Quote:
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 .
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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.
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