# Poor quality of shot in shotshells



## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

Not to bash any shell manufacturers but I had quit a few different brands of shell in my shell box so I decided to cut one of each apart to examine the shot, after i had patterned my gun and found out wich ones patterend the best, here is what i found

1. Fed ultra shock in the red box had by far the best looking shot, and patterned the best as well

2. Kent shells had pretty good looking shot as well and patterned pretty good to

3. Remington sport laods shot was the best for the lower price shells and patterned OK but not as good as the first two

4. Remington nitro had good looking shot but did not pattern as well as the cheap loads

5. Winchester HV Express loads were absolutly terrible the shot was egg shaped, dimpled, had little **** sticking out of them very poor quality shot, I checked three different boxes from two different years and the were all really bad, and this shell patterned about as good as they looked. I didn't have any of the higher end winchester shells to check but I would have to believe they would be better. I won't be buying any more of these shell no matter how cheap they are.

In my opinion if your looking for an inexpensive shell remington or kent would be the place to look.


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## goldhunter470 (Feb 25, 2005)

Just from what I have seen in the field I would have to say the Remington and Winchester HV shells worked fairly well. The Federal Ultrashock are absolute garbage IMHO. No luck what so ever. The best shells I have used a the Winchester Supreme. Nice tight shot. I was shooting doves on a WPA at 40-50 yards. (BB at that!!) They were the only shells I had and I was really impressed.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

Of course everyone needs to realize that different guns with different chokes react to different shot...well...differently. A full choke from a berretta might have a totally different pattern than a full choke from a remington using the same shot. Its all about taking the time to go out and pattern your guns! You never know, one person's least favorite load might work exceptional in your gun!


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

I agree 100% but egg shaped and dimpled shot will not fly straight out of any gun after it reaches a certain distance, the rounder the shot the better.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

Good point :wink:


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

Thanks for the info. :beer: I really will take this into consideration when buying shells next time.


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## jbaincfl (Feb 5, 2003)

I have had good luck with the Kent, Winchester Supreme, Winchester Dry Lock, and Remmington Nitro.

The Winchester Express loads are not good at all. We had some cripple ducks at about 40 yds and when we tried to finish them there were bb's all over the pond. That was 4-5 years ago so it sounds like they still haven't improved


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

All I use is Express HV in BB and 2's and I have shot well with them. Haven't taken the time to go pattern since I've had good luck. Maybe the birds are close enough where it doesn't make a ton of difference what the shot looks like.


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## Ryan_Todd (Apr 11, 2004)

i aggree with the winchester loads being terrible. i cut open a supreme last year and it looked like there was 3 or 4 different shot sizes in it. and they were all deformed. i've had the best luck with the federal ultra shok in the red box. i also tried some of that new hevi steel last week and that stuff really hits the birds hard.


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## adokken (Jan 28, 2003)

Ryan you said that you used some Hevi steel last week, is this the regular Hevi_shot or am I missing some thing. I reload and use the Hevi exclusively but have heard rumors about a new shot. Hoping that they would come out with some thing less trendy.


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## mbitz (Sep 2, 2003)

I have had the same experience with the Winchester Xperts. The shot is horrible. I actually couldn't believe it when I cut one open, so I cut two more from two different boxes and they were all the same. One cheaper type that the shot looked really good in was Estates.

I haven't patterned with any of the types I cut open yet, but hope to get out to do it before duck opener.


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

As a kid, I could never throw much junk with a baseball or softball. The one way I could get the ball to move was to throw into a pretty hefty wind.

Same with shot patterns - shot imperfections act like the threads on a ball, and speed will accentuate the effect. In general, poor quality shot will throw less dense patterns, because the greater knuckle balling affect of the more-deffective shot "spreads" more. Take the same shot and push it another 250 fps and the pattern becomes even less dense because the "fliers" fly more.

So, when it comes to poor pattern densities, a hopped up load with poor quality shot is the daily double. Conversely, slower loads (~1300 fps) with good quality shot and heavy payloads and the smaller of acceptable shot sizes will throw some really dense/deadly patterns.

From experience, don't assume (a) that higher priced shells will have higher quality pellets, (b) that differnent offerings within a manufacturer's line will have the same quality of shot, or (c) that the quality of shot found in a particular load one year will be as good/bad in that same load the next year.

As Shu said, at close ranges, you could shoot cubes and it wouldn't matter. But at the outer ranges, these nuances make a very noticeable difference. If you can find the time, this stuff is really fun to mess with on the pattern board.


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

I just went out and cut open one of the estate shell and the shot was as round as it gets, havent patterned these yet but by looking at the shot they should pattern well.... I agree at close range it probably doesn't matter but why handicap yourself or take the chance at crippling a bird to fly off and die later..........................


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

> I agree at close range it probably doesn't matter but why handicap yourself or take the chance at crippling a bird to fly off and die later...


Amen, Brother BD, Amen. Another CONSEP/Roster disciple in the making... :wink: Beware, GG (a/k/a the prince of patterning darkness) will show up soon to try and keep you in the firery furnace of light/speedy wounding loads


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## Curtis (May 5, 2005)

Are the sportmen remington loads (trhe cheaps ones) are they the black shells? I have been holding off of useing them for honkers, think they may not be that good, but I'll trust you :wink:

Curtis


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## quackattack (Sep 27, 2003)

I really like the Winchester X-perts. Thats what I shot last year for ducks and then this year instead of buying a case of goose shells for early season, i've just been shooting my 3 inch 4 shots for geese.  They have worked awesome. I dropped a goose dead this last weekend at 60 yards. Maybe i'm just that good of a shot?? :lol: 
But in my opinion X-perts for duck, Kent Fasteels for goose.
:beer:


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