14 inch barrels and flitecontrol

Joel

Joel

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Fellas,

Have read elsewhere of 14" barrels having problems with Flitecontrol because of the amount of blast at the muzzle stripping the wad or some such...but it was only one source/thread.

How did you find it through your shorties? Pattern as well as longer barrels?
 
Federal Flightcontrol wads shoot perfectly out of my Tac-14 with a 14" barrel with a fixed Cylinder choke ....

Federal Flightcontol ammo and Hornady Versatite ammo (which has a Flightcontrol wad) is all I am shooting out of my Tac-14 ....


Federal_Tactical_00Buck_FlightControlWad_20Meters_Tac14_lowres.JPG


Link to picture
 
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For a guy who is used to buckshot...is that good or bad? haha.

Looks plenty dense in the middle of that circle alright! Killed the heck out of whatever game that was.
 
This is what I get....kinda hard to interpret the mess, if there's a fist size group of buck in there sorry lol

Looks to me like a heavy birdshot/turkey load. Fist size group at 20 meters though? Heck yeah...that definitely counts as shooting juuust fine from the short barrel lol

Hornady-Magnum-No4-20-Meters-lowres.jpg
 
Now that's more like it!

Federal-Tactical-00-Buck-Flight-Control-Wad-20-Meters-Tac14-lowres.jpg



As for chokes:

I've been told that constriction hurts the pattern because it slows down the Flitecontrol wad and allows the shot to leave it. The reason the FC patterns are so tight is because they kinda are a slug for a while lol. They stay in the FC wad and slowly separate from it.

If your choke deaccelerates the FC wad/cup...the shot begins to start doing its own thing.

I've NOT tested this though. Would be interested in seeing what the package says, if anything.
 
A couple more observation from my testing of Federal Flightcontrol and Hornady Versatite ammo ....

1.) There are at least 2 -3 different kinds of Flightcontrol wads that Federal is using in their ammo. For example the high velocity Black Cloud ammo from Federal uses a Flightcontrol was that has stiffer pedals .... And that makes sense .... higher velocity rounds create a bigger muzzle blast .... so Federal adapted the wad to that ...

2.) The lower velocity offering seem to pattern tighter. I get a fist size pattern at 20 meters with Federal Tactical 9 pellet 00 buckshot with a velocity of 1145 FPS. But that pattern opens up quite a bit with the Federal Premium 9 pellet 00 buckshot that runs at 1325 FPS.
 
Interesting to hear that!

Again, not firsthand like you, but had also been told slower patterns better, and 8 generally patterns better than 9 (always seems to be a flyer doing its own thing)
 
Joel said:
...

I've been told that constriction hurts the pattern because it slows down the Flitecontrol wad and allows the shot to leave it. The reason the FC patterns are so tight is because they kinda are a slug for a while lol. They stay in the FC wad and slowly separate from it.

If your choke deaccelerates the FC wad/cup...the shot begins to start doing its own thing.

I've NOT tested this though. Would be interested in seeing what the package says, if anything.
Click to expand...

Joel, yes .... that was my understanding as well from all my reading and research of the Flightcontrol wad.

However, my actual tests did not confirm this "theory" or "myth".

My conclusion from all my tests .... and I have tested the Flightcontrol/Versatite wad extensively .... buckshot, birdshot, Black Cloud steel shot .... etc. ...

According to my findings .... in general .... Flightcontrol ammo benefit from a choke. Of course there is a sweet spot ... and after that constriction the pattern will open up again ....

As an example ... for the 12 pellet 3 inch 00 Buckshot load from Federal (1325 FPS) .... and out of my 870 Police with an 18" barrel ... the sweet spot was a .680 constriction. And .680 is an Extra Full Remchoke ....

With my Turkey chokes the pattern did open up again ....


p.s.: All my tests were with non-ported chokes! How the Flightcontrol wad patterns out of a ported choke .... I have no idea ....
 
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0faustus0 said:
Joel, yes .... that was my understanding as well from all my reading and research of the Flightcontrol wad.

However, my actual test did not confirm this "theory" or "myth".

My conclusion from all my tests .... and I have tested the Flightcontrol/Versatite wad extensively .... buckshot, birdshot, Black Cloud steel shot .... etc. ...

According to my findings .... in general .... Flightcontrol ammo benefit from a choke. Of course there is a sweet spot ... and after that constriction the pattern will open up again ....

As an example ... for the 12 pellet 3 inch 00 Buckshot load from Federal (1325 FPS) .... and out of my 870 Police with an 18" barrel ... the sweet spot was a .680 constriction. And .680 is an Extra Full Remchoke ....

With my Turkey chokes the pattern did open up again ....


p.s.: All my tests were with non-ported chokes! How the Flightcontrol wad patterns out of ported chokes .... I have no idea ....
Click to expand...

Very cool...thanks for the actual use info!
 
This sure became a great info dump haha. Thanks man!

How do you like the 14 inchers compared to 18.5" etc. Been forever since I had a 14" Norinco clone, 870 or 590
 
Joel said:
This sure became a great info dump haha. Thanks man!

How do you like the 14 inchers compared to 18.5" etc. Been forever since I had a 14" Norinco clone, 870 or 590
Click to expand...

Joel, you are welcome ....

I love my Tac14 .... it is my favorite woods bumming/scouting gun .... It just feels natural to shoot ... for me at least.

My full stock 18" 870 Police guns are much heavier to carry ....

The only thing I don't like about my Tac-14 is the loud blast when I am out in the woods and not wearing hearing protection ....

Tac14_Marine_Sept_2020_lowres.jpg


Link to image


I am thinking about getting another Tac-14 ... and to get it threaded for chokes .... we will see ....
 
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