New Federal buchshot load (#1) for LE

B

Bartholomew Roberts

Moderator
I'm not much of a shotgun guy myself; but I had noticed in past reading that although the IWBA considers #1 buckshot to be the most effective terminally, few people use it because:

A) it is not readily available
B) it tends to pattern poorly in many shotguns

DocGKR at Lightfighter is reporting a new new Federal LE load using their flight control wad and #1 buckshot (LE132-1B). In addition to penetrating 14-18" of bare gel, the new load shows some impressive patterns out of a plain 18" 870P.

The pictures showed a single hole at 7yds and at 25yds, all but 4 of the pellets were in the 10 ring, and the 4 that were not were adjacent and up (upper thoracic cavity/throat). As I said, I'm not a big shotgun guy myself; but I thought the load might be of interest to this board since it seems to address one of the common complaints I've read about #1 buck (poor patterns).
 
Thanks! I'm one of those who had bad luck with 1 buck. Maybe I should pick up some of this and try it out.....
 
If it becomes available around here or via internet order I will pick some up for testing. I use their LE12700 load (flite control, 9 pellet 00 at 1345fps) for general defensive readiness and deer hunting. If the 1B load patterns well and puts a substantial increase in payload downrange (typical 1 buck 2 3/4" load is 16 pellets of approx .30 caliber yes?) then I might be sold on it.
 
#4 Buck

It's been some years since I was in active duty law enforcement and I know that new loads have become available. At the time, the Secret Service preferred #4 buck, consisting of 27 pellets of .22 cal each. In a typical home defense situation, it won't matter much what you use. Even a skeet load will raise havoc with the intruder. However, the larger pellets can over-penetrate walls as two layers of sheetrock don't offer much resistance. Larger pellets are also more lethal to unseen bystanders at greater distances, assuming that some pellets may not strike the intended target.

Generally, buckshot loads shoot or pattern best in cylinder bore shotguns.
 
Thanks for the thread. I'll have to look for some! I'm one of those who hasn't been able to find a barrel that would pattern #1 worth a darn since I first got told about its supposed advantages in a hunter safety class in high school about 42 years ago.

lpl
 
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