Stoeger M3500
Weather: 54-57 degrees with wind gusts (we tried to shoot between gusts)
I shot Hevi 6 3.5" and Mag blend 3.5" and 3" against LongBeard 3" and 3.5"
I had a hand full of chokes to try and did not try EVERY load in EVERY choke, but the Long Beard out performed the Hevi Hands down.
On hand I had a Tightwad, Kicks, Comp-n-choke XX full, Comp-n-choke XXX full, Truglo, and Rhino. Before counting pellets, I was most impressed with the Tightwad pattern as it didn't have a lot of gaps in it. After counting pellets, I was still impressed as it yielded the most pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yds.
I somehow forgot to try the Comp-n-choke XX Full with Long Beards and I'm going to try it this weekend. I'm looking for about 180 in a 10" circle with a more even spread outside of that circle.
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Nice patterns. I'm hoping to have similar results out of my M3500 with LB 3.5 #5's and my Jellyhead. The M3500 is a very nice gun and worth the cheap price.
Just order 3 boxes yesterday. Ready to try them out in my sbeII with IC 665 choke. I got 3.5's in 5 & 6 and 3in in 6. Post results soon.
Some nice patterns there. I like the idea of looking for a nice full 10" circle with no big holes in the coverage, and also looking at the coverage outside of that circle. Trying to get 12" to 15" of even coverage is golden, imho. It's much easier to hit your target with a pattern the size of a serving platter, that it is with a saucer-size pattern.
Quote from: 3" 870 Shell Shucker on January 23, 2014, 10:44:11 PM
Some nice patterns there. I like the idea of looking for a nice full 10" circle with no big holes in the coverage, and also looking at the coverage outside of that circle. Trying to get 12" to 15" of even coverage is golden, imho. It's much easier to hit your target with a pattern the size of a serving platter, that it is with a saucer-size pattern.
Your spot on! a good, even 20" pattern is much more important to me than just whats in the 10" circle. you need to look at what would happen if that turkey turned or moved its head as you shot. Is there enough around that 10" circle to get the job done. Those Stoeger patterns look fantastic. I think folks will be pleased with this load and slowly forget about the long range killing ability that Win. is advertising.
some great looking patterns
I tested the Comp-n-choke XX Full and it was around 182 I believe (I don't have it in front of me).
I then took my best patterns and found a 14" circle that I had laying around, to see how many pellets are between 10" and 14" as I think this is another great indicator of how good a pattern is. Once gain, the Tightwad blew them all out of the water with around 80 pellets in between 10 and 14 (and part of that 14" pattern was off of the paper, so that area counted as 0).
Looks like I'll be toting the Tightwad in the M3500 this year.
I would consider shooting three shots each with the two chokes you liked best. One shot may or may not be a good representation of performance.They may be very consistent but you will not know if you do not prove it.