Well, that was actually kinda the point.
The loads are very different. The guns are also different. I didn't set out to compare oranges to oranges but very intentionally apples to oranges.
The FliteControl wad makes the load work as if fired from a choked gun in that it extends the range of the effective pattern. I have in the past, (but through another 20" gun) seen and documented some very impressive patterns from FliteControl 00 buck to 40 and even 50 yards. With the low recoil loads I've had all 9 pellets in a hand sized pattern at 40 yards. In practice, I've killed varmints to 35 yards with this load and gun tested here.
When I got the 835, my hope was to set up a gun that surpassed what I already had and could be effective on larger quarry such as coyote and with the choked barrel, also be more versatile for turkeys and what ever else I might want to hunt, but the reality is that I much more needed a gun to deal with the wide variety of varmints that are a danger to my chickens, pig, barn cats and barn dog. Ferral cats are actually a problem as much as anything else.
This testing comes from the work I've been doing to figure out the best possible combination of load and choke to be able to reach farther with the shotgun than I have in the past. What I found was primarily very exaggerated claims of performance and hype that rang empty when tested. I did find loads that really made a difference to performance. Loads that I didn't expect to hold up. I also found that with ported chokes, FliteControl was useless and in fact was worse than useless. It was detrimental to performance and the pattern suffered for it.
What I did find was reality. I ran up against it like it was a wall. I found that for the money I was willing to spend on choke tubes, 40 yards was about the max distance and still achieve what I would call an effective pattern. Beyond that I'd really be hoping on the moon and stars and planets to align to produce a clean kill and the ammo retaining enough energy to be humane. It's not impossible. There are chokes I haven't tried. Some of those are well over a hundred dollars. But the thing is, I've seen better performance from a $20 choke than from a $50 choke making broad and amazing claims of perfection and 70 yard shots. I've heard a lot of talk and read a lot of stories but with zero eveidence.
So what do I have? I have two very different guns that perform well in their own roles. When I came to the realization that I had put together a 40 yard gun, I began thinking about having had a 40 yard gun all along and now comparing and contrasting these two very different things with very different roles and maybe seeing if there was some overlap in their intended uses. I wanted to see how that FliteControl stood against a gun/load/choke combination that was purposely and very deliberately put together. The 500 Persuader and FliteControl vs the 835 and each piece tested and selected for best performance.
What I found I detailed above. The actual numbers tell one story. But the percentage of each puts that in perspective.
I challenge you;
Load up some 00 buck of your choice of a few or several varieties and go shoot 40 yard targets and see what you come up with. Use 12" sq targets. Count hits and figure the percentage of shot. That would be your apples to apples. Then try some 41 pellet 4 buck for the heck of it and see how many hits you're putting on paper.
No honestly, because that's what we're doing here, it would be an unfair comparison to fire those two loads through the same gun. Had I done that, your critique (which I appreciate and am glad you brought up) would be validated. Fortunately that's not I've done here. That sort of comparison would not have proven anything.
Good lookin out, and thank you! You gave me opportunity to reflect on this a little more. And you're right, on the surface it certainly can seem confusing as to the why.
Take care. Tom Worthington
