Question about chokes for buckshot
 

I haven't used buckshot for deer in a very long time; however I have an opportunity this year to hunt a local park that requires hunters to use buckshot. I have a Mossberg 500 and in the past used a 28 inch modified choke barrel. Now I have an accu choke barrel. I've read and heard that I should use the full range of chokes from full to cylinder. I'm probably not going to get a chance to pattern my gun before the season so I'm looking for advice or experience. I plan on using 3 inch shell with 00 buck shot.

Thanks in advance.

If you can't take an hour out of your time to pattern your gun with several chokes BEFORE you go hunting with it, then don't go hunting! That's just a cardinal rule of hunting with any weapon, as hunting should not involve guessing when it comes to taking an animal humanely!!!

If you are going to use buckshot, better use a full choke in hopes that you rip a clump of skin with tight pattern to allow for tracking if needed. I am anti buckshot for deer. You are lucky if you get any exit holes. The small pellet holes on entry close quick, so if it doesn't drop right away, the blood trails stops quick as the meat swells. If you can hit it with buckshot, then you can hit it with a slug. That way when it runs for a bit, you have good steady blood loss out of both sides. Personal opinion that you should reconsider using buckshot over slug.

Tuna, there are some state areas like parks that ONLY allow buck shot. No slugs. Been there, done that, and I am 100% with you on the stupidity of it but if it's all that's allowed then you have to make the best of a given situation. I know my Mossy liked 00 through a modified choke tube. Full actually over tightened it and made the pattern go every which way. Modified I had a pretty decent pattern out to 45 yards. I ALWAYS went for just behind the shoulder for pure lung shots. Seemed to be the most effective with the least resistance.

I re-read the part that buckshot is a requirement. Same as the Controlled Hunt we have up here in certain areas in December. I'd go with the full. Make the time to test the pattern. It isn't like hitting a small duck in the neck at various distances, you will hit the deer with any choke you use. Go with the choke that increases your odds of retrieving the animal.

I have used modified and cylinder with similar results. I remember reading field and stream in the 70's and they had a theory that you can't compress large pellets and doing so will result in a skewed pattern. I have read this theory (possibly proven) multiple times since then but have not tried to reproduce it since I use a rifled shotgun barrel when there is a shotgun only requirement. I would use the more open choke and severely limit the range.

+1

Sound advise !:poke:

This should be left to the more experienced hunters around here.

This may sound harsh, but it's very true.

I've had situations where this method was certainly beneficial.

There is no one size fits all, and this has been beyond much debated. I chose my choke based on the area I pre-determined to hunt. That involves the conditions I expect to encounter/create. Are you going to hunt an area where a longer shot is necessary or will you be closer to cover the animal may come from? Will you be sitting or still hunting? The nice thing about interchangeable choke systems is that you can carry them to the field and change them out as conditions change or evolve. As an example,-even though I don't think this will be the circumstances of your hunt-I was hunting an area where I was using FC w/000. The area allowed dogs and a club showed up and turned them loose about an hour after daylight. I killed 9 pointed at 20 yards. M or IC would have worked fine at that range. I now put the choke I expect in the barrel and bring the other 2 to change out as conditions merit.

As was already said, open chokes are better for buckshot and if you can't take the time to pattern a gun you are going to use with buckshot, leave it at home. It take more than one buckshot to be quickly fatal on a deer, if your gun doesn't shoot a tight enough pattern you will be crippling them. You also need to pattern at various ranges to see at what point the sot pattern opens up too much to be effective and that distance will be closer than you think.

I used a lot of buckshot when I was in VA because the military bases I hunted required it. I found it worked best in a full choke and I got the best results with 0 buck and not 00. Problem is 0 buck can be hard to find. 000 buck also worked well but there were fewer pellets and it seemed the tracking jobs were longer due to fewer holes.

It sounds like flags has quite abit of experience in using various choke and load combinations.
In TN big game hunting is limited to single projectiles only so I can't help you out any.


(?)*, just for clarification....

Also, I take it you use a single slug or sabot in the rifled shotgun barrel?

I know this is an old thread but have had a lot of experience with buckshot and thought I would share some info.

1. buckshot is underestimated on its capability.
2 pattering a shotgun is a must to make sure you are getting the peak performance from the buckshot/choke/gun of choice.
3 the most versatile choke for buckshot is mod. usually you can find 1 brand of buckshot to perform good enough to kill deer effectively out to 40 yards without question if the shooter patterns the gun and does their part.
4 there are buckshot chokes that will make a big difference. (kicks, pattern master, compnchoke, carlsons) to name a few.
5 now odds of same choke tube working the same in 2 different guns is usually very slim.
6 I am more partial to compnchoke or carlsons as I have been shooting buckshot through them for prob 8 years.

you hear people tell you to NOT use buckshot on deer.

1 main reason is you wont get a blood trail to follow if it runs off.
2 2nd reason is you cant shoot a deer past 30 yards and expect to kill it.

elaborating on blood trail a little bit.
there are a lot of deer lost every year with a rifle and bow that did or didn't produce a blood trail.
was it poor shot placement? is it using a bullet that doesn't expand or do what the company says it will do? did shooter jerk when they squeezed the trigger? and the list goes on.

buckshot will also create a blood trail. maybe not as good as a rifle most of the time but if you spend time looking the start off with to find first drop then you can follow it like you are pouring it out of a bucket. just takes deer little longer to start bleeding heavy with buckshot vs. rifle bullet but not always.

Buckshot killing distance
if you spend time shooting your gun and finding the right buckshot/choke combination it is extremely common to kill a deer in his tracks at 70 yards.

I fill my freezer up every single year with deer that I kill with buckshot. in the last 8_10 years I have probably only had to track a deer a couple times.

I shoot a comp n choke in my first gun of choice and use either # 1 buck 2 3/4, win 00b 3in, or 3in # 4 buckshot. all depends on the terrain and what the situation is.

now up close with this gun it is like shooting a rifle bullet at a deer because my pattern is so tight out to 20 yards. at 20 yards I have a 4 1/2 inch pattern. at 50 yards I have a 15 inch pattern.

so the ones that bash buckshot or any small caliber rifle for taking a deer are usually the ones that do nothing more than buy a gun get some ammo and get it close to zero and take off hunting.

I take great exception when a person makes a first post telling anyone that it is extremely common to kill a deer in his tracks at 70 yards. Sorry, but I have to call BS on that distance with bs!

I may agree with the 70 yards with a rifle but not buckshot. I've probably shot and seen shot more than 150 deer with buckshot. It is lethal but in my experience and in my opinion it is and has always been a 40 yard method. Not saying you can't sneak in a lucky pellet at 100 yards on occasion (heck you can do the same thing with an arrow) but the effective and dependable killing range for buckshot is less than half that distance.

I had to qualify with a shotgun with both buckshot and rifled slugs twice a year for 32 years. We used 00 buckshot. in my experience attempting to take a deer at 70 yards with buckshot would be very irresponsible and not considered for one second.

We don't even attempt to shoot coyotes with #4 buck over 40 yards and one of the guys has a 10ga.


:D Al

i stated a shotgun with the right combination can kill deer in their tracks at 70 yards.

NOT every shotgun is capable of pattering buckshot. I own 2 of these and I use them to bird hunt with ONLY.

old timer elaborate a little bit on your qualifying.
gun used, barrel restriction (whether fixed barrel or choke tube) buckshot used. and what was the qualifying goals?

ally
4b is effective out to the distance that your gun will put 80% load in vitals of animal you are hunting.

I use 4b out to 30 yards or close shots with dense cover. 3in rem has 41 pellets and my goal is to put min of 30 in kill zone. otherwise I use 30 cal pellets in 1b and 00b.

I spend almost 3x as much time shooting my shotgun at paper vs. shooting my rifle at paper.

if you are unsure about a 40 yard shot then you should spend few hours looking down the bead of your shotgun at paper getting you a better combination of gun/choke/ammo.

again it is up to the shooter/hunter to do the right thing.
1 get right combination
2 only take shots you are 110% confident in.

this is why I have been a member 1.5 yrs and have only read others opinions and comments.

if your post isn't 100% in line with another opinion your post will get blasted.

1 post or 2000 post I gave my personal experience and would be glad to talk with you about other buckshot test I have done to make sure when I pull the trigger I am 100% SURE I have done my part to make a ethical kill and not lose an animal.

same with duck hunting pattering steel shot, dove hunting patterning dove loads for absolute best performance I can take to field or water hole.

I am so against losing a wounded animal and this is why I shoot so many different loads at paper and target material to make sure as many variables are taken out of the equation as I possibly can.

Here's another vote for patterning your shotgun w/ a couple different chokes & loads. I use modified w/ 00 buck but don't shoot past 35 yds. to keep it a clean & ethical kill shot.

Sorry, but I, and others with a vast number of years of experience that have also commented and expressed the same in regards to 70 yard shots at deer with bs know what we're talking about. You may have a load that will pattern decent at 70 yards, but have you looked at the terribly low velocity at that distance compared to what most feel is needed for a humane kill on a deer? I have searched the internet on this subject after reading your reply and found only one person that uses bs that says he shoots it further than 40 yards. His comment was that he will go out to 50 yards, but also that is only at coyotes. Sorry, but when 99.9% of us feel that 40 yards is the approximate maximum distance that bs should be used on deer that is why I called BS on your 70 yard statement.

If you look at ballistic charts for 00 Buck you see some interesting things. One thing that becomes immediately apparent is that the pellets shed velocity very quickly. Not surprising because a round shape has the worst ballistic coefficients of any shape. That's why they went to other things way back in the day. Now because the velocity drops that in turn effects the down range energy which then effects the ability to penetrate. most charts show that 00 Buck at 70 yards will penetrate about 3 inches. And that my friends means it isn't adequate to cleanly take game. Now a shotgun can be choked to throw pellets in a tight pattern at 70 yards but that doesn't detract the physics of the actual pellet. Science ban be a bummer sometimes. Not saying a perfect shot in the ribs would allow the pellets to get the lungs but throw any bone or dense muscle into the equation and you're talking a different thing.

Additionally you really can't aim buckshot because of the spread. You direct it but you don't aim it. Another thing to consider is that not all the pellets get to the target at the exact same time. They are sort of strung out in a line because they shot column is longer that the diameter of the bore. So if a deer is moving the pellets won't all hit the shoulder area, assuming that is the target. Due to flight time some will hit farther back.

One last comment is that many people simply suck at estimating ranges. My bet is that deer dropping cleanly at "70" yards are probably a lot closer. Go to a football field sometime and stand on the goal line and put something 70 yards away. It's a pretty fair distance especially in the field and most time buckshot is used where the cover is heavier and I've never seen the possibility of a 70 yard shot in heavy cover but admit I haven't hunted everywhere.

Good post flags and exactly why bs should be kept within about 40 yards!