Acceptable Pattern for Buckshot

V

Van Isle

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Hi Gang,
What's the minimum acceptable pattern for buckshot for use on a deer?

Let's say your area has been burned out and gated off, and the only place you can go on your week long trip is a shot-only area. You were unprepared for this, so you buy all 3 kinds of buckshot the local outfitters have to pattern before you head out. At what point would you say "this pattern is good enough?"

80% of pellets in a 12" circle @ 25 yds?
softball sized hole punched @ 50 yds?

Examples and thoughts would help this newb out.

Many thanks,
VI
 
50 yards is on the long side of buckshot range. Try and keep to under 35 yards. Mix and match choke and brands of buckshot, and pick the tightest choke buckshot combination that your shotgun will shoot. But 80% isn't a bad pattern.

Buckshot at shorter ranges is effective. I killed quite a few with the old Peter's 00 buck load out of my Ithaca 280E back in the day.
 
Best to keep your shots withing MAX bow, or turkey range for buckshot to be most effective. beyond these ranges you are gambling.
 
IMHO buckshot is one of the worst rounds for deer. It's range should be limited to 30 yards & closer IMHO. If you must use it, keep the range within 30 yards & you will do ok. Just last year my hunting partner shot a deer that had been shot with buckshot. It had 1 30 cal pellet hole in it's guts. Slow painful death for this deer if we hadn't shot it. Good luck with your hunt & be safe.

George
 
I must agree, 30 yards max unless they have produced a tighter paterning load from a full choke.
Im old school, and understand that shot spreads 1 inch for every yard, so 30 yards = 30 inch patern. Best of luck.:)
 
The problem is buckshot sheds its energy so fast. Unless you use the largest size 000, then out past 30 yards you probably will miss the deer or worse, wound it. In addition, 000 is the worst size for pattern because it deforms so badly when it is forced through the choke. So you have to stay at 30 yards max. If you shoot a deer within that range you will poleaxe it.

Cheers, Steve.
 
The old rule of thumb was that a shot pattern expands 1" in diameter for each yard of range, so at 10 yards you could expect a 10" pattern, at 30 yards a 30" pattern, although a careful selection of shell and some experimentation with choke will mitigate the actual performance to some degree. On a big game animal, I wouldn't want the pattern diameter to exceed 18" and 12" would probably be optimum, but generally I have a poor opinion of shot as an efficient killer.
 
I remember reading an article about hunters in the southern US where only buckshot was allowed. Their method was very much like what Madtrapper has stated. Each person has to see where his shotgun will give a MINIMUM of 4 pellets into an 8" circle, roughly a deers vitals. Start about 25 yds, shoot and verify the 4 hits. If good, take a couple of steps back and retest. Keep testing till you can no longer get consistant results of 4 pellets.
 
Another thing I don't like is that factory buck shot is soft. Its not pure lead but it really deforms when fired and this does not contribute to pattern density. I did some experiments with a muzzle loader and found that casting my own from wheel weights and dropping the pellets into a bucket of water made the shot very hard. I was placing these pellets into a home made "cartridge" made from a tube of rolled brown bag paper, twisted one end shut and filled the cartridge to the top with a mixture of bees wax and Crisco. I found that I could get 100% of the pellets into a 30 inch circle at 50 yards but I do not think that the pellets have enough energy to penetrate a deer to kill it cleanly. I know they were passing through the 3/8 inch OSB board the paper was tacked onto. I guess if I could find some ballistic gel that might help...

Cheers, Steve.
 
A bunch of years ago I tested every brand and weight of buckshot ( and slugs) available to me from local stores. The were HUGE HUGE differences from brand to brand, magnums, low recoil, ect, ect. Not only big differences from one box to the next, but big differences from gun to gun. I don't recall the groupings, but these buckshot rounds only have six or ten pellets in them. Knowing half of therm can get into the deers vitals is key. Personally, I have much more confidence in a 1 oz slug. I double the distance and still carry a ton of energy at 70 yards.

My best advice would be to go and buy the six or seven most available brands and sizes and test them out. Which ever box of shells works best, go back and buy ten more boxes.

For slugs, same tests and advice all over again.
 
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