Hunting with 000 buck

Personally, I wouldn't use it because it was cheap. Slugs can't be beat for shotgun hunting, sabots are even better...
 
I love buckshot!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go hunting blackbear or deer with 000. I have seen deer been shot at I would say 40 yards with 00 buckshot while hunting (my friend got it) and it flew head over heels a meter. ALSO penetration testing is fun just to see how powerfull it really is. espically when you compare 23/4'' too 3'' cartridges. Ill have to check the regs on it tomorrow.
 
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000 is legal in ontario for bears in Ontario. But even a 3 inch shell has only 10 pellets, so it isn't like you're getting much of a pattern. You'd have to be very close and you'd have to take a moment to aim every bit as much as with a slug. I can't imagine being better off with this than slugs.

RG

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Pattern test it and see if it works well enough from your gun to justify using it.
My Browning Auto 5 3" Magnum full choked gun patterns very well with Winchester 3" 000 loads, which surprised me. I didn't expect it.
 
I hunted with 000 buck for years. Very effective at closer ranges. The longest shot I made was 48 yards but I wouldn't recommend that range unless you have a good, clear and open shot. Deadly at 30 yards.:)
 
Assuming your gun patterns well there is no reason why you couldn't. Remington Premier 00 used to pattern half the shot into an area about the size of my fist at 30m out of one particular shotgun. Too bad it was $15 a box, that was 4 years ago too. Nearly everything else I tried would be best at maybe 20m max. Then again I am no big game hunter. I have taken yotes at over 60m with BB and #4 with great results.
 
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You have to check the pattern.

My buddy who is the best waterfowl shot I know was shocked at how poorly 000 buck shot out of his shotgun at 25 yards.
 
I would consider useing 00 or 000 when tracking wounded game in heavy cover that is about it. I have heard to many stories of deer running off after being hit with buckshot, shots being taken outside their range equals wounded animals to suffer(hate hearing that).Slugs make big holes and if you miss than oh well no crippled animals
 
There is only one reason I would ever use 000 buckshot for big game.
Using a pump action 12 bore, in really, really heavily forested cover, this would be the first and only buckshot in the chamber with safety on, or top of the magazine.
The reason, if one is surprized at close range, you have a better chance of hitting big game with one pellet or two or more hopefully, if it is legal to use in this jurisdiction.
This would be the only single buckshot round I would load, the rest of the magazine, the best slugs I can afford.

And if I stepped out into more open terrain, this one 000, would be swiftly replaced with another slug.

My two cents.....
 
...at close range, even in heavy cover, you're going to either hit with all pellets or none.

I don't think that's necessarily a reason not to use it though, I think at short range there is tremendous knock-down power because most of the energy is expended on the bear/deer rather than the woods behind it. I have friends who hunt with SG shot and they seem to generally get bang-flops. I normally hunt with a rifle, just because of the areas I typically hunt in. There I situations where I could imagine using buckshot, I just don't think my reasoning would be to use it in hopes of wining one with part of the pattern.

RG

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Buckshot has awesome knockdown power at close range. I've shot a couple of deer with it and a very large black bear. It is only good if shooting 20 yards or under. Some may disagree, but I shot at a standing buck a little further than that and he hobbled away wounded and was never recovered. For this reason, I will never use buckshot for deer hunting again.

If you're hunting black bear over a bait where you are certain the only shot is 15-20 yards, then it would be perfect. I would recommend using a full length waterfowl barrel for best performance. You lose too much velocity with a slug barrel and buckshot. I shot a big bear with 2-3/4" 000 from a distance of 15 feet and shot him on the shoulder and rib cage using a full length 28" barrel with ImpMod choke. He dropped right in his tracks and never even let out a moan. My pattern was about 6" diameter.

Buckshot isn't explosive and doesn't damage meat the way a high-powered rifle bullet will, too. I would determine what your maximum range is depending on what range you can get all of your pellets inside a 10" circle.

Just my 2 cents.

Slooshark1
 
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Slugs feed hunters, buckshot feeds coyotes.

If you are going to use it, get a decent choke like a Patternmaster and you will likely see a big difference in patterning.

Rule of thumb....spread of 1" per metre.
 
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