Buckshot

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Anyone using buckshot on deer in damascus guns, and if so, what range do you limit yourself to?

[Stan Hillis]

After spending a considerable part of my early adulthood chasing deer in the woods and swamps with deer dogs, and using buckshot exclusively on them, I determined that 30 yards is about it for effectiveness. Sure, many have been killed with it at much longer ranges, but I've seen some spectacular failures with good hits on deer and lack of penetration, even with big blue whistlers like 00.

I've never used it out of damascus, but don't see why there'd be any significant difference between it and fluid steel barrels, as long as the pressures were in line with what we feel is safe for damascus.

[Garry L Gordon]

I grew up in the South and buckshot was common -- as with Stan, it was shooting deer chased out of swamps by dogs. It's outlawed in the Mid-West. I'd sure use it if I could. I wish RST loaded buckshot (or had any shells for sale, for that matter!).

[Bruce Hering]

The trick to using buckshot to my mind is getting the chokes right based on the load you are going to shoot. My father sent two Remington Model 11 12ga. guns and several boxes of ammo (these were paper shells without shot cups) to some guy in the South when I was a kid (late 50's or early 60's) and had him work the chokes to shoot the stuff he sent with the guns.

I can say these loads and "worked" barrels were devastating to deer out to 40 yards or so. This was in New Jersey. I dont remember the loads but I do remember Dad saying they would put all the pellets inside an 18" circle with several pellets always grouping close together.

Buckshot is funny stuff especially 00...

[CraigThompson]

I’ve killed plenty deer with buckshot from damascus barreled guns . All sizes #3 up to 00000 in the 10 gauge , 0 in the 12 , #1 in the 16 . Also fooled with 000000 in the 8 gauge . As Stan stated earlier thirty yards is a good max range . My parameters may not be as stringent as others but it’s worked for me . Also had a fair amount of success with home cast slugs in all gauges from the 8 down to the 28 and again my parameters are thirty yards or less . Punkin balls I’ve messed with in the 8 a fair amount and in the 10 a little . Bare in mind all the ammo I used in damascus/twist guns was Handloaded , buckshot sizes 0000 , 00000 and 000000 as well as slugs and punkin balls I cast myself .

[charlie cleveland]

I ve shot buckshot in Damascus andtwist most were full choke and modified....in a tight patterning gun 40 yards is death to a deer...if cly or improved cly 30 yards max...I m with craig on pumpkin balls 30 yards max. for average guns...my old 8 ga with pumpkin balls 30yards is the limit...wish I could do better with it...charlie

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Thanks for the responses so far. My main reason for asking is that I've been fooling around with handloading 00 Buck in a full choked Lefever. The regular 00 has been pretty erratic out to around 30 yards, but when I switched to 8 pellets of Copper washed 00 the grouping has been much better. My best load so far has been 6 of the 8 in a 5 inch group ( with 2 fliers ) at about 40 yards. I believe the velocity was in the 1200 fps range. I will be checking that load for penetration and may up the velocity a little if not satisfied. Frankly, I was very pleased with the grouping and will use this load if the penetration seems adequate.

[CraigThompson]

Thanks for the responses so far. My main reason for asking is that I've been fooling around with handloading 00 Buck in a full choked Lefever. The regular 00 has been pretty erratic out to around 30 yards, but when I switched to 8 pellets of Copper washed 00 the grouping has been much better. My best load so far has been 6 of the 8 in a 5 inch group ( with 2 fliers ) at about 40 yards. I believe the velocity was in the 1200 fps range. I will be checking that load for penetration and may up the velocity a little if not satisfied. Frankly, I was very pleased with the grouping and will use this load if the penetration seems adequate.

The whole more open choke to the larger pellets isn’t a bad starting point . However I’ve shot 00 and larger thru tight barrels with good results inside my own parameters . My own findings however haven’t always followed the gospel so to speak .

[Stan Hillis]

I found that the problem with buckshot at longer ranges wasn't with the inability to put pellets on target, it was with lack of penetration. I well remember an eleven pointer i shot dead on in the front of the chest at 35 yards with a 2 3/4" load of double aughts (00). He ran off and only bled a few drops. I killed him the next year with a .300 Savage and when I skinned him I dug out two or three pellets that were encased in a clearish gristle-like substance. They hadn't penetrated much over 1 1/2 inches, or if they had they worked back out towards the skin. Definitely not lethal penetration. I think people tend to not choose their shots with buckshot as critically as they do with a rifle. If you did, and only took broadside lung shots with buckshot, the kill rate would be much higher, and maybe could be depended on at more than 30 yards.

Copper plated buckshot always patterned much tighter for me than unplated. I remember well when Federal introduced the first copper plated buckshot rounds. They really patterned close out of my gun.

And hogs? It's even less effective on big hogs. That shield and tough skin reduces the effectiveness tremendously, in my experience.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

I deconstructed some Federal "Tactical" rounds that contained copper plated 00 buck to begin my experimental handloads with. The wads used in those rounds were of a very thick un slit material, without a cushioning section, similar to Steel Shot wads. It is possible that these wads could tighten patterns even further but not having any baseline loading data and not knowing what powder was used by Federal I decided not to use them and opted for Federal 12S3 wads instead for my handloads. Is anyone familiar with the Federal "Tactical" rounds regarding pressure/velocity specs?
The penetration tests that I did this morning were encouraging. The 00 Buck passed through (6) 3/4 inch pine boards and were stopped by the seventh. Another round was fired into a live Oak and penetrated almost 1 1/2 inches. I also fired 3 rounds over my chronograph and got an average reading of 1236 fps.
Now all I need to do is find a deer.

[Bruce Hering]

Thanks for the responses so far. My main reason for asking is that I've been fooling around with handloading 00 Buck in a full choked Lefever. The regular 00 has been pretty erratic out to around 30 yards, but when I switched to 8 pellets of Copper washed 00 the grouping has been much better. My best load so far has been 6 of the 8 in a 5 inch group ( with 2 fliers ) at about 40 yards. I believe the velocity was in the 1200 fps range. I will be checking that load for penetration and may up the velocity a little if not satisfied. Frankly, I was very pleased with the grouping and will use this load if the penetration seems adequate.

Austin: That is the same kind of results we got way back when.... What Lefever are you shooting and what are the chokes ? I wonder what adding some of that fluffy "buffer" might do to performance ?

I thought Jersey had dropped buckshot in favor of slugs. ??????

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

The Lefever is a G grade with 32" barrels that I purchased from a member a few years ago choked .036 and .038 and weighing 8 pds. 2 oz. It was intended for Squirrels and Mad Jack, but I've gotten the itch to hunt deer again so, not knowing the psi of factory buckshot, I began experimenting handloads. I do put some buffer material in my loads just in case it may improve the grouping. Slugs or Buckshot are both legal here but you need a scoped, or iron sighted, shotgun to use slugs. I tried them once in a pump gun and my shoulder will never forget the recoil.

[Bruce Hering]

The Lefever is a G grade with 32" barrels that I purchased from a member a few years ago choked .036 and .038 and weighing 8 pds. 2 oz. It was intended for Squirrels and Mad Jack, but I've gotten the itch to hunt deer again so, not knowing the psi of factory buckshot, I began experimenting handloads. I do put some buffer material in my loads just in case it may improve the grouping. Slugs or Buckshot are both legal here but you need a scoped, or iron sighted, shotgun to use slugs. I tried them once in a pump gun and my shoulder will never forget the recoil.

Buckshot was all we could use when I was a kid growing up in NE Bergen County. That was back in the late 50's and up to mid 60's when I left for college. When did they change ?

[tom leshinsky]

when i hunted deer in jersey in the 50s/ 60s we used 000 buckshot. Way more
tighter groups and 1 more pellet. 2 pellets per layer 5 layers in 2 3/4 in shell

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

I assume shotcups were not used for buckshot back then. Do you know? Some of the 1980's Remington factory loads that I have taken apart did not have them. Actually, the only buckshot loads that I have seen having a shotcup were the aforementioned Federal Tactical loads.

[Bruce Hering]

I assume shotcups were not used for buckshot back then. Do you know? Some of the 1980's Remington factory loads that I have taken apart did not have them. Actually, the only buckshot loads that I have seen having a shotcup were the aforementioned Federal Tactical loads.

Austin: The loads we shot back then did not have any kind of shot cup or liner. The liner came into play with the first Winchester XX load I believe.

[Jerry Harlow]

If I were going to use a 2 3/4 inch gun in 12 gauge for deer and I was worried about penetration, I would go with a handload of TSS in number 2 or B fine shot. A one ounce load would give you twice as many pellets as standard buckshot and you could super wad the load up so it never touched the bore. This shot will go through the deer even at long distances.

Lots of info on these loads. Here is one example. One does not need more than an ounce, maybe less due to the number of shot in the load and the penetration. This is just my opinion.

http://www.tungstensupershots.com/viewtopic.php?t=76

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Rather amazing results with that TSS however here, in New Jersey, only Buckshot or slugs are allowed for deer hunting. It looks like an awful lot of meat is damaged though with TSS.

[Jerry Harlow]

Rather amazing results with that TSS however here, in New Jersey, only Buckshot or slugs are allowed for deer hunting. It looks like an awful lot of meat is damaged though with TSS.

There is no need for the loads they are shooting with TSS that destroy a deer and make it useless. One ounce would be more than enough. That is why the smaller TSS is considered buckshot and would be legal. TSS is 56% heavier than lead. So you don't need a traditional buckshot size. Maybe one day the NJ game department will catch up with other states to allow it. We can use whatever size we want, because they call it "shotgun only" counties. No restrictions on shot size. If NJ calls it shotgun only, then they don't define it as "buckshot only." But you may have to worry about larger size shot bridging with TSS in an old gun, and bulge a barrel.