.5”
Average Grouping: 2.8”
Range of Grouping: 2.5”-3”
Largest Difference of Grouping sizes (Consistency): 1.5”
For my situation and preference, I’ll be using Federal Vital-Shok. This is based on the consistent, tight groupings at various ranges. While I won’t have slugs loaded for home defense, the “flite-control” wad may provide some added range if the scenario does change. Even so, the 4 round speed-feed in the stock is loaded with slugs.
The reason behind the tight grouping seems to lie in the “flite-control” wad and in-line with what others on this board have experienced. I was very impressed with what I saw and I want to do further testing.
I found this on another site:
“In a conventional wad, as soon as the wad leaves the barrel, it has petals that open up in the front and dispense the shot into a cloud so that the shot isn't protected in any way. With the FLITECONTROL wad, as soon as it exits the barrel, the shot is kept inside the wad. There are no slits in the shot cup portion and the shot is contained in the wad for an extended period of time, say anywhere up to 10 yards, depending on the configuration of the wad. What happens is the slitting in the overpowder [rear] section opens up and starts slowing the wad down. Instead of releasing the shot in a cloud, it starts slowly backing away from the tight shot string sitting inside the wad, and releases the shot that way. The biggest difference is that the FC wad is a rear-braking wad that pulls itself off the shot and conventional wads kind of throw the shot out there.”
Use this information for what you will but be sure to pattern your shotgun yourself as you will likely get different results than I have. Choosing 3-4 different brands would probably be sufficient. My shoulder held up fairly well through the round-up, but it was a bit red, slightly bruised the next day!
PS - I'll plug AIMPRO Tactical while I can. I ordered a hi-vis follower and heavy walled heat shield from them and they were outstanding on email and on the phone. Being Active Duty Air Force, they even knocked about 20% off the price for me as well. Very pleasant and easy to work with.
