Tradeoff for Target loads...

S

SHIVAN

New member
Best friend has a 1970's Beretta o/u with no recoil pad, just a metal buttplate. So he shoots Winchester AA low noise/low recoil loads and he does not notice the pain the day after.

I say he is losing "something"....not sure what the something is, but there's got to be a loss (or gain) when changing loads.

We do skeet a lot, do some wobble trap, some 5 stand and some sporting clay walks. The only times I've seen him struggle is on the teals and some of the simo trap pairs where it's advantagous to shoot the trap second and it's 50+ yards out :eek: when the shot is made. His barrel sets are M/F and S/S.

Any validity to my concerns?

Thanks,

Ed
 
I believe he is losing on pattern density and dispersion with these loads. I've patterned them and found that they are very tight patterning loads due to the low velocity. This doesn't make them ideal for close range targets. At the same time, when the pattern does open up, the reduced 26gram shot payload tends to result in holes in the pattern sooner than with a 1 ounce or 1-1/8 ounce loads.

I bought a flat of these shells and it was either feast of famine -- crushed targets or clean misses. They would also not consistently reset the inertia trigger in my Beretta over/under and would not function in a semi-auto. I finally got so fed up with the things I took them out to the range one afternoon and ran them through my pump gun so I could reload the hulls.

In their defense however is the low recoil. If your friend can shoot the entire day without feeling sore or developing a flinch and is breaking targets to his satisfaction then he's probably best advised to leave well enough alone.

Winchester does make an AA Xtra Lite 1 ounce load 2-3/4 dram load that goes out at 1,180 fps. The product designation is AAL128. I like them and my own skeet reloads are in the same range. You might buy him a box or two and see what he thinks.

Paul
 
I've run maybe a dozen 25s with a 1 oz, 1150 FPS load this last year. Best guess, I break my trap birds around 35 yards out and the TB has almost a X-Full choke(38 POC). It's tight.

I think your friend will do better putting a pad on that O/U and going with a slightly hotter load for some of the stuff mentioned. Those low/low shells outghta do well for skeet if they're loaded with 9s.

It's best to match the load to the game. Consider using 1 1/8 oz of 7 1/2s for those long shots, an oz of 8s for closer stuff and that pixie load for skeet and close SC stuff.

HTH....
 
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For American target games a 1oz. load in the 1150-1200 fps range will handle anything nicely. The WW featherlight loads will suffer at the longer ranges. Less shot, more open pattern, missed targets.

dfm
 
Low low will either force one to get faster and better......or miss some that could be nailed with a tad heavier and hotter.

I could argue either way. I have always liked soft loads. But was never too proud to use stiffer ones from the handicap lines.

Sam
 
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