Fed. Flight Control Wad - Makes Choke Obsolete?

[flmason]

Do the Flight Control Wads make chokes tighter than cylinder unnecessary?  Have we come to a point where wad selection can be used in place of choke selection?

If so, anyone think it's possible to recreate the Flight Control idea in a DIY fashion? Say out of paper or cardboard, etc? Or is it strictly a modern materials exercise?

[.45 COLT]

Ghokes obsolete? I don't think so. The Flite Control type wad gives a tight patern (supposedly) through any choke. I usually don't want a pattern that tight. Federal came out with the wad for buckshot use and Hornady picked up on it. When shooting Buckshot, I don't want a pattern too tight. If I do, I'll shoot a slug.
 
As far as making your own, you might try some unslit wads (Precision Reloading is the source I use). If you're willing to take the time and spend the money testing, you can make some very tight-holding wads by experimenting with slits and maybe some side flaps. The trick there is to get the wad to release without tipping.
 
DC

[flmason]

Yeah, perhaps "obsolete" if far reaching. But if these are as good as they seem to be saying, the range from "Old fashion card wads" to "Flight Control Wads"... to say waxer or cut shells, and/or tradition slugs pretty much would seem to cover a log of territory with just a cylinder bore.

Certainly an appealing idea on paper. What the patterning board will show, I suppose, is anyone's guess.

Gonna have to find some time and space to experiment a little. Years gone by I was never a smoothbore person. These days, the flexibility seems more apparent to me.

Toss in a decent insert barrel and seems like you could do everything practical. The one missing thing would, of course, be the minute of angle extreme long shot.

[RMc]

Ghokes obsolete? I don't think so. The Flite Control type wad gives a tight patern (supposedly) through any choke. I usually don't want a pattern that tight. Federal came out with the wad for buckshot use and Hornady picked up on it. When shooting Buckshot, I don't want a pattern too tight. If I do, I'll shoot a slug.
 
DC

For years the desire for tighter buckshot patterns was the talk of the shooting world.  Now with utra-tight patterning loads from firms large and small, the complaints roll in about buckshot patterns that are too tight!
 
 So what does a "good" buckshot pattern look like?
 
 

[tacklebury]

All 9 pellets of 00 should be on a paper plate at 15 yards.  At 30 yards, it can open up and let one or two off a paper plate.  By the time you get to 50 yards, it'll be about an 18" dia. pattern or about 1/2 on and 1/2 off the plate.  If you get it to that point, the deer better look out. 

[RMc]

All 9 pellets of 00 should be on a paper plate at 15 yards.  At 30 yards, it can open up and let one or two off a paper plate.  By the time you get to 50 yards, it'll be about an 18" dia. pattern or about 1/2 on and 1/2 off the plate.  If you get it to that point, the deer better look out. 

 So what then is a minimum acceptable pattern - to cleanly put a deer down with 00B?
 
   

[flintlock]

3-4 pellets in that paper plate at any range out to 40 yards...
 
 

[RMc]

3-4 pellets in that paper plate at any range out to 40 yards...

 Why would you expect 3 of the little 1/8th ounce pellets in the core 10 inch pattern to be a  reliable number to put a deer down quickly?   That would be about 162 grains of lead at maybe 950 fps.
 
 Why just 40 yards?  Would those three pellets not do the job at 50 yards.

[SHOOTALL]

 
 So what does a "good" buckshot pattern look like?

depends on what you want . with a bead sight its easy to miss with a tight pattern on moving game. My 870 with a briley tube that was worked will put a 3 inch  load of 000 buck in a oval the size of a ball cap at 40 steps. It has a bead sight and it isn't as useful as a tube I have that will spread the pattern to 16-18 inches at the same distance. I have a rifle sighted bbl that can almost match the tighest one in the bead sighted bbl but with sights it work very well. So a pattern should like like one you can shoot well. And for each of us depending on our skill , sighting system , type of hunting etc it may be different. I don't believe I would care for any of those patterns in a SD gun , mine had a mod choke in it 

[tacklebury]

All 9 pellets of 00 should be on a paper plate at 15 yards.  At 30 yards, it can open up and let one or two off a paper plate.  By the time you get to 50 yards, it'll be about an 18" dia. pattern or about 1/2 on and 1/2 off the plate.  If you get it to that point, the deer better look out. 

 So what then is a minimum acceptable pattern - to cleanly put a deer down with 00B?
 
 

One right in the brain pan would be the minimum I guess.    Unfortunately, with this way of looking at this, there is no acceptable buck pattern.  The issue with buckshot is and always will be that it opens up.  You have a 1:9 ratio at best of a hit.  Increasing range means you have that much less chance of a hit.  When I shoot it I aim at the top of the shoulder/low neck and hope one of the 9 balls hits what I want it to.  For every 10 yards you move out, you decrease that chance.  If you wanted a good ratio, I'd say it's 1:20 by 40 yards and 1:50 by 50 yards.  It drops that much over 10 yards because the rate of spread increases drastically.  This is the reason some states have outlawed it's use, because by 50 yards, the pattern is big enough you might only put one through the entrails, meaning a very slow death or perhaps just wounded deer.  I limit my use of buckshot to early season hunts when there's too much greenery to easily get stalking shots and necessitating pushing deer with a partner often.

[.45 COLT]

Ghokes obsolete? I don't think so. The Flite Control type wad gives a tight patern (supposedly) through any choke. I usually don't want a pattern that tight. Federal came out with the wad for buckshot use and Hornady picked up on it. When shooting Buckshot, I don't want a pattern too tight. If I do, I'll shoot a slug.
 
DC

For years the desire for tighter buckshot patterns was the talk of the shooting world.  Now with utra-tight patterning loads from firms large and small, the complaints roll in about buckshot patterns that are too tight!
 
 So what does a "good" buckshot pattern look like?

I load 6, 8, 9 & 12 pellet 00 Buck. I don't do much hunting with buckshot, my loads are mainly anti-personnel. At 20 yards, I want a spread that will put 1/2 of the pellets on a 7" X 9" rectangle., the other half within maybe 3" of the perimeter. The only exception is the 8 pellet load - that will put 8 in a 7" X 9" rectangle. The size was chosen because - it approximates the core area of an intruder and it is the size of the dividing cardboard in a 24 pack of soda.
 
DC