Hunting with buckshot whats your opinion?

[STUMPJMPR]

I posted a few days ago asking why are fighting shotguns cylinder bore.  I got some feedback saying shotguns aren't good at longer distances.  I don't have a lot of experience with buckshot.  I killed one hog at 25 yards with a cylinder bore shooting 00 winchester buckshot.  3-4 pellets hit him in the head and neck.  This was an instant kill.  What kind of patterns are you getting at 40-50 yards?  How did it perform?  Here is a pattern I shot with my 19" cylinder barrel H&R single shot using federal flight control.  This buckshot only has 12 00 pellets.  Pattern was shot at 40 yards.  I estimate a 16" vertical spread  with  a 10" horizontal.  Most pellets were in a 10-12" cluster. 

[PowPow]

I want to hear some stories, too. I just got a 12 ga 3.5" pump and a box of 3.5" #4 buck (54 pellets) for coyotes and bobcats for 75 yards or less. Not sure if I should go with an IC choke, turket choke or something in between.

[Graybeard]

If you're hunting humans at close range I think it is an excellent choice. Other than that I think it's inappropriate. I have my home defense shotgun loaded with them but my house isn't that large so any shot I had to make with it would be real up close.

It will work at times on deer and hogs and the like and it will fail a lot more often wounding game you might think you missed. I'd be surprised to see it exit so not much of a blood trail to follow.

There is something to be said for the effectiveness of multiple hits but if those hits are not in the proper place they are pretty useless. Other than up real close you just can't be sure the pattern will put them in the kill zone. I can't imagine me using them for other than home defense.

[keith44]

I agree with Bill here, but with the added twist that they are illegal to carry while hunting, let alone actually shooting game with them in Ky.  So mine are just for defense and I have never actually patterned them.  My 18" cylinder bore 870 has one #4 load followed by five 00 buck loads, to clear the house, not really thought about shooting past 30 feet with them.

[mcwoodduck]

20 years ago I got a winchester 1897 Riot model.
I wanted to use it for hunting.
I took it a bunch of 00 and 000 Buck loads out to the farm.
I stappled a few paper grocery sacks to a saw horse to simulate a deer.
And started out at 20 yards and moved back 5 yards at a time.
Well long story short, two pellets went where I needed them to and it took a small buck one morning.  He was about 60 to 75 yards away in open woods.
He ran 20 yards laid down under a tree and became food.  Found two of the pellets in him and one hit his antlers.
 

[351 power]

i'm interested in this too. not for deer but for close range varmints. i've read many testimonials, i know i know, that have had good use for the shotgun varmint hunting. most seem to have more choke than cyl

[yellowtail3]

I've taken a bunch of deer with buckshot. Close (under 30 yards) it'll do the job. Further out is dicey. And since the standard for me is that I should ALWAYS recover the deer unless I just screwed up the shot... it's an under-30 yard proposition. Some go further - I've a pal who is a very competent hunter, who swears by his 1100 at 50 yards... I'd opt for a rifle, myself.

[scratcherky]

At 50 yards a 12 gauge loaded with #1 & #0 BS is deadly on deer. Never did care for #00 BS.

[jackruff]

At one time a shotgun was all that was legal in large areas here in south Mississippi.  My first deer, a nice 9-point, was shot a long time ago with a load of #4 buck out of an Ithaca Model 37.  I don't know just how far away he was, maybe a little too far.  The three or four follow-up shots were with 00 buck as he was running away.  When recovered, after maybe 50 yards, he had one #4 in his heart and one 00 in his rear end.  I almost didn't get him.  Every deer I've shot since then has been with a rifle or a bow, but some still use shotguns, and an awful lot of deer have been killed with them.  Within bow range or a little beyond any load of buckshot or a slug would be very effective.  (By the way, my recurve bow range is within 30 yards.)

[yellowtail3]

  Within bow range or a little beyond any load of buckshot or a slug would be very effective.  (By the way, my recurve bow range is within 30 yards.)

I think that's about right. I used to use 000 (Winchester Supreme) because I wanted good penetration. At the very common 25 yards from a tree, early season... buckshot is lethal. Past 35-45 it's dicier and dicier...

[tacklebury]

Furthest I've patterned is 30 yards.  Kept them on a paper plate with 000 3" mags. and an extra full turkey choke. 

[Doublebass73]

I've taken a bunch of deer with buckshot. Close (under 30 yards) it'll do the job. Further out is dicey. And since the standard for me is that I should ALWAYS recover the deer unless I just screwed up the shot... it's an under-30 yard proposition. Some go further - I've a pal who is a very competent hunter, who swears by his 1100 at 50 yards... I'd opt for a rifle, myself.

I've never used buckshot but have friends that have and still do. They told me essentially the same thing, 30 yards and under buckshot will put a deer down no problem. They keep that as a max range also.

[Couger]

At 50 yards a 12 gauge loaded with #1 & #0 BS is deadly on deer. Never did care for #00 BS.

I could have posted these exact same words!  Also #4Buck is darned effective from a bore that patterns them well.
 
I've killed TWO mule deer with #4Buck beyond 50yards!  00Buck has never patterned well for me, icluding the 3" loads with 15 pellets that totally missed deer at 40yds!  The #4Buck loads have 3X as many pellets for much denser patterns!

[stubshaft]

It's been at least 20 years since I've shot at a game animal with 00.  I used it to harvest about 15 hogs over the years and was not impressed with it at all.  I hunt in the rainforests and visibility is somewhat limited but it is still (to me) a 25yd or less proposition and that is iffy.  One of the hogs wat stopped by 1 pellet in the neck striking the spine, 3 more were found in the shield and had not penetrated into the cavity.  Sows weren't too hard to kill but stray pellets in the gut turned me off.

[evidrine]

Most of the deer I have killed was with buckshot. Longest shot geing out to around 70yrds. Buck shot will do the job just fine. Only down fall is that buckshot does not leave a good blood trail.

[gmctrucks]

I have some buck shot shells in my home defender BUT im going to buy some lead slugs I bet that would kill a deer if hit in the right spot. Look on YouTube they have all sorts of different slugs I even seen this shell that shoots out fire which is cool if one wants to scare some vandels messes around your home.

[GeneRector]

   Howdy! Some public hunting lands in Texas require shotguns with buckshot only. It may not be a best choice; however, if you want to hunt on that particular public land, you must use buckshot. Always, Gene
 
 

[Mack in N.C.]

Buckshot gets a bad wrap cause most dont know how to hunt with buckshot....sevaeral on here cite shots well over 50 yds.......no........thats is why it gets a bad wrap...
like any shot you need to pattern your gun but all my shotguns that i have   I have found loads that work well 50 and under.....
here is the other problem most hunters have with b/s...dont aim at the shoulder or heart....
the aimpoint is the neck....I read this years ago(cant remember what book) and it works..
some pellets get the neck..some the head and some the heart area...........Mack

[thumper113]

I've used buckshot for over 30 years and just like any other you've got to match the the gun and the shells. 

My old full choke Revelation pump is good out to about 70 yards with 000 3".  My brother in laws 870 isn't any good after 30 like has been mentioned here.

I prefer the 000 because of the .32 pellets pack one heck of a punch.  I shot a small buck in West Texas at about 60 yds and flipped him with the impact. 

Know how your gun patterns and 8 32 caliber pellets can do a lot of damage.

[keith44]

Know how your gun patterns ...

and that my friends is the trick to effectively using a shotgun with any load, for any task you'd ask of a shotgun

[m-g Willy]

Go down the page and see my post about PLAYING with BUCKSHOT thread to see my tests with chokes and range with 00 buckshot.

[m-g Willy]

oops

[shot1]

I agree 100% with Mack from NC. I had a Rem 1100 with a 30" FULL choke barrel when I lived in East NC and the only buck load it would shoot well was the Rem baby mag 2 3/4" #4 buck that had 34 pellets. Out to 60 yards a deer was dead meat. Aim at the neck is good advice. Pattern you gun with different size buck to see which shoots the tightest and try not to shoot beyond 50 yards is good advice also. Many have better luck with 00 buck with a modified choke. Like Clint Eastwood said "A man has got to know his limitations."

[popplecop]

Years back when I was still working I checked quite a few hound coyote hunters.  Invaribly they used No. 4 Buck with a Mod. choke if they had tubes.  Can not remember any of them useing any other size buck.

[45-70.gov]

its called ''buckshot'' for some reason


the  most knowledgeable  hunter with buck  on deer
swears by  #4  and head shots....he mostly   hunted ahead of dogs in N florida


my dad swore by #1......hunter/medical examiner...he said  not enough OO to suit him #4 too small


my ithaca tells  me OOO

[keith44]

just a theory, but I would say the name comes from the early days of gun hunting (muzzleloaders) when it was about gathering food, and sport hunting was not known by us commoners.

[jackruff]

its called ''buckshot'' for some reason


the  most knowledgeable  hunter with buck  on deer
swears by  #4  and head shots....he mostly   hunted ahead of dogs in N florida


my dad swore by #1......hunter/medical examiner...he said  not enough OO to suit him #4 too small


my ithaca tells  me OOO

My first deer, a nice 9-point buck and the only deer I ever shot with buckshot, was shot at a distance of about 50 yards, which was too far.  My first shot was with #4 buck.  He turned and ran and I commenced pumping and shooting with 00 buck.  He really didn't go far.  When we dressed him we found one #4 shot in his heart and one 00 buck in his backside.  The rear-end shot would not have hurt him much at all.  Moral of the story:  he was too far for buckshot and I was very lucky to get him.  My next several bucks were shot with a 6mm Remington, which was, by the way, extremely effective and efficient.

[cleveland48]

I have never shot at a deer with buckshot but I have seen several killed with it here in MS in front of dogs. A lot of times a blood trail is small or not at all but then again the dogs find it or bay it very quickly so them getting away wounded is pretty rare unless the make it to a creek.  Most of these guys also carry rifles in there trucks and choose the one appropriate for the situation.

[Swampman]

I've done a lot of testing with all sizes of buckshot in every choke offered.  At 40 yards a hit on a paper plate is pure luck.  I wouldn't hunt with it myself.

[rfletcher]

My two boys and I each have a shotgun we've patterned and set up for buckshot.  Two have extra full trulock chokes and one a Browning invector extended turkey choke.  With Remington 3" OO buck each gun will put 8 to 10 pellets in a paper plate at 45 yds every shot.  I have no hesitations on pulling the trigger at 50 yds.  We only use them if we are running dogs or in a buckshot only area.