Federal Blackcloud
 

Anyone try this yet? I bought a box just to see how it worked out but our season dosn't start till Nov 17th. just looking for some reviews of its effectivness/pattern/anything.

Thanks

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

Sorry Slo,Havent even seen at the stores here yet.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I posted about it some time ago. It had a nice pattern on the cardboard, but as far as killing geese it's a joke. The handloads that I make with steel or the Kent steel that I use do a much better job.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

thus far, I'm happy with it's performance.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I have used it so far in the early goose and teal season.I could'nt tell much difference in early goose season with the performance on geese, but it deffinately was better on the teal than the Winchester XX I usually shoot. I was overall happy with it.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I have not shot it yet, but my buddy killed a ton of geese with it up in the mountains this year in the early season. He swears by it. If fact, he won't shut up about it. I'm gonna give it a try, but it would have to make a huge difference to get me to quit using Kent or Federal. It's about twice the price of Kent.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I got a box of 25 for $27. if it performs similar to heavyshot which is $34 for 10 shells I think I just made my choice hahaha

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

Shot some this weekend, had great success. The holes it leaves in the breasts are huge though, so good and bad I guess.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

nothing will out perform heavyshot right now. Black cloud is another sales pitch. I've seen no diff in its performance than in straight steel.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I agree about the heavyshot. The rem HD is good stuff but $$$. I now have a PM choke in my gun so no more black cloud. The pattern that this choke makes is nice! save your money and get a good choke and shoot good shells.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

Slo;

I did a write up in the field journals back in the early fall after using it on a goose hunt. Did some patterning and other research on it too. Here is a link.

http://www.hunting.net/fieldjournal/...l.aspx?nID=746

Hope you find it useful. Best of luck.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I shot BC this early goose season...My 1000 had a IC Kicks choke....i dropped geese in their tracks over the water 40 yards plus....so it worked for me....we'll see whats the BC number 4's do on Ducks in a week....Honkers

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

You have to hit your target no matter what brand of shells you are using but I shot a case of #2 and a couple boxes of #bbb so far this season. Both are very devastating on any bird I have hit. #2 shot on Canada geese killed them very dead and #bbb on swan and canada geese did the same thing. Very dead out to 55 yards.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

does it shoot well out of a patternmaster choke?

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I've used it...dropped a few geese in the early season...nothing special....i like my Kent Faststeel.....to me it just seemed the Kent stopped the geese in flight...like a ton of Bricks hit them.....nothing special for BC.i'm not sure its all up to what we thought it was...Honkers

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I patterned black cloud 3.5 inch #2's out of my nova with a extended range patternmaster choke. I shot it at 25 yards. There was no point in trying it further because it was terrible. I'll stick with my kent or remington.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I haven't patterened it, but the results on geese have been very good. I have not used it on ducks yet. Close shots 10- 15 yards works great, long shots out to 50, drops 'em dead. I'm gonna keep using it for awhile and see if I keep having the same results. I bet the price ends up making me go back to Kent. I love Kent faststeel!

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

how much are you paying for it colorado? Its cheaper than kent here.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I used this stuff for the first time this weekend. I didn't evenshoot a whole box of it because of how it mangled the wood ducks I shot. Looked like a hamburgerpatty with feathers mixed in with a beak hanging off one side.Noquestion of it's knock-down power, but itwas just way too much for woodies, which is all we had coming in. I think it may be a pretty good load for geese or big ducks. I'll prolly stick to myreliable Dryloks since BC is pricedas gold.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

What shot were you shooting?

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

You have a different memory of some shots this last week then I do. What about those two you doubled on in front
of the pit that you had to chase down?

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

That's good for me, usually they fly off!:D

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

LOL ROFLMAO Okay I will give you that one hoss.

Hey when are you guys going to invite Heather over to the house again? This week sounds good to me

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

Colorado Luckydog,

We were shooting #4. Maybe the shot size was still too big. I generally shoot #3 for all ducks, so I decided to go one size smaller with the BC because of the higher density of the BC, but like I said, it still might have been too big. Should I have used #5 or #6 for ducks?

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

You mean too small? The lower the number, the larger the shot. Until you get to #1.. then

And Black Cloud is still just steel. I'd use the same size you'd normally use in steel. Really a #2 would seem ideal to me. I did kill some geese with the #4s, but again as I wrote in the article, 10 yards didn't just make a big difference... it made a world of difference.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

Yes, I understand the way shot sizes work. I though the FS Steel used in Black Cloud was a higher density steel - similar to a Winchester HD load. That's why I chose #4, one size smaller than my usual #3s for ducks.Judging by the destructive capacity of the #4 shot, I though I might need to go another size smaller to a #5 or #6. Again, I was basing this estimation thinking FS Steel was higher density, which should allow me to use a smaller shot size and have the same knock down as a larger shot size of regular steel. Thanks for the advice though.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I'll tell you what i bought a box of 3 inch 2's earlier in the year for late season divers and just broke them out this morning for geese jsut to try them out. The last decoy in our spread on the ice was 50 yards out and I shot 2 geese just under 45 yards out and 30 yards up with those 2's and both birds were stone deadbefore they hit the ice. I'm very impressed with them especailly when I normally shoot T's for geese.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

i thought bc was just another sales pitch too, but there is no doubt in my mind that this year i have dropped more birds stone dead than with any other steel shot. i bought a box to prove to myself that it was just a gimmick, but now i wouldnt buy anything else.

RE: Federal Blackcloud
 

I bought a couple of boxes at Dicks sporting goods and I want to say that I paid about a 25 bucks a box. I cuta shell open with my pocket knife and was suprised at the two different types of shot it had. Some looked like minature flying saucers that looked like they could really cut a swath. I also read that they have some sort of flight controlled wad that seemed to be constructed out of a much harder plastic than most wads I have seen. These are just some of my observations. They seemed to kill the ducks just as dead as the cheap XPERT high velocity loads.