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.
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