I participated in a management hunt yesterday. Because of the proximity of houses, the only weapons allowed are shotguns loaded with buckshot. My shotgun is a Mossberg 500 with a 24" barrel, rifle sights, and a full choke. Ammunition is Winchester 3" magnum 00 buckshot.

I had a broadside shot at a nice six-pointer at 40 yards. I aimed and fired, and he looked at me and trotted off. I walked to where he stood when I fired and saw no blood or hair. I can' t imagine that I' m so bad a shot that I missed completely at that distance.

I did notice that, throughout the day, I rarely heard only one shot. Most shots came in clusters of three. Once I counted 10 shots in about five seconds!

So - has anybody had a similar experience with buckshot? Is it so ineffective that it' s necessary to fire three times at 40 yards? Or did I just blow the shot? Thanks.

Did you visit the shooting range before the hunt? If so, what were your patterns like at different distances?

I was getting 3" grouping at 50 yards. Of course, the target wasn' t threatening to walk away at any moment either ...

I agree with Aught Six. There are alot of variations in shot pattern at certain distances. Not to mention the inconsistancy of the loads.

I have taken many deer with buck shot and will not hesitate to use it again.

Hm, you' ve got me. I' m not a shotgun expert by any stretch of the imagination, but 3" patterns at 50 yards isn' t shabby IMHO. Hopefully someone else here has used that load in the field. Btw, were you in a stand?

Aught Six -

Obviously, I' m not much of an expert on shotguns either.

I was in a camp chair on the ground. I shifted forward into a stable position and wrapped the sling around my left arm. It was a very good shooting position.

I was thinking that perhaps the angle of attack had something to do with it, but I guess not. Well, let' s wait for the experts to chime in.

where could i look for chokes for my 20g, and what would be best with a slug or buckshot what would be an optimal grouping at 50 yds

Don' t like the stuff. I' ve found shot embedded in deer that I have killed during the blackpowder season, which precedes general firearms. The guys at the hunt club use 4' s over 00.

Pse_guy Just like different shells pattern diff. so will different chokes. In other words there is no one good choke, what fires well in Full may fire bad in extra full . Get a couple choke tubes and different shells and see what works best. As far as slugs I use a fully rifled barrel and a rifled choke tube in another, although on one box of slugs it says if you don' t have a rifled choke tube to use either cylinder or improved cylinder. You do not want a restricting choke with slugs.You might also get a decent pattern out of the imp. cylinder with Buckshot so you could use both.