winchester long beard xl
#1

so I have been seeing these shells in magazines, at the great outdoor show in Harrisburg pa. everywhere. the Winchester Long Beard. has anyone tried these out yet? after reading and doing my research the idea behind the shell is great. What they have done seems like its a new era in turkey shot. But I don't wanna go out and buy a box yet until I get the reviews. let me know
#2

I have also heard great things about them and I went and bought a box of them. I shot them at 30, 40 and 50 yards and I also shot the magnum blend at the same distances and the Magnum blend out performed the Long Beards hands down out of my gun.
#6
Fork Horn
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 491

I still have s few boxes of the 34 bucks a box xtended range. I bought 2 boxes of the longbeards 2 weeks ago. I put my turkey targets up at 40 yards. Both types of shells were 3 inch number 5's. At 40 yards in my old winchester 120 ranger shotgun with a pure gold choke the longbeards would easily put a 30 to 40 more pellots on the target and would put about 10 more in the kill zones.Granted it lead vs tungsten but the tight groups were very impressive.My hunting buddy used a 870 with the remington turkey choke in his comparison; longbeard vs standard lead winchester super x. the longbeards put about 170 pellots on the target at 40 yards, the super x put 82 on the target.
#7

I actually paid $34 a box for the 5 magnum blends and $25 a box for the 10 Long Beards. Yes they are a little more costly but I will more than gladly spend the extra dollars for the best shooting shell out of my gun and there was absolutely no comparison between the two out of my gun. Magnum Blend is head and shoulders better for me.
#8

I have replaced my 3-1/2" winchester supreme #5s with the new long beard shells. They shot real well out of my 870 with pure gold choke. They'll definitely kill a turkey at 40 yards, which is as far as I'll be shooting more than likely. I would be confident in taking a 50 yard shot with these shells if I had to, but shooting farther than 50 yards with any possible gun/choke/shell combo is out of the question for me.
#9

Finally had some nice weather to do a little test.It wasn't a real fair test because I used different size shot. I was using Rem Nitro Turkey 3 1/2 #5 vs Winchester Long Beard 3 1/2 #6. At 20 yards both had almost the same coverage. When I went out to 40 yards the Win had better coverage.
Rem Nitro #5 3 1/2......................... Win Long Beard # 6 3 1/2
20 yds 133 pellets in the neck.......... 20 yds 136 pellets in the neck
145 pellets in the circle................... 158 pellets in the circle
Total 278...................................... Total 294
40 yds 47 pellets in neck.................. 40 yds 60 pellets in neck
84 pellets in circle........................... 107 pellets in circle
Total 131....................................... Total 167
Outside of circle 50........................... Outside of circle 139
This was shot out of my 835 with a 28'' barrel
Rem Nitro #5 3 1/2......................... Win Long Beard # 6 3 1/2
20 yds 133 pellets in the neck.......... 20 yds 136 pellets in the neck
145 pellets in the circle................... 158 pellets in the circle
Total 278...................................... Total 294
40 yds 47 pellets in neck.................. 40 yds 60 pellets in neck
84 pellets in circle........................... 107 pellets in circle
Total 131....................................... Total 167
Outside of circle 50........................... Outside of circle 139
This was shot out of my 835 with a 28'' barrel
Last edited by car; 03-08-2014 at 01:48 PM.
#10

I still have about a dozen Nitro company loads left, and will like to try these new Winchester loads someday as well. I currently have a Rhino .660 choke on my gun now specifically to use with those Nitro company tri-plex heavy shot loads. But was thinking of trying a Pattenmaster choke and those new Winchester loads out.