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Are all 2 3/4 00 buck 12 gauge shells about the same?

Tom396

Tom396

.30-06
Seems you can find about 20 or more different manufacturers of 12 gauge 2 3/4" 00 buckshot shells. The price point on them varies quite a bit, too. Personally, I guess I've been the most impressed with the Federal FliteControl rounds. They pattern rather well in all of my 12 gauges. When I find them "on sale", the price isn't all that bad either. I admit that I have lots of off brand shells too (Rio, Spartan, Nobel, Fiocchi, etc., etc.). No significant complaints with the cheaper stuff. I did find that I got some misfires (maybe 1 in 20) with Sellier and Bellot, but that might only be my experiences and my particular shotguns. I've also had great experiences with Remington, Winchester, etc. I've never tried Hornady.

Anyway, are there any particular brands of 2 3/4" 00 12 gauge shells that are worth a significantly higher price than the competition? I'm talking about a defense weapon application. Does the Hornady Critical Defense do anything better than the others? Take care. Tom Worthington
 
Tom,

At what range do you intend or expect to shoot 00 buckshot "for effect"?
 
I've done some comparative testing on several different brands of both 00 and #4 buck. You can check out the results here...

Buckshot Pattern Test

In my experience, price doesn't have much to do with performance. My 00 buck of choice after my testing is Rio Royal. It's relatively inexpensive and put up consistent 5-6" groups shot after shot at 10yd. The Hornady CD does pattern significantly tighter at around 3" at 10yd, but I'm not necessarily convinced that's better. Seems a larger 6" pattern might be more effective...
 
Hornady critical defense has done real well for me. I usually keep between 6-8" of spread at 15-20 yds, and with an advertised 1600ft/s they deliver a good amount of power... Worth the extra $$ IMO. But I wouldn't hesitate to carry Remington green shells, which I think are 1325ft/s and certainly much cheaper.

The big difference of course is the wadding, and I think there's some pretty innovative stuff out there to control spread outside of chokes. Federals flight control for 00 and tru ball slugs have excellent accuracy from a smoothbore shotgun, at least out of my 590. ;)
 
Tom396 said:
nitesite said:
Tom,

At what range do you intend or expect to shoot 00 buckshot "for effect"?
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10 yards. Possibly even less. Take care. Tom Worthington
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In my experience all the loads I have shot, all the ones mentioned in this post does well at 10 or less.
past 15 yards is where I notice some spread out sooner than others.
Construction of the shell internals really come into play past 15. Bare led pellets spread sooner, bare lead in a shot cup do a little better, bare lead with buffer and a shot cup little better, jacketed pellets in buffer and a shot cup little better, and jacketed pellets penetrate deeper.
 
I like the flight control and Titewad the best
 
Really, at "home defense" distances inside a home it's all just an academic argument. Any 00-buck load will be very similar inside of 20-feet. It's when we move outside the home and extend the range a bit that construction of materials really starts to separate the better loads from mediocre ones.

At ten yards, I'd shoot just about any of the less-expensive brands and call it good and not put out the cash for top-tier priced ammo. When shooting under stress at ten or more yards it's very possible to sometimes horribly miss with the really tight-patterning loads available.
 
Do ya'll think there really is a niche for the high priced Hornady Critical Defense shells? Does anyone plan to shoot, in self defense, outside of 20 yards or so? In order to avoid court, I would think they had better be shooting back at you, at that kind of distance. You sure can't be both inside my house and be 20 yards away from me, at the same time. I wouldn't think a hunter would pick up these defense rounds, if for no other reason than that is how they have been marketed.

By the way, when I pattern the FliteControl rounds, at ten yards, it really only makes a single hole. A significantly bigger hole than a slug would make, but a single ragged hole, nevertheless. Take care. Tom Worthington
 
When I go to the range I typically take a few 25 round packs of Rio Royal 9 pellet 00 buckshot. For HD I use Federal XM127 9 pellet 00 or Federal PFC 154 9 pellet 00 buckshot with flitecontrol. I typically buy what is cheapest for range which is now Rio a Royal 00 buckshot. Before I have bought some Noble Sport #4 and 00 buckshot for the range.
 
Tom396 said:
Do ya'll think there really is a niche for the high priced Hornady Critical Defense shells?
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cops and hunters, people who prefer it for HD

Tom396 said:
By the way, when I pattern the FliteControl rounds, at ten yards, it really only makes a single hole. A significantly bigger hole than a slug would make, but a single ragged hole, nevertheless.
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the cool thing about it though is as soon as it hits flesh they all take a different path so on paper it is just a hole but in real life it does something much different.......that being said I don't use it because my SG patterns home loads and cheap buck good for my needs and If I have to use it beyond that its a slug.....I chose Vang Comp System and it tightened my patterns, doesn't help FlightControl at all and it can be argued if one uses only FC then VCS is obsolete, but I chose not to be tied to a particular round and chose VCS because it helps make all ammo better giving me more options.
 
oli700 said:
I chose Vang Comp System and it tightened my patterns, doesn't help FlightControl at all and it can be argued if one uses only FC then VCS is obsolete, but I chose not to be tied to a particular round and chose VCS because it helps make all ammo better giving me more options.
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Damn, you make good decisions..... :D
 
I just finished a little backyard buckshot pattern testing (one of the advantages of living in the country). I did it because I had picked up some Rio #4 buckshot and it seemed like it was really spreading out, mighty quick. I know, I'm definitely comparing apples to oranges, but there is snow everywhere and I was bored.

I fired one round of Federal Flite Control 00 buck and one round of standard Rio #4 buck. At ten yards, the Flite Control made a single ragged hole, barely big enough to fit a quarter through (had to double check that I hadn't slipped a slug in there). At the same ten yards, the Rio #4 spread out to 10 inches. Not like a single flyer at 10" and the rest inside 5", I mean both 10 inches top to bottom and 10 inches side to side. I was genuinely surprised it could even spread that much at ten yards. I was firing out of a 20" barrel with no choke. I've shot 00 Rio before, but never patterned it side by side with anything else. Just something to consider. Heck, a ten inch spread might actually be an advantage, in some situations? Take care. Tom Worthington
 
That was the point I made earlier.

At 10yd buckshot that patterns inside 2"-3" offers little to no advantage over using a slug other than the consideration that the individual pellets, even when grouped close together, will lose energy much faster than a single large projectile. It would seem that when using buckshot, a slightly larger pattern on target might be more effective...
 
Tom396 said:
I just finished a little backyard buckshot pattern testing (one of the advantages of living in the country). I did it because I had picked up some Rio #4 buckshot and it seemed like it was really spreading out, mighty quick. I know, I'm definitely comparing apples to oranges, but there is snow everywhere and I was bored.

I fired one round of Federal Flite Control 00 buck and one round of standard Rio #4 buck. At ten yards, the Flite Control made a single ragged hole, barely big enough to fit a quarter through (had to double check that I hadn't slipped a slug in there). At the same ten yards, the Rio #4 spread out to 10 inches. Not like a single flyer at 10" and the rest inside 5", I mean both 10 inches top to bottom and 10 inches side to side. I was genuinely surprised it could even spread that much at ten yards. I was firing out of a 20" barrel with no choke. I've shot 00 Rio before, but never patterned it side by side with anything else. Just something to consider. Heck, a ten inch spread might actually be an advantage, in some situations? Take care. Tom Worthington
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In search of the truth. That's why we do this stupid s#$%. :mrgreen: ;)
 
Tom396 said:
I just finished a little backyard buckshot pattern testing (one of the advantages of living in the country). I did it because I had picked up some Rio #4 buckshot and it seemed like it was really spreading out, mighty quick. I know, I'm definitely comparing apples to oranges, but there is snow everywhere and I was bored.

I fired one round of Federal Flite Control 00 buck and one round of standard Rio #4 buck. At ten yards, the Flite Control made a single ragged hole, barely big enough to fit a quarter through (had to double check that I hadn't slipped a slug in there). At the same ten yards, the Rio #4 spread out to 10 inches. Not like a single flyer at 10" and the rest inside 5", I mean both 10 inches top to bottom and 10 inches side to side. I was genuinely surprised it could even spread that much at ten yards. I was firing out of a 20" barrel with no choke. I've shot 00 Rio before, but never patterned it side by side with anything else. Just something to consider. Heck, a ten inch spread might actually be an advantage, in some situations? Take care. Tom Worthington
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I think you have an incredible 30-foot pattern there. It's a keeper!
 
nitesite said:
I think you have an incredible 30-foot pattern there. It's a keeper!
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I'm guessing you mean the Flite Control pattern is the keeper and the #4 buck Rio is not? Take care. Tom Worthington
 
Pretty sure nite meant the 10" pattern from the #4 buck.

Keeping all 37 pellets inside 10" at that distance is not bad at all...
 
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