There was some discussion in a recent post about the effectiveness of buckshot. I got the impression some were selling it’s effectiveness short. I made up some 12 pellet 00 buck shells. 00 is .33 caliber.

12 pellets weighed 1.41 ounces or roughly 615 grains. I loaded 26 grains of Longshot.

Using a WAA 12 Red 1 3/8 wad, 4 layers of 3 fit 12 pellets nicely.

Stack height was just right and it crimped nicely.

I was targeting around 10,000 psi for a clean burn. Extrapolating from 1 1/2 ounce data, I was looking for around 1,225 fps. It didn’t miss that by much.

I patterned it out of an old full choke Mossberg 500. At 50 steps it put all 12 on an 18”x16” cardboard box.

In a short barrel with an open choke it is pretty nasty at close range.

As a kid, my best friend and I conducted a field trial on 00 Buck. His old man gave him a Model 12 and he had 50 rounds of 00 Buck to burn up. We had a dump that was full of empty steel pesticide cans from the cash cropper. If I recall correctly, we were able to penetrate 9 cans stacked in a line, so the pellets had to penetrate 17 layers of that steel drum before they were left to rattle around in the last can. Number 4 shot wouldn't even penetrate one side of the Monsanto drum.

Conclusion:

00 Buck is a baaad mofo, especially at close range

Nice presentation.

Street sweeper, trench gun, coach gun (riding shotgun) all came from the shotgun as a defense and sometimes offensive weapon. One of the best things to use in the house.

That will work.

The thing that kills buck shot to me is range, get it outside of its effective range and you pizzin in the wind. I have shot a lot of critters with buckshot as a teen - young adult and in the 50 and in range found it to be very effective.

One of the kids i knew growing up shot his first several deer with a 20 ga and buckshot. He limited shots to 50 yards covered their head with it and never had an issue.

Right tool for the job.

Past 50 yards, it's rifle time.

Inside the house, buckshot is a dang good alternative.

That's pretty stout - 12 00 pellets in a 2.75 shell and still 1225fps!

My favorite 'coyote medicine' shotshell is a 3" Remington #4 buckshot (0.24) - 41 pellets!! also at 1225fps.
Perfect for fast moving 'yotes that get too close to the house day or nite.

Some shotguns just will not pattern buckshot good enough, nothing like what your getting out of the Mossberg. However if you have a shotgun that does pattern buckshot well and know where the pattern is centered it works pretty good.

Effective as heck, when used for the right purposes. I don't believe in it for deer, and prefer rifled slugs. For self-defense, or aggressive close range offense, it is terrorizing. A good friend had one for CQB in Iraq when clearing houses.

I have a short-barreled adjustable choke 10 gauge for close-range varmint gun (in my lap), with 3 1/2" #4 buck. It's a shredder out to 60-70 yards in sagebrush, and it can't be beat for super close coyotes.

Smokey what length was the barrel?

It's like everything else.
You don't know anything until you shoot some shells.
Sometimes the gun needs different chokes, etc.
Sometimes the ammo won't do right out of a particular
shotgun, and a different configuration or brand needs
to be tried.
If you load, different components will have to be tried
to make things work.

The right buckshot and gun is very effective for deer,
but you won't know until you SHOOT

Gospel according to Max. No shortcuts to performance.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

None I know of
I wish I did know.
I'd write a book and become a gazillionaire

30”

Whaaaaaat?

You actually have to go test your loads on a range?

Say it ain't so!

For magnum shot shell loads, Longshot is a great powder.

Yeah. . . I know.
That's not the way to do things like so many do.
Log on a website and scroll down a chart and
use the info it gives.
I still actually discharge my firearm and take
note of the results.
Call me old fashioned

What was the wad you used? Any over card? I gotta know, was the nail to push them around so the would stack? I have never loaded 00 buck. I have loaded lots of shotgun shells including steel but never loaded buckshot.

The wad has a pretty short crush section and the base gets a really tight seal in the tapered AA hull. The wad pressure on my MEC is set up to seat a one ounce figure 8 wad right now. The head of the spike was used to make sure the wad is fully seated on the powder. Then the point of the spike to manipulate the pellets inside the hull to stack it in layers of three. Then the head of the spike to make sure the stack is nice and tidy. (No way my fingers will fit) No overshot card used and might be an issue to get it to fit. Using a dense powder is necessary to get the stack height to crimp in a AA.

Nothing about a shotgun is for long range.

615 grains at 115 grain +P 9mm velocity will absolutely floor a deer at 50 yards, assuming you can put it all on him. Anyone that disagrees with that has never done it.

I've seen matching rifles shoot the same load equally well.
I've seen matching rifles need very, very different powder charges to get them to shoot to their potential, using the same components.
Only one way to learn on that, go shoot em. Evidently, shotgun is no different.

Great work Smokey, I'm a big fan of 00 buckshot myself for home defense and close range hunting. I've got a turkey gun that I shoot 3 1/2" mag 00 buckshot in with an Extra Full choke. It kicks like a mule but is straight up nasty on critters.

Good info. I thank you.

Marc