Patterned Some Ammo - Some Observations

[xLusi0n]

So I went out and pattern the following types of ammo:

The ammo I intially shot was (all 12 GA 2 3/4 00 BUCK) :

Hornady TAP Reduced Recoil
Remington Buckshot
Federal Premium Personal Defense
Winchester Ranger LE Low Recoil
Winchester Military Grade

The results at 15 yards was that Federal Premium Personal Defense had the tightest grouping, followed by Hornady TAP and then Winchester Ranger LE.

The Winchester Military Grade and Remington Buckshot both spread out too much and because they were not recoil reduced I decided to go ahead and drop them from my list of shell to use.

So moving back to the 25 yard line, I only tested the Ranger, Federal, and Hornady.

At 25 yard line the Federal Premium Personal Defense again proved to have the tightest grouping and as expected the Hornday and Winchester Ranger followed.

I think if you're looking for the tightest grouping that Federal stuff is pretty good. That said, I think the Hornady TAP and Winchester Ranger stuff is also acceptable - especially for Home Defense where you're more likely going to engage much cloer than 25 yards.

To note, the stated FPS for the Personal Defense is 1145...much lower than the Hornady TAP (1600) and Winchester Ranger - I think due to over penetration concerns (since it is designed for HD and not LE).

Both the Ranger and TAP had noticably less felt recoil than the others but the Federal wasn't too bad.

I think I would load my HD shotgun with the Hornady TAP for my first round (or two) and the rest with that Federal Premium leaving room for a slug if I need it.

Next time I'll try out some of that #1 BUCK stuff (if I can get my hands on it).

This was by no way a controlled, scientific, or accurate test. This was just my informal testing and observations. YMMV.

This was in an 18" CYL barrel - well it should be a CYL since it was an 26" barrel chopped down to 18" and I didn't opt to get it threaded for a choke.

[professionalcoyotehunter]

Thanks for the range report. Nice shooting.

[BigDogatPlay]

Good on you for going through the exercise of finding what shoots best out of your gun. The Hornady and Federal rounds use a similar technology wad that holds the shot together farther out, pretty much regardless of the gun from what I've experienced. My 870P likes the Federal.

I've not tried the Winchester Ranger, but I may just to see how it performs in my guns.

The Winchester "military grade" doesn't pattern well out of any of my guns past ten yards or so. That said, it's cheap, can be found just about anywhere in quantity, has plenty of power to get the job done, and at typical HD ranges (21 feet or less) it's almost certainly going to deliver all it's pellets on the target. For me it makes perfectly good practice fodder to stay used to the effects of full charge ammo.

[Cody]

Nice range report. I love stuff like this.

-Cody

[stove pipe]

"To note, the stated FPS for the Personal Defense is 1145...much lower than the Hornady TAP (1600) and Winchester Ranger - I think due to over penetration concerns (since it is designed for HD and not LE)."

Actually, that's not quite right. The Federal, Hornady and Winchester you tested are all low recoil. All are LE spec.

Federal PD13200 (Personal Defense) has the same specs as LE13200 (Law Enforcement) - both are 1145 fps and 9 pellets.

Hornady TAP #8626 (blue hull 8 pellet) is 1100 fps.

Winchester Ranger RA1200 9 pellet is 1145 fps.

[xLusi0n]

Actually the Hornady TAP says it is 1600 FPS on the box. And you are correct that the Winchester Ranger is 1145 fps.

Attached is photo:

[xLusi0n]

I just checked their website and the website says 1100 FPS!!! Did I get one with a typo on the label? It is the blue hull...hmmm...

I think it is a typo on the label...cross referencing with their website, it's the light magnum round (red hull) that is supposed to be 1600fps and for semi-auto/pump shotguns...

The red hull one I have is supposed to be for pump action (lower velocity = less reliable)...I'm going to e-mail them.