00 Buck ammo choices...

Discussion in 'Ammunition' started by SHOOTER13, Jul 12, 2014.

  1. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    What particular brands are you guys using in your shotguns...!?

    Right now I have 250 rounds of 2 3/4" Nobel Sport Law Enforcement 12 pellet with a muzzle velocity of 1,290 fps...

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    ...and 250 rounds of 2 3/4" Sellier & Bellot 9 pellet with a muzzle velocity of 1,180 fps.

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    Both are well suited for personal defense as well as hunting small size game from my double (side by side) and pump action 12 gauge shotguns.

    What brand 00 Buck do you use...and why ?!
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 16, 2014
  2. nitesite

    nitesite .410

    Hi, Shooter13~

    I carry a shotgun a lot with me and it's been no secret that I am a huge believer in the 1-oz foster or Brenneke slug most of the time when it comes to defensive or offensive use of a smoothbore shotgun.

    BUT, having said that... for 00-Buck I really lean toward a "reduced recoil" 9-pellet version that advertises a velocity of around 1330-fps. The 1180-fps stuff has a dismal track record for effectiveness and there are plenty of documented examples of complete failures against criminals who were wearing even moderately heavy clothing. One particular case I am aware of in which a police department asked an ammunition manufacturer to buy back all their 1100-fps buckshot was over a shooting incident against a man wearing a leather jacket and TWO shotgun-armed officers (shooting that 9-pellet 00 load) had zero effect against him. Some pellets never made their way thru the jacket (some were found in the front pockets). A third officer armed with an AR-15 shattered his femur and the guy went down and later died or had his entire leg amputated IIRC.

    I'm not a huge fan of the full-power 1600-fps 9-pellet 00 load simply because of the recoil for most shooters who are not shotgunners.

    So taking such anecdotal info to the medium game category I find it implausible that low-recoil 00-Buck would give clean, quick and humane kills on most medium sized game animals.

    But that is only one opinion.
  3. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    Thanks nitesite...your opinion is always valued my friend.
    nitesite likes this.
  4. nitesite

    nitesite .410

    Shooter13,

    Good thread question and I hope others will add their ideas and keep this going!!!
  5. nitesite

    nitesite .410

    Those short buck shells that are only like 2-inches have always made me wish that they would work in an unmodified pump gun.

    Supposedly you can stuff a lot of them into a tubular magazine and they'll throw 00-buck @ 1200-fps or something.

    Anybody know anything about them? I think they are Aguila out of Mexico but I'm not sure.
  6. SOG

    SOG .22LR

    When I first started hunting here in New Jersey we could only use Buck shot. Now we are allowed to use either Buck Shot or Slugs for deer hunting. What I didn't know when I was young was that the Browning A5 I was using threw 00, 0, 1 and 3 buck like a riot gun. You couldn't hit a pie plate at 25 yards. That gun has a 32" full choke barrel. When I purchased my first 12 gauge BPS it had invector chokes, so I tried different chokes with different Buck Shot manufactures. The improved modified worked real well with Winchester double xx 000 until they changed the shot shell and powder. I also have a smooth bore slug barrel for this gun, so I was going to use slugs. When I patterned the gun in I shot a few buck shot shells out of the slug barrel. I was shocked. Out of 15 00 buck pellets seven of them were in a five inch circle at 40 yards. At first I though it was fluke, but it wasn't. I tried the same thing with my A5 Magnum. I got the same result with a different manufacturer's 00 Buck.
    What did I learn ? The each one of my 12 gauge shotguns shot a different manufacturer's buck shot. I wanted a tight pattern at long distance. Best advise I can give anyone is grab a hand full of different manufacture's buck shot and go test them out and see what works best for you. I own six different 12 gauge shot guns, three Browning A5s, one Citori, one BPS and one Maxus they all shoot buck shot differently. Good luck.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    nitesite likes this.
  7. nitesite

    nitesite .410

    Great advice, SOG. I enjoyed hearing of your first-hand experiences.
  8. SHOOTER13

    SHOOTER13 Guest

    First thing I learned about any shotgun was that it had to be "patterned"...as each and every manufacturers load would react (hit) differently at any given distance.

    Once that correlation is learned...consistant hits can be acheived with great effect.

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