sperco69

need a little help. i hunt with a 3 1/2 inch benelli nova pump, full choke. cant seem to find the best buckshot load. 3" winchester 000 copper patterns well inside 40 yards, but sucks outside that. 3 1/2" federal 00 copper is pretty good, but im not that happy with it. anyone else hunt with one? if so, what do you find patterns best?

nchawkeye

Can you try different chokes???

My Browning B-80 patterns best with Improved Cylinder...

That being said, around 40 yards is about as far as you need to be shooting at deer with buckshot...

Centaur 1

Check out the Tri-Ball load from the Dixie Slug Company. It has three balls that are .600" diameter and weigh 320 grains each, the 3" load packs 2580 foot pounds of energy and they're designed so most guns will throw a pattern that'll keep all three pellets on a deer out past 50 yards. That's like hitting a deer with three 20 gauge slugs simultaneously.

http://www.dixieslugs.com/products.html

Here's a comparison of the tri-ball load versus 00 buck. Look at the single pellet energy figures and you'll see that at 60 yards the tri-ball pellets have over 3.5 times the energy that a 00 buck pellet has at the muzzle.

http://www.dixieslugs.com/tball2vs.htm

spaniel

Everything is going to stink past 40 yards. That's a seriously long shot for buckshot. I'll admit I hate the stuff anyways (recovered too many deer wounded by others with it) but past 40 yards is a pretty unreasonable expectation.