Mossberg 930 and Buckshot...

A

ATN082268

New member
As an experiment of sorts, I took my 12 Gauge Mossberg 930 SPX tactical shotgun with a 18.5 inch barrel and cylinder bore choke to the range. I fired 20 rounds of 2.75 inch Federal flitecontrol, low recoil, 00 Buckshot at a target 24 inches wide and 18 inches high at 100 yards (or a football field if you like). Prior to this I have fired about 200-250 rounds through this gun up to ranges of 25 yards. My point of aim was the upper third, middle part of the target. I counted a pellet hole anywhere on the target as a hit for the purpose of the exercise. So out of 180 pellets, 18 hit, so a 10% hit ratio.
 
Model12Win said:
Wow not very good (not you, but the shotgun) I would have expected a few more hits with the Flite Control load.
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Yeah, I was kind of underwhelmed too. I'm sure at least some of it has to do with me and shooting at that range. The Federal flitecontrol stuff does very well up to 25 yards. Besides that one 100 yard experiment, I have not shot any shotgun beyond 25 yards. I might improve if I do it a little more often and I'm not sure how well I did as a shooter that one particular time.
 
That is about what I'd expect, even the hits you got probably wouldn't have been lethal. Buckshot is pretty useless beyond 40-50 yards and at its beast at 15-30 yards. At closer ranges patterns are so tight you may as well use a rifle or handgun. Beyond 30 yards you'd be better off with a rifle.
 
100 yards is way too far for any shot load. It's kind of miraculous any of 'em hit. Right up there with musket balls out of a Brown Bess.
"...Beyond 30 yards you'd be better off with a rifle..." Slugs will do nicely though.
 
At closer ranges patterns are so tight you may as well use a rifle or handgun. Beyond 30 yards you'd be better off with a rifle.
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Against paper, yes. The rate of pattern expansion icreases greatly once the shot enters solid material. Shown clearly in gelatin tests, but holds true on animals or people also. In addition there is all the potential for ricochets off of bones and such inside the body. A 12 ga shot gun at close range is similar to several full magazines of 32 ACP in a small area.

100 yards is too far to expect much.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong (often), but Flitecontrol is amazing because the wad flies with the shot better/longer than a traditional wad. However, it's unreasonable to expect the Flitecontrol wad to fly with the shot at any great distance-just like any shotgun wad...
 
John is right. You want a tight hit with the entire shot.

This concept gets confused with idea of the "role" of a shotgun being a larger patterning gun. Even all on target, a dispersed grouping isn't the most effective use of energy from buckshot.
 
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