Hunting with Buckshot

My 870 Wingmaster prints a 6" group at 25m and thats as far as I'd feel comfortable shooting with 00b. I only use it in very specific circumstances (one thick swamp on our property) where Ive jumped deer literally under foot. ANY shot would be less then 20m.
 
I shot a deer with buckshot, hit the vitals, broke both front legs & the deer fell down & cried & cried. I had to finish it off at close range.

Maybe something went wrong in my experience, but I stopped using it.

I am sure that at VERY close range, buckshot is effective. I'd rather a slug or rifle.

Cheers
Jay
 
Ardent said:
No you got it right Jay, it is poor, and inconsistent in its effectiveness. Good for vermin, and I'm sure social work at three yards, and little else. Slugs are better in literally every application except perhaps shooting small pests.
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^This. If you are standing on the average sized WT deer's back, this is optimum range.
Did many unusual things with buckshot here. But only with 'long range' small game hunting or what one has on hand for varmints. Never chosen for deer by me.

IMO the 'coolest' shotgun for buckshot would start at around 8 gauge. But it's practical use is extremely limited in North America.
 
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I fear that slugs on tiny coastal island deer at close range will be way overkill. I also do not have a rifled barrel. This is starting to seem like a good excuse to buy a rifle to me.
 
I remain unimpressed by buckshot. Last 2 bears I shot with it were at 20 yards and 5 feet. 20 yard one took 4 shots. Kept getting up.

5 foot one took one shot of 3.5" OO to the ribs. Bear ran not far but lay down in thick stuff and did the longest death bawl I've ever heard. I felt bad for him, as any rifle shot would have killed him much quicker.
 
conor_90 said:
I fear that slugs on tiny coastal island deer at close range will be way overkill. I also do not have a rifled barrel. This is starting to seem like a good excuse to buy a rifle to me.
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I've shot them with a 7mm RM and 175gr Partitions. Of course not in the archery/shot only zones. In those places I used a crossbow.
 
While i live geographically close i have only hunted the blacktails a few times. Not my thing, in most places that they are super numerous it would be like hunting in a petting zoo.

i wasnt specific enough on my first post, buckshot is a better than nothing, dont shoot until you see the whites of their eyes option. Know a few guys on the island and they shoot 30-30 model 94's, and one guy has a gun room...not a safe. Any centerfire from 24-30 is fine, i would only choose to use a buckshot or slug shotgun on the islands and south island because its better than not hunting. Shot a medium sized nuisance bear years ago with a slug, head shot, really effective and gruesome.
 
In my world buckshot has a very limited and specific purpose, which is essentially when it becomes necessary to shoot a bear off your front step, and you don't want a bullet or slug going through the bear and blasting through a neighbor's wall. As a result I keep a few buckshot rounds in my sidesaddle. Earlier this year, I decided I would pattern the stuff I had which was 3" 15 pellet 00 Winchester loads, and a 3" 12 pellet 00 Hevishot loads, both fired from my cylinder bore Mossbereg 590. During the testing I fired from 5, 10, and 15 yards. In both cases the patterns roughly kept to the inch of spread per yard of range generality, but pattern density was another matter entirely. The Hevishot loads proved to have much denser pattern dispersion at all ranges, where the Winchester loads showed a distinct inclination to doughnut from my particular barrel. At 15 yards, with a center hold on the head of a bear, the bear's face would not be touched by the Winchester pellets, although it would probably cut his ears off. Guess which loads are in my sidesaddle now. I've decided to have my barrel tapped for screw in chokes over the winter, so I might be tempted to run this test again next year with a modified choke tube.
 
Note that all the bad experiences here are buckshot vs. bears. The only animal I know buckshot failing to kill is a black bear an acquaintance hit in the head. It ran off. I know he hit it in the head and it survived because a lady I know shot it the next year from the same stand and retrieved the pellet. That's why I would only use slugs on bear. Buckshot is for bucks and does.

I use buckshot because it allows me to hunt urban areas, which, sadly, is where most of the deer are around here. I would prefer a slug too, but at the ranges I kill at (usually 10 and under) there is no real difference in their effectiveness.
 
As an Australian, with no experience using Buckshot for Deer, also with Laws that disallowed Shotguns on deer until Recently rifled slug guns.. Can I just say, I feel as though the Buckshot was for Stand hunting in areas where there would possibly be several hunters in the same patch.

So in my view for Tree stand hunters, Hide hunters sitting on or over a Bait station or Game Trail, where shots would very likely be... Very close.

Some have mentioned about the Slugs wandering off down range an potentially taking out a friend, or friends house, I think its fair to say the Buckshots wont cause damage beyond a few hundred feet if an accident occurred.

now I may be very wrong but that's just what ive accumulated over the years of reading into hunting techniques an ways it is worldwide.

cheers
WL
 
TheCoachZed said:
Note that all the bad experiences here are buckshot vs. bears. The only animal I know buckshot failing to kill is a black bear an acquaintance hit in the head. It ran off. I know he hit it in the head and it survived because a lady I know shot it the next year from the same stand and retrieved the pellet. That's why I would only use slugs on bear. Buckshot is for bucks and does.

I use buckshot because it allows me to hunt urban areas, which, sadly, is where most of the deer are around here. I would prefer a slug too, but at the ranges I kill at (usually 10 and under) there is no real difference in their effectiveness.
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Exactly. There are too many variables for an absolute yes or no. And just because an animal runs, after a shot, doesn't mean there wasn't a "clean kill". Patterning, setting limits and sticking to those limits, is key.
 
and the old imperial ssg was and still is my go to load .I just love that stuff .for year we used it well pass shooting geese as well with real good results Dutch
 
For those suggesting buckshot as a short range and safe alternative, Remington put out tables on shotshells that includes their maximum range (45 degree angle). If shooting from an elevated position like a tree stand you extend the range beyond the listed figures.

1oz Foster slug: 3,700 feet, or 1,233 yards.

00 Buckshot: 2,000 feet, or 666 yards.

Even fired through bush, incredibly dangerous and could still easily kill at three hundred yards. It's a lot easier for one pellet to find a way to weave through bush when it has 9 to 18 comrades looking for a route, and just one pellet will do it for a fellow hunter hit in the wrong place. A single slug is potentially safer, as strange as that is to consider. There is no safe load to shoot blindly in the bush.
 
i hunt every year with 3" 00 or 000 buck and have killed small deer and big bucks with it.One of the old boys i hunt with got a doe last year at over 80yrds but this is an exception he and his gun both have an old age card and its the only one hes ever owned so he knows what it can do. i myself use a modified choke and have no issue at taking shots in the 30yrd range
 
bruchawk said:
i hunt every year with 3" 00 or 000 buck and have killed small deer and big bucks with it.One of the old boys i hunt with got a doe last year at over 80yrds
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Wow, that really is an incredible shot. WHat groups do you think it gets with 000buck at 80 yards?
 
well dogging deer in the thick cover deer jump up with in three feet of you .you point and shot for the front half off the deer buck shot is the perfect tool for this job .not everybody has to like the stuff ,but do you think thy would still stock the shelves of the local dealers every year if the stuff did not do the job it is intended for .hunters spend there dollars carfully and learn real quik what works and what does not work .as doggers we us short shotguns with buck shot and it works well .with many deer each fall .any deer that get away from the doggers run right to the blockers that are^posted in the next bush were the deer head to once pushed out .this could be 100 meters or 5000 meters .so buck shot come out of the bush is not realy a problem D
 
Depending on where you're at it and where you want to hunt it can make a difference, the shooting distance from a dwelling is 400m with rifle/slug and 200m for a shotgun with buckshot. A lot of people here hunt on smaller properties and farms, so depending on where you hunt it can make or break a stand location.
 
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