1891 EH

[Tom Flanigan]

Guys, if I may, just a few comments on slugs and buckshot. Back in the day, I did a lot of patterning with buckshot loads and used them for swamp whitetails. What I found is that 00 buck did not pattern well at all out of my full choke barrel. My particular gun, a 28” DHE bored modified and full, handled 00 buck better with the modified choke barrel. Obviously, the full choke barrel in that gun was bored too tight for the 00 buck. Big shot needs less constriction than smaller shot to perform best. I never could get the patterns I wanted with 00 so I tested other size shot and settled on #1 buck. I got what I was looking for from both barrels with this size shot and took many whitetails with it, even though buck shot was illegal in New York. Back in those days, that restriction meant little to me. The swamp I hunted was very close cover and a 40 yard shot was the exception. I used a plastic sleeve to surround the shot and melted candle wax in the shot column. It worked well.

As far as slugs are concerned, different brands should be tested on paper to determine which is best. Each barrel is a world unto itself and generally will shoot a given brand of slug better than other brands.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Tom Flanigan

What I found is that 00 buck did not pattern well at all out of my full choke barrel. My particular gun, a 28” DHE bored modified and full, handled 00 buck better with the modified choke barrel. Obviously, the full choke barrel in that gun was bored too tight for the 00 buck. Big shot needs less constriction than smaller shot to perform best. I never could get the patterns I wanted with 00 so I tested other size shot and settled on #1 buck.

As far as slugs are concerned, different brands should be tested on paper to determine which is best. Each barrel is a world unto itself and generally will shoot a given brand of slug better than other brands.

What you say is generally the rule but not always . I keep Buck sizes 00000 , 0000 , 000 , 00 , 0 , 1 , 2 and 3 on my shelf at all times and I try them all in any gun I plan on using . Amazingly in the 10’s I’ve messed with were not as picky size wise as one would think . In my 12 Parker’s I pretty much use 0 all the time they shoot well enough and they nest very well inside a CB WAA12 wad . In the 16 I’ve used #1 mostly but have started using 0 as well . In the 20 I’ve obly tried 2 and 3 . To date I’ve used all the sizes mentioned in various 10 gauge SxS’s to take deer as well as the two 10 gauge slugs I have molds for .

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

What you say is generally the rule but not always . I keep Buck sizes 00000 , 0000 , 000 , 00 , 0 , 1 , 2 and 3 on my shelf at all times and I try them all in any gun I plan on using . Amazingly in the 10’s I’ve messed with were not as picky size wise as one would think . In my 12 Parker’s I pretty much use 0 all the time they shoot well enough and they nest very well inside a CB WAA12 wad . In the 16 I’ve used #1 mostly but have started using 0 as well . In the 20 I’ve obly tried 2 and 3 . To date I’ve used all the sizes mentioned in various 10 gauge SxS’s to take deer as well as the two 10 gauge slugs I have molds for .

My testing was with the gun mentioned only. It was the only gun I used for deer for a few years. I didn't test buckshot with any other guns and so my comments were for this gun only. I don't know whether or not similar bored guns would produce similar results. Maybe not. The important thing, from my perspective, is that a gun should be shot at paper with different loads or brands of ammunition with slugs. It's the only way to tell for sure which is the optimum load for a particular gun. As I mentioned, each barrel is a world unto itself. What works fine in one barrel might not work that well in another barrel although similarly choked.


One interesting and surprising thing I found is that melted wax throughout the shot column provided better patterns, but if the shell was left for more than a week and then shot, the wax held all the shot together and only one ragged hole was found on the pattern paper. I used to load every week for the shells that I would use that week. I was very surprised at this finding but apparently the wax left for over a week or so hardens to the extent that it held the shot together.