What to stoke up as the leadoff shell in a Shockwave or other short shotgun?

[Protected One]

Well sir. The lower right hole is the wad. That makes it a 10" pattern. Not great, but good. There are only six 00 pellets in this load and recoil is negligible. Hornady Critical Defense patterns much better, but there is a trade-off in increased recoil.

That makes all the difference in the world. The wad from this round made an exceptionally small hole, which I thought was another pellet hole and wondered where the remaining 2 had hit. All that said...that's the pattern I'd expect at 10 yds.

 

[Protected One]

Been cruising the Net reading about different 12ga ammo offerings and ran across this article.
What do you guys think about this Federal #1 buckshot?

According to the article...
Meets FBI penetrations standards.
Tight pattern
Less punishing to shoot.

The Box O' Truth #56 - Federal Flight Control #1 Buckshot - The Box O' Truth

Thanks for the info. I am going to try and find some of this to stock, and load in my shotgun.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Thanks for the info. I am going to try and find some of this to stock, and load in my shotgun.

After you shoot some in your Shockwave let us know what you think about it.

 

[CH4]

I'd use it for CQC and likely use short base target loads. No BG will walk away.

 

[nachogrande]

NOT ON THE LIST.

There's a reason they call 8's bird shot. Birds have never been a big threat to my life. Granted close up and in a hallway they wouldn't feel good, but there are well documented cases of shot not reaching vitals. IMO the first shot is the most important, as you may not get a second. I want something potent and worry about over penetration later if I'm still alive. I don't have kids at home, thin walls, or close neighbors. I voted for 3" 00 buck (15 beats 9), but often go with all 3" Dixie tri-balls 3- 60 caliber balls app 2 oz's @ 1000-1100 fps. IDK if there is such a thing as overkill when it comes to SD. :Order me a beer if you're going to the bar.

 

[forrestinmathews]

Thanks for the info. I am going to try and find some of this to stock, and load in my shotgun.

Seek and ye shall find...freight is a drag so I bought 50

 

[forrestinmathews]

A couple of new loads procured today....Herter's multi defense and mini buckshot. Six #1 Buck and a .650 round ball and 6 00 Buck respectively. Next week is going to be a lot of fun. There will be a lot of loads to test.

 

[cmort666]

I load mine with number 4 buck exclusively.

Since it's pretty useless in my home, my Ithaca Model 37 DS/PS stays locked in the safe.

When I did live somewhere where it was useful, I used #4 buck exclusively. I did have some 00 buck and some slugs, but kept the shotgun loaded with #4.

 

[nachogrande]

8'S OR OOO

Those huge holes blown in doors that you could fit your head thru, seen in films is BS. You might be lucky to make a glory hole. Pattern your ammo to see just how much they DON'T open up. The plastic wad may be what kills.

 

[forrestinmathews]

Those huge holes blown in doors that you could fit your head thru, seen in films is BS. You might be lucky to make a glory hole. Pattern your ammo to see just how much they DON'T open up. The plastic wad may be what kills.

Having hunted half of my life with buckshot...you'd be surprised to learn how close the gun has to be for the wad to penetrate. About six inches to muzzle contact distance. Beyond that it tends to just hang in the entrance wound.

 

[BearBio]

Capstick related how he killed an African lion with a low-base load of #8 at close range.

 

[BearBio]

You realize that you're equating the defensive suitability of birdshot with a fatal wound sustained in an accidental shooting at nearly muzzle contact distance? There are so many differences​ between the two things. I'm not going to get through to the tacticool bird hunters, but Heaven help me to try. There is no adrenaline involved in the accidental shooting. There is plenty of adrenaline involved in a defensive shooting. So we can safely the individual getting shot will be affected differently. Shock onset will​ occur later for the adrenaline charged individual. Surely we should use a load that will affect the onset of shock sooner than later and that isn't bird shot. I'm sorry but there is no intelligent argument for bird shot for serious self defense. There are too many variables involved that it comes up suboptimal for dealing with.

Despite your level of self-serving sarcasm, there is one INTELLIGENT reason: over penetration!

In the case I mentioned, the heart was totally gone as was a 2-3" portion of the spine. Kinda limits a response regardless of the amount of epinephrine (adrenaline is now a out-of-date term==it was when I taught college anatomy labs 20 years ago!) in the circulatory system if the spine and spinal chord are removed, as well as the heart!

Perhaps you have some DOCUMENTED cases of people without a heart or spine surviving a shooting?

 

[nachogrande]

SOME GUY DID THIS ONE TIME...

Just not good enough for me. I don't want something that should/oughta work, most of the time, under ideal conditions. Even slugs have failed to stop BG's at times, so I go big. TEHO

 

[forrestinmathews]

Despite your level of self-serving sarcasm, there is one INTELLIGENT reason: over penetration!

In the case I mentioned, the heart was totally gone as was a 2-3" portion of the spine. Kinda limits a response regardless of the amount of epinephrine (adrenaline is now a out-of-date term==it was when I taught college anatomy labs 20 years ago!) in the circulatory system if the spine and spinal chord are removed, as well as the heart!

Perhaps you have some DOCUMENTED cases of people without a heart or spine surviving a shooting?

I am sarcastic by nature because I work in a highly stressful environment with thick skinned and sometimes skulled people. I guess I forget in the forums you cannot hear the tone and so you find it insulting rather than humourous.

Bird shot is out of its depth in a defensive application and always has been. The documented case that you keep referring to is an accidental shooting. It's unfortunate that you cannot see that you're championing a lemon of an idea here. So a guy accidentally kills his friend crossing a fence and that makes bird shot a viable self defense tool? Okay. You want to follow that up and say it doesn't over penetrate? Okay. Have a wonderful day and I truly wish you the best.

 

[Gamecock]

2¾" OO Buck for the first shell.

And the second.

And the third.

And the rest of them.

 

[forrestinmathews]

Today I figured out that if I pull the magazine spring clip out, I can just barely fit 4 Federal Premium 3" 000 Buck and a 2¾" Mag OO Buck plus one in the chamber. There is a definite length difference between brands. Winchester is longer than Federal, but is uniform in length. The Federal is longer in 000 than 00 in 3" and the 2¾" mag is longer than a regular 2¾". I'm pretty sure this is irrelevant to most everyone who has a Shockwave as most appear to be shooting 2¾" 00 or #4 followed by the few #1 guys. For the fifteen other folks that might be crazy enough to be shooting 3" hope you find this useful.

 

[forrestinmathews]

Well today I got some testing and familization on the Shockwave with a new user. My mother is 66 years old and is living pretty far away so this is an option for her to use in self defense. The idea is to have completely hidden protection features in the condo. My Dad is a cancer survivor and has no feeling in his hands and extremely poor eyesight. So we came up with this plan to keep them both safe while preserving his dignity. As far as he knows there are no guns present in the environment.
Today we tested it with the mini shells and conversion piece. After some familiarization using Winchester low noise and recoil we tried the mini shell buckshot by Aguila. They seemed pretty decent at 15 yards. This is the longest possible shot in their condo.
The first pattern is the mini buckshot at 15 yards. Not bad at all. Those little shells pop more than the Winchester Low Recoil Low Noise and they eject forward of the gun.
I was finally able to test some of the Federal Low Recoil Flitecontrol #1 Buck. The big hole is the 15 yard pattern and the last picture is the pattern at 30 yards with the giant hold being the 15 yard hole. I believe that they are all on paper there. That's some really good stuff and very low recoil at just a hair above the mini shells. #1 Buck is fast becoming my favorite in these guns although 000 remains a powerful second.

 

[fisco]

Has anyone tried Aguila Minishells 1 3/4". You can get Slugs, Buckshot( 7 #4 buck 4#1buck 5/8oz @1200fps), 7.5 birdshot. You can get 8 rounds in the Shockwave. About 50% less recoil, pure fun! The problem is finding them and the high price. With s/h i paid over a $1. a round. Neat idea for close in work. You need a Mini-clip to made them work in a Shockwave. The rubber clip is made in Texas (www.OPSolmini-clip.co

 

[BE Mike]

Capstick related how he killed an African lion with a low-base load of #8 at close range.

David slew Goliath with a stone, but that wouldn't be my choice in self-defense ammo.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

I was finally able to test some of the Federal Low Recoil Flitecontrol #1 Buck. The big hole is the 15 yard pattern and the last picture is the pattern at 30 yards with the giant hold being the 15 yard hole. I believe that they are all on paper there. That's some really good stuff and very low recoil at just a hair above the mini shells. #1 Buck is fast becoming my favorite in these guns although 000 remains a powerful second.

Where did you get it?

Anyone here do business with these people? $78/100 delivered. Find it cheaper?

Federal 12 Gauge Tactical LE1321B 2-3/4" Reduced Recoil 1 Buckshot 15 Pellets 50 rounds