Does anyone else have problems with these shells cycling thru their shotgun. Seems to me that some of the spent shells will eject but others won't. I looked at some that did not eject and by the naked eye the brass did not seem round but oblong to a degree. I thought well maybe, it's the lower end shell for Winchester,so less quality. I tried a couple of boxes of Drylok, and never once had a problem. So this leads me to believe it's not my shotgun, but maybe an quality control issue with Winchester?
Sorry if they are a sponsor of the forum, but just wanted to know if anyone else was having this problem.

I would say that the Expert's are about the bottom of the rung for Steel shot. Most of them I have a hard time gettting consistent patterns. But, I have found that the 3" #2 Shot patterns well out of my gun and knocks down ducks out to 40/50 yards without any problems.

Well I have used 3" #2 and #4 pretty consistently and I get the same results from both.

never had a problem with them not cycling, pattern problems ,Yes.
Gun dirty?

I've never had a problem with them cycling. The only reason I quit shooting them is because I found something cheaper.

Nope, just can't seem to have a full gun eject all the way. Problem is it's mabye the 1st shell or the 2nd or the 3rd. I never know. I started going to higher end shells and I don't have a problem, that's why I was wondering if anyone else had this problem.

The only thing cheaper is throwing rocks at them

nope, if you buy Federal by the case from Rogers Sporting Goods you can get them cheaper than Xperts by the case.

I will give that a try, I am done with buying box by box, next season it will be a case. Thanks Hayraker

I have never had a problem with them. That's all I shoot mainly because im a college student and can't afford black cloud, heavyshot, and hypersonics.

No problems with my M2000 or 870. I will say the ones I bought from wally mart didn't shoot- as in hit- as many ducks as the ones I bought elsewhere. Try the Hypersonics.....

I'm really surprised this topic has never come up before.

could just be a bad lot.

It hasn't since season ended atleast!

I've killed a bunch of ducks with experts, they aren't the best though, you will see that if you cut one open and look at the shot. Gonna stock up on kents this year and see if I like the difference.

Shot em' in the #2 shot 1-1/4 oz 3 inch configuration in two different 870's and a Mossberg 500 and they didn't do real well for me and didn't pattern real well either, all three guns had issues with jambing as well, now that I think about it...
After doing some testing though all 3 of these guns didn't do real well with more expensive loads in this configuration either except for the fact that the jambing issues went away. It gets back to what I said earlier in another post.....you get what you pay for.
Do I think you could work with the shells and get good performance out of them? Heck ya! With the speed they make if you could get them to pattern right and not jamb they would probably kill just as many ducks as anything else.

Never had a problem with experts I shoot them most
Of the time but the federals that are cheaper at
Rogers patterned like a donut

That's kind of what I'm seeing with my guns on # 2 shot in general. I get that or "cold fronts" on a weather map with big gaps in between. I'm going to buy a some more chokes and work on this in the off season. I'd love to create a #2 steel sledge hammer that was good to 50 yards. I think I'm going to work with some steel "full" set ups. I'll probably buy one of the Kicks Vortex chokes in the full or extra full. It will make hitting them a little harder but as much as I shoot in the off season that shouldn't be a problem.

My thoughts exactly, I have killed my fair share with those shells, but who knows if another round will chamber, after the 1st shot.

Tried some of the 2-3/4in. x 1-1/16oz. x-turds for the early season and did'nt like the results. Went to the 3in. x 1-1/8 version and they seemed to do much better with only one ftf.

I only have myself to blame as i never pattern anything anymore. I just run em through the light mod. and hope for the best.

To be fair, if i do my part even the x-turds will kill.

I won't bore you with all of the details but take a look at the sort of crap that comes from the Xpert factory.





I sent three (3) rounds just like this one, and three full boxes, back to Winchester at their request. They sent me three boxes of Dryloks for my troubles. They refused to put in writing what the results of their inspection revealed as far as the cause of the problems.

What a bunch of amature idiots they are.

That's something else that I hadn't thought about....I bought all the Xperts I shot at Wally World too!

Geez..just because these shells don't work for some people doesn't mean they wont for others. Sure they're a cheap shell, but thats the way they were INTENDED to be. I have to say, "Thank you" winchester for making a cheap shell for us broke college students. Sure, they dont pattern the best. But they still kill ducks.

Exactly Featherduster, they do have a purpose. I thought for a while as tight as things were around here that I was going to have to shoot Xperts or sit at the house. I wound up scrounging up enough money to get some Black Cloud #2 shot which is not what I am set up for, we shoot #4's in BC, but I would have shot the Xperts and been "happier than a a dead pig in the sunshine" if it come down to it. We still paid a price for not having the right shot though, we couldn't take down birds unless they were under 20 yards. It turned out to be a good thing because it made me work harder at decoying, disappearing, and calling...

I shoot alot of Xperts and have had a minimal problem with them and that was couple duck shells losing some shot out of the center of the crimp in my pocket. I notified them about it and they promptly sent me coupons for three boxes.

Dove shells from this season:



Duck shells from this season: