The Winchester Long beard XR is advertised as "heavier than lead". What the heck does that mean!? Is it lead? Is it steel? No clue.
Please take into account that I am new to turkey hunting and the only thing I have ever shot out of my shotgun is buckshot that I probably got from somebody.
I think I have narrowed it down to Winchester Long Beard XR 3" and a Patternmaster Anaconda Striker choke tube to go with my Remington 870 Super Mag 12 gauge.
heavier than lead means exactly that. the shot is made of material that is heavier than lead. by doin this it help minimize shot deformation during the shot process and in turn helps mantain better patterns. it also mean that you can shoot smaller shot sizes and still maintain kenetic energy to kill cleanly. oh and steel is not heavier than lead
Idk why it's advertised as heavier then lead because it is lead that's what there while big thing about is the best patterning lead load on the market
just some wisdom from an old timer,the heavier than lead loads out there now are a big plus with right choke tubes and determining which one patterns best in your gun.the advantage,is the heavier shot had longer range fopr killing shot if necessary.i used the first rem hevishot and swore it was best turkey load ever made.then the other manufacturers came out with similar loads.i have used them all and they all can take toms beyond 50 yards.over the years,i have accumulated several old copperplated and lead shot loads while trying all these new ones.the expense of new loads convinced me to start using up my old shells.this means i have to take shots under 40 yards!my last bird this season was taken with a 2x6 rem duplex that was several years old.
it is all about how far you will have to take your shot. ;D
The new Longbeard Extended Range is lead. The discontinued Winchester Xtended Range H-D is not, it's htl (tungsten based) shot.
Where does it say that the longbeards are heavier than lead? I've never seen than advertised?
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^^ that's what I was wondering.
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I've never seen it advertised as HTL.
i dont believ ethe longbeard is advertised aas heavier than lead at all.. maybe he mixed up with hevi shot.. thast the only one i can think of that has that heavier than lead slogan.... but i will say i shoot hevishot mag blend now seriously thinking about switching to win lonbeard after i seen some patterns.. and pricetag!
I just patterned my Mossberg 500 with Winchester LongBeards and it consistently put 30 or more #6s in the kill zone at 40 yards. I had a heck of a time finding them, but I think I'm good for at least three or more years. Now all I need is a turkey dumb enough to come to my calls.
Yooper
I haven't seen the "heavier than lead" advertisement either, but I know from pulling pellets out of a bird, they are coated lead and perfectly round. I'm guessing nickel coating. One thing to keep in mind when purchasing XR's is the shot in them is European shot size. This means 5's are what we usually call 6's etc...shot size is one size smaller than our standard. I read this and measured for myself.
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Quote from: Narf on May 05, 2014, 08:42:01 AM
I haven't seen the "heavier than lead" advertisement either, but I know from pulling pellets out of a bird, they are coated lead and perfectly round. I'm guessing nickel coating. One thing to keep in mind when purchasing XR's is the shot in them is European shot size. This means 5's are what we usually call 6's etc...shot size is one size smaller than our standard. I read this and measured for myself.
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I was wondering about that. I shoot the 6's and pulled one out of a bird yesterday that looked like it was a 7 shot. Killed the heck out of the bird at 42 yards but the shot size looked small to me.
Quote from: Narf on May 05, 2014, 08:42:01 AM
I haven't seen the "heavier than lead" advertisement either, but I know from pulling pellets out of a bird, they are coated lead and perfectly round. I'm guessing nickel coating. One thing to keep in mind when purchasing XR's is the shot in them is European shot size. This means 5's are what we usually call 6's etc...shot size is one size smaller than our standard. I read this and measured for myself.
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Guess to would explain some of the high pellet counts.
Quote from: Narf on May 05, 2014, 08:42:01 AM
I haven't seen the "heavier than lead" advertisement either, but I know from pulling pellets out of a bird, they are coated lead and perfectly round. I'm guessing nickel coating. One thing to keep in mind when purchasing XR's is the shot in them is European shot size. This means 5's are what we usually call 6's etc...shot size is one size smaller than our standard. I read this and measured for myself.
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This is not completely true. I have sampled the shot size in a #5 LB. I checked about 30 pellets. Of those this is what I found. I had 1 being just oversized at .121 and 5 at exactly .120. I had 2 at .112 and 1 at .113. The largest majority of the pellets were in the .115 to .118 range with 8 of them being .117. I had no exact #6 pellets out of the ones I checked. Most measured what I would call a 6 5/8 to 6 3/4, lol. I will say that all the pellets were very round. I have also shot the #5 at 50 yds. thru a heavy tin soup can, every pellet that hit the can past completely threw both sides. Tried the same test with a #6 LB's twice. One time all the pellets past threw the front side and dented the back side with 4 passing completely thru. The other one all but 2 past thru the front side and dented the back side with no pass thrus. I've shot 3 turkeys with the #5 LB's this year and seen 2 others killed with them, they flat get the job done and after all my testing I have complete confidence in them.
The ads I've seen say "Heavier than lead performance . . ."
http://www.basspro.com/Winchester-Long-Beard-XR-Turkey-Shotshells/product/1310010621229/
maybe they mean copper plated
Quote from: darn2ten on May 05, 2014, 03:01:52 PM
Quote from: Narf on May 05, 2014, 08:42:01 AM
I haven't seen the "heavier than lead" advertisement either, but I know from pulling pellets out of a bird, they are coated lead and perfectly round. I'm guessing nickel coating. One thing to keep in mind when purchasing XR's is the shot in them is European shot size. This means 5's are what we usually call 6's etc...shot size is one size smaller than our standard. I read this and measured for myself.
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This is not completely true. I have sampled the shot size in a #5 LB. I checked about 30 pellets. Of those this is what I found. I had 1 being just oversized at .121 and 5 at exactly .120. I had 2 at .112 and 1 at .113. The largest majority of the pellets were in the .115 to .118 range with 8 of them being .117. I had no exact #6 pellets out of the ones I checked. Most measured what I would call a 6 5/8 to 6 3/4, lol. I will say that all the pellets were very round. I have also shot the #5 at 50 yds. thru a heavy tin soup can, every pellet that hit the can past completely threw both sides. Tried the same test with a #6 LB's twice. One time all the pellets past threw the front side and dented the back side with 4 passing completely thru. The other one all but 2 past thru the front side and dented the back side with no pass thrus. I've shot 3 turkeys with the #5 LB's this year and seen 2 others killed with them, they flat get the job done and after all my testing I have complete confidence in them.
You are correct. Out of the three I checked, they measured .113, .114, and .114.5 from a #5. I should have stated it as they are closer to the next size smaller shot. I have complete confidence as well and didn't mean to imply anything negative. Just that they may not be the size you think. The bird I shot didn't twitch at all at 30 yards. I actually wish he had, so the jakes would come in for my pops to get a shot. I refuse to cut a shell open, so I'll have to shoot another one so I can measure some more:)
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This is what it says on the Cabela's website:
"Do some long-distance turkey slamming at a fraction of the cost of most popular heavier-than-lead loads. Winchester Long Beard XR Turkey Shotshells drop old tom at distances beyond 40 yds. Thanks to Shot-Lok™ Technology, your shot is protected during in-bore acceleration, launching the round in a near-perfect circle for hard-hitting and extremely tight long-range patterns. The results – 10% greater penetration over standard lead loads beyond 50 yds and twice the number of pellets in a 10" circle out to 60 yds. Per 10."
Again, I'm new to turkey hunting, and pretty much anything other what somebody may give me to shoot, so when it doesn't say exactly what it is, ie: lead, steel, etc... then I don't have a clue. I promise I am not a moron but I just don't have the knowledge about this stuff yet. I'm assuming that since it says "greater penetration over standard lead loads beyond 50 yards" that it is saying it is also lead.
I guess the resin that encapsulates the shot keeping it more round increases penetration?? Not sure, never fired a LB. They are lead, though. 100% sure on that. Could be the size of the shot like some of the others posted.
I don't know about shot size, but I can say that I shot 2 birds this year with #6's , one at 15 and one at 40 yds. and they did a very good job on both birds. For the money the Longbeards are a winner!
:icon_thumright:
It says "heavier than lead performance"...not that it IS "heavier than lead". Those sneaky advertisers are slippery.
I have some really mixed feelings about the whole LBXR thing.
The thing that bothers me is the marketing. A #6 copper-plated lead pellet at 1200 fps is just that.......... a #6 copper-plated lead pellet. Doesn't matter what color shotgun shell it came out of, it is going to retain (to within a statistically insignificant difference) the same per-pellet energy at any given range as any other #6 copper-plated lead pellet fired at 1200 fps. Heck !! The Supreme HV's were #6's at 1300 fps !! And they patterned really well too. There's not going to be a huge difference at, say, 40 yards or 50 yards but................. a #6 copper-plated lead pellet from the old Supreme HV shell will retain more energy at any distance than the new "hot rod" LBXR.
The thing the LBXR has going for it is, obviously, it patterns like a MONSTER !!!!!! The first one I shot at 30" paper at 40 yards had, from an educated guess, 90% of the pellets in a 12" circle !!!!!!!! Never saw ANYTHING like it !!!!!! What I'm thinking is that a guy who has been shooting Brand XYZ #6's can probably get the exact same pattern density now out of a LBXR with #5's or maybe even #4's and effectively increase his lethal range by keeping good pattern density with the larger, harder hitting pellets.