so. i had three shells of my hevishot left to pattern my new 835 w/ primos tightwad choke. i got her dialed rite in perfectly. after tightening my sight down i took m last shot at 25 yd just to make sure it was still good. well it was.

buttt i got home, and my sight turned again on me. it moved just enough to make it hit to the left about .5 foot

so. could i just shoot say 3.5 winchester hvs to sight her back in? i bought a new box of hevishot 3.5 shells and i dont feel like wasting another 5 buck to hot one ore. moneys very tight

You can get it real close with the cheapest shells you can find (I use Wal Mart specials), and then final sight it with one of the hunting shells you will be using.

Shotguns are not like rifles in that the brand of ammunition will alter the point of impact to a great degree. It may change some, but not enough to cause a complete miss at the range that you will be shooting. Also, as you know, the pattern will get larger at increasing range. Having said that, I think you could use the less expensive shells to dial in your pattern's center of impact, then switch to your better patterning shell for hunting with confidence. Just hold a tight bead on the waddles on shots inside of 20 yards until you know exactly where your center is going with your hunting shells.

good luck!

I agree with the two responses. I would take at least 2 shots with the shell you intend on hunting with after you get it dialed in with the cheaper shells. This will insure youhunting shells are hitting were you want. Would hate to miss, or worse yet injure a bird because I didn't want to waist 5 bucks.

My experience is different.

In working up my Mossberg 835, 24" barrel, Star Dot .676 choke, and I found significant differences in the POI for different loads. I started with cheaper winchester shells to do a rough sight-in then moved to the Nitros. Had to make a sight adjustment but it wasn't drastic and either load would have likely taken a bird. No big deal. I was working the gun up for the 3.5" Nitro Triplex 2.25oz load so it was fairly easy to get it "perfect" with 3 or 4 additional shots.

I had a couple of the "older" Hevishot 3.5", 1 3/4 oz loads and was interested in seeing wherethey would hit relative to my primary hunting load, the Nitro Triplex, because I wanted to use them as back-up shots (those Nitros are $$$ you know). To my amazement the center of the pattern was about 10" high and left. Enough to miss. I'm glad I did this because I learned that those were not suitable for backups in my setup

Makes sense once you think about it because the velocity for that Hevi-13 1 3/4 oz charge is significantly different from the 2.25 oz load in the Nitro. That would explain the fact that it was shooting high relative to the Nitro. I can't explain why it went left, but it did.

Another friend of mine changed chokes ona whim(went from a Rino to a Pure Gold) without shooting the gun to confirm POI. Next day he missed the first bird clean then crippled the next one but got him anyway (thankfully). Upon returning home he found out the Pure Gold shot way left and high relative to the Rhino with the same load.

Gotta check that POI if you really want to be sure.

Mouthcaller