Testing Buckshot effectivness

[stevejones]

I want to do some testing of buckshot. What I want to do is see what its penetration is like at different ranges. If I use phone books how many inches of penetration through a phone book would be enough to kill a deer sized animal? Perhaps there is a better medium but I have no idea what to use.

Thanks. Steve.

 

[brybenn]

I used actual deer bones wrapped in wet news paper to about 5" across then wrapped jeans over them duct taped it to 3/4" plywood and set a 4l water jug on the other side where the ribs would be. My tests showed 45 yards to be max. Buffalo bore 2 3/4" 00 buck seemed best in my gun

I now use 3.5" 00 buck. 18 pellets. Mod choke. Kills at both ends

 

[a j cave]

Try a wood box with cardboard partitions every 6 inches. fill with wet newspaper.

 

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

I used actual deer bones wrapped in wet news paper to about 5" across then wrapped jeans over them duct taped it to 3/4" plywood and set a 4l water jug on the other side where the ribs would be. My tests showed 45 yards to be max. Buffalo bore 2 3/4" 00 buck seemed best in my gun

You definitely have some time on your hands! Kidding aside, that's good beta for sure.

 

[brybenn]

I use my sick days wisely!

 

[Brobee]

About 10 years ago I did a massive project on the gambit of shotgun rounds; from #9 birdshot through BBb, then through all the various sizes of buckshot, and then abut a half a dozen different types of slugs. I chronographed them all at 5 yards and then again at 20 yards(went through a couple chronographed in the process, d'oh!!) and shot them all into calibrated big ballistics gel blocks to collect comparative info on their terminal performance.

My interpretation of my observations would be that for your stated purpose of killing a deer at various ranges, how your gun patterns the buckshot is a much more important variable than which one penetrates better. Put another way....what is the max range your shotgun can put all of those pellets within an 18 to 24 inch circle (height of deer from top of thorax to bottom of thorax)? Once your pattern opens up past this, the probability of passing a pellet through the deer's vital organs goes down significantly, especially if you are talking about the 9 pellets in a standard 2&3/4 shell of 00 buck.

From a penetration perspective, I would not go anything smaller than #4 buck, with #1 buck being my preference (if you can find it!). BBB might be tempting, but IMHO it does not generate the penetration you would need at ranges any further than 5 or 7 yards.

To give you a bit of flavor on where my opinion comes from, I'll post below a sampling of some of my ballistics gel tests from 10 years ago. The penetration you see below is at a range of approximately 5 yards. It is not meaningfully different at 15 or 20 yards, however the pattern is much more open.

As an aside, over the years there has been sustained interest in my old library, which i took down a couple years ago for a couple different reasons. since removing them I've received alot of correspondence asking me to re-post the complete library. I had been thinking abut it, however I've recently decided to re-do them all and address all of the shortcomings of the previous tests. I'm half way through getting organized to re-do the complete project again, and this time will do it in HD video and will also include a lot of 20 gauge rounds.

Number 8 birdshot:

Number 5 birdshot:

Number 4 birdshot:

Number 2 birdshot:

Number 1 birdshot:

Lead BB:

#4 buckshot:

#1 buckshot:

00 buckshot:

Remington reduced recoil foster slug:

Winchester super-x 1600fps foster slug:

Brennake R10:

Cheers,

Brobee

 

[Mount Sweetness]

Thanks for posting that Brobee, great work.

 

[sunray]

With any size of buck shot, it's more about having enough pellets hit the vitals than how far in they go. And wet newspaper doesn't tell you anything. Nothing alive is anything like wet paper. It is great fun shooting it though.
Oh and the ammo makers have tested everything they make up the ying/yang.

 

[mbogo3]

Deer wilt on the fly with SSG or #1 buck and a full or modified duck gun.Clean kills to 50 yards head over heels .Harold

 

[stevejones]

I have tested federal Flite control buckshot in the past. With my Remington 870 and the 18 and a half deer slayer barrel (no choke) I have tested it out to 50 yards. I found that every pellet stayed within a 30 inch circle with a minimum of 6 hits in the vitals. My concern is not the amount of hots but whether it will penetrate the vitals sufficiently enough to kill a deer (Vancouver Island Blacktail) cleanly. Sounds like it will...?

Cheers. Steve.

 

[mrgoat]

Brobee

Very interesting post and pictures. Your advice to the op I agree with 100%. After missing a deer with #00 buck I also did a lot of testing many, many years back but without the benefit gel blocks and chronographs. But I did accurately determine that out of my shotgun with buckshot 40yds was the very max range to be shooting at deer. Also tested a lot of slugs.

Personally I think buckshot is great for the armed forces clearly houses in Afganastan but leave them on the shelf and take the slugs for deer hunting. The slug has a far greater effective range with the killing power to match. Your gel block pictures are very telling.

Good work young fella I will look forward to seeing your future test results.

 

[JamesM]

Brobee

Very interesting post and pictures. Your advice to the op I agree with 100%. After missing a deer with #00 buck I also did a lot of testing many, many years back but without the benefit gel blocks and chronographs. But I did accurately determine that out of my shotgun with buckshot 40yds was the very max range to be shooting at deer. Also tested a lot of slugs.

Personally I think buckshot is great for the armed forces clearly houses in Afganastan but leave them on the shelf and take the slugs for deer hunting. The slug has a far greater effective range with the killing power to match. Your gel block pictures are very telling.

Good work young fella I will look forward to seeing your future test results.

Yes buckshot lacks the range of slugs but it can and does fill a unique niche and kills very effectively in its range generally 40-50 yards depending on your choke, load and individual guns. I don't know about Ontario but here in New Brunswick there are areas that are buckshot or bow only. I'd also rather accept my range limitations and shoot buckshot through older guns with polly chokes. Buckshot is an effective hunting tool and I would never say it doesn't belong deer hunting provided you accept its limitations, but I do concede that slugs are more accurate and give better performance at longer ranges.

 

[tjhaile]

I have tested federal Flite control buckshot in the past. With my Remington 870 and the 18 and a half deer slayer barrel (no choke) I have tested it out to 50 yards. I found that every pellet stayed within a 30 inch circle with a minimum of 6 hits in the vitals. My concern is not the amount of hots but whether it will penetrate the vitals sufficiently enough to kill a deer (Vancouver Island Blacktail) cleanly. Sounds like it will...?

Cheers. Steve.

If you absolutely must shoot a deer with buckshot, the Flitecontrol stuff stands head and shoulders above the rest. Less choke is more with it; I got noticeably better patterns even going from improved cylinder to skeet in my testing.

I agree that you will likely run out of pattern density before the pellets slow down too much to provide adequate penetration, assuming shot of adequate size.

 

[Brobee]

I have tested federal Flite control buckshot in the past. With my Remington 870 and the 18 and a half deer slayer barrel (no choke) I have tested it out to 50 yards. I found that every pellet stayed within a 30 inch circle with a minimum of 6 hits in the vitals. My concern is not the amount of hots but whether it will penetrate the vitals sufficiently enough to kill a deer (Vancouver Island Blacktail) cleanly. Sounds like it will...?

Cheers. Steve.

I agree with JamesM, mrgoat, and tjhaile; slugs are hands-down a more effective choice, however if all you have access to (or if the rules require) buckshot and it patterns in your gun as you describe above, you should have ample penetration for island blacktail deer.

Cheers,

Brobee.

 

[a j cave]

I shot 1 deer with 00, in a shotgun only zone. I used a 10 ga. SxS. 5 pellets in vitals dropped it like I had ropes on all 4 legs. You need to pattern your gun and that should tell you the range. Even though the energy from 1 pellet is small the multiple hits seems to exponentially effect killing. Coyotes fall well with only a few pellets, but they must be in vitals! You need to have the discipline to let a deer (or coyote) walk when it is out of effective range.

 

[NB444]

Years ago I had a full choked Mossberg pump that I loaded up with 3" 00 Buck (3 shots) and went for a stroll. An unfortunate doe walked out on the trail in front of me about 20 yards away. My personal philosophy is shoot it till it drops and I unloaded that gun into the doe. It worked! When I skinned her she had 25 or so holes in her. Good thing you can "eat up to the hole" with buckshot! Surprisingly most of the pellets failed to penetrate through and through but it's hard to argue with dead!

 

[captonion]

Deer wilt on the fly with SSG or #1 buck and a full or modified duck gun.Clean kills to 50 yards head over heels .Harold

Agree on how devastating buckshot is, but 50yds is a stretch IMO. Used within average bow hunting range (40yds max) it is very effective, beyond that not so much.

 

[Gatehouse]

I was going to tell you to Gpoogl;e stuff, as there has been lots of tests done, but Brobee has great information right in here. He does some pretty cool stuff.

 

[antiqueguy]

how your gun patterns is way more important then penetration ive used both 9 pellets of 00 and 6 pellets of 0000 its all about finding the right pattern and I will tell you a more open choke helps you want a good number of pellets to be at least in 10" at 20 yards i would not push it past 30 yards buck is a close range round and is best used in thick brush

 

[SoBored]

how your gun patterns is way more important then penetration ive used both 9 pellets of 00 and 6 pellets of 0000 its all about finding the right pattern and I will tell you a more open choke helps you want a good number of pellets to be at least in 10" at 20 yards i would not push it past 30 yards buck is a close range round and is best used in thick brush

I agree, don't put the cart before the horse. Pattern your gun at whatever range you are planning to use it, the results might surprise you. Then once you know where and how many are hitting, you can worry about penetration.

Here's a thread I did a while back with some 5 ball 000 buck checking spread at 10, 20 and 25 yards with 14", 18.5" and 26" barrels.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?808766-000-Buckshot-and-barrel-length