waterfowl ammo

I have been using the 3" Browning #2 waterfowl load, and I was noticing more geese that weren't dead, so I decided to do some load and choke testing. It was very windy, so I used a piece of 3/4" plywood, and shot at 50 yards. I was surprised at the lack of penetration, many pellets were still protruding from the wood. Then I tested the 3" Kent #2 load, and the pellets penetrated much deeper. The Kent load is rated at 110fps more, but that doesn't explain twice the penetration. I used the Kent load, and the Patternmaster choke this morning, and although it was on a very limited number of geese, they all fell dead. The difference in penetration is obvious in the pictures.

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Interesting stubblejumper. I wonder what’s going on there ?!? Good on you for testing. I built myself a portable patterning board a couple years ago. Now I can’t hunt with a load I haven’t patterned a few shells. The first patterns were quite the eye opener for sure. Specially the difference in patterns between different guns and different chokes with the same loads.

Which kind of brings me to the OP question to which I would say pattern whichever loads you have through your gun. Might be your gun patterns 2’s like no tomorrow and bb’s like crap, in which case you’ll hammer geese much more effectively than a bb load with holes all over it or other deficiencies.
 
leveractionjunkie said:
Interesting stubblejumper. I wonder what’s going on there ?!? Good on you for testing. I built myself a portable patterning board a couple years ago. Now I can’t hunt with a load I haven’t patterned a few shells. The first patterns were quite the eye opener for sure. Specially the difference in patterns between different guns and different chokes with the same loads.

Which kind of brings me to the OP question to which I would say pattern whichever loads you have through your gun. Might be your gun patterns 2’s like no tomorrow and bb’s like crap, in which case you’ll hammer geese much more effectively than a bb load with holes all over it or other deficiencies.
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In this case the pattern wasn't the issue, although the Kent did pattern better, the Browning load simply was lacking penetration at 50 yards, so regardless of the pattern, they were leaving a lot of cripples at 50 yards. Had I patterned with paper, I would not have discovered the problem.
 
stubblejumper said:
In this case the pattern wasn't the issue, although the Kent did pattern better, the Browning load simply was lacking penetration at 50 yards, so regardless of the pattern, they were leaving a lot of cripples at 50 yards. Had I patterned with paper, I would not have discovered the problem.
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Yes I understand and didn’t mean for my response to mean patterning would’ve helped you. I should’ve put that part of my response in a separate paragraph.

What I meant by “I wonder what going on there?” Was in reference to the Kent load almost doubled penetration with only a 110fps speed increase. The obvious would be maybe there’s a discrepancy between advertised and real world velocity. Possibly in both loads. Wonder if there’s some relation between wads like the ones used in the Browning loads that “hold” on to shot and downrange pellet velocity?
 
leveractionjunkie said:
Yes I understand and didn’t mean for my response to mean patterning would’ve helped you. I should’ve put that part of my response in a separate paragraph.

What I meant by “I wonder what going on there?” Was in reference to the Kent load almost doubled penetration with only a 110fps speed increase. The obvious would be maybe there’s a discrepancy between advertised and real world velocity. Possibly in both loads. Wonder if there’s some relation between wads like the ones used in the Browning loads that “hold” on to shot and downrange pellet velocity?
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It's quite possible that the wad is slowing down the shot more with the Browning load. And the Patternmaster choke may also contribute to the issue.
 
Did you shoot the browning bdx through a studded patternmaster? Your not supposed to do that and that could be why. But I cant see the pattern master slow down the wad that much. I use half inch osb to pattern and 2s blow right through at 40.
 
prairie lover said:
Did you shoot the browning bdx through a studded patternmaster? Your not supposed to do that and that could be why. But I cant see the pattern master slow down the wad that much. I use half inch osb to pattern and 2s blow right through at 40.
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Because I wasn't sure about the wad/choke compatibility, I contacted a tech at Patternmaster, and told him exactly which loads I was going to use, and he told me that there is no issue with the Browning load and that choke. He did tell me not to use Blindside or Black Cloud with that choke.
 
I was given a couple boxes of Browning BXD 3” 1 1/4 oz 2’s to try out. They sure crush birds and my recoil pad!! :HR:

I also was given some black cloud 3” 1 1/4 oz 2’s. Same results. I have been shooting them out of my 27 1/2” barreled 101 with the IC/MOD chokes installed.

I prefer federal above all others but I will give the nod to the Premium Ultra Shok loads. Less felt recoil and superb performance at ranges out to 50 yards. They are hard to come by now so I hoard the ones I have left....lol
 
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I stick to 3" T for all of my geese needs. If there is a lot of mixed goose/duck action I will use No.2's at short range.
 
Yanger316 said:
Guys any one use 2 3/4 for waterfowls?
My 930 has problem cycling 3"
What is better 3 rounds of 2 3/4 or 2 rounds of 3"?
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I usually shoot 2 3/4 exclusively. I rarely shoot 3”. And I shoot two rounds of 2 3/4” because I hunt exclusively with an o/u.....the third shot is usually a waste....it’s generally used for extra noise for a parting shot or in layman’s terms, educational purposes!! :p
 
the spank said:
I was given a couple boxes of Browning BXD 3” 1 1/4 oz 2’s to try out. They sure crush birds and my recoil pad!! :HR:

I also was given some black cloud 3” 1 1/4 oz 2’s. Same results. I have been shooting them out of my 27 1/2” barreled 101 with the IC/MOD chokes installed.

I prefer federal above all others but I will give the nod to the Premium Ultra Shok loads. Less felt recoil and superb performance at ranges out to 50 yards. They are hard to come by now so I hoard the ones I have left....lol
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That is what seems so odd, some people have great results with the Browning BXD loads, but between my results on geese, and the poor penetration during my patterning, I have to wonder if the lot that I have is just slow, or if the wad stripper choke is part of the issue. Next summer, I will do some more testing, to see if I can figure out the issue.
 
track said:
I tried Challenger, 3" BB and was most impressed. They are just as good as Blind Side and Black Cloud. I'll will only be purchasing Challenger from now on, they were folding the big 11 and 12 pound Canada's very consistently.
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if you hit them in the mind, you can fold them with a 410.......FS
 
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