I put some photos up on
predatormasters.com
The same as I've shown here. The thread is nothing but guns/choke tubes/loads/patterns and is 80 pages long going back 5 years or so.
That is where, as I mentioned above, a couple of guys have said those 4 buck patterns look as good as any they've seen through any gun and choke and that those patterns equal a dead dog. That said, if that's as good as its gonna get, I'm calling this combination good. Among the things I had set out to do with this gun was to find a buckshot load and choke combination for this role. I never thought early on I would get to a solid 50 yards until I started reading about HTL stuff and the claims of some choke manufacturers. Claims and reality are two different things and I think what I'm seeing from those 4 buck patterns is the nature of buckshot. I'm getting the 22-24" patterns claimed by Kicks choke tubes. Another thought on the Kicks I'll need to ask Chuck about; on two targets now I've had a part of the wad (gas seal maybe?) go through the target. The porting on the Kicks is designed to slow the wad if not strip it away to prevent it from blowing through the shot and disrupting patterns but I've clearly got a very nice round 3/4" hole in the target and not too far off the bull.
That said, I'd still rather see more dense patterns but its not going to happen without smaller shot and with HTL disappearing, the longer shots won't be possible anyway. The only option would be Hevishot and that's way expensive.
My favorite combination remains the Carlson's coyote choke with the Winchester heavy B. It will reliably put pellets on target to 50 yards, but again, stock of that load is drying up. I still consider it reasonably priced at $11 for 5 especially compared to an equivilant Hevishot load which is $47 for 10. I'm still going to try a couple less expensive loads, like the Federal WingShok 3" copper plated BB. I still want something to use through the Carlson's choke.
Another note;
I found Truglo Bone Collecter chokes (.670) for the 835 for I think $32 if anyone finds themselves interested. The Truglo Struttstopper is around $20 on eBay.
predatormasters.com
The same as I've shown here. The thread is nothing but guns/choke tubes/loads/patterns and is 80 pages long going back 5 years or so.
That is where, as I mentioned above, a couple of guys have said those 4 buck patterns look as good as any they've seen through any gun and choke and that those patterns equal a dead dog. That said, if that's as good as its gonna get, I'm calling this combination good. Among the things I had set out to do with this gun was to find a buckshot load and choke combination for this role. I never thought early on I would get to a solid 50 yards until I started reading about HTL stuff and the claims of some choke manufacturers. Claims and reality are two different things and I think what I'm seeing from those 4 buck patterns is the nature of buckshot. I'm getting the 22-24" patterns claimed by Kicks choke tubes. Another thought on the Kicks I'll need to ask Chuck about; on two targets now I've had a part of the wad (gas seal maybe?) go through the target. The porting on the Kicks is designed to slow the wad if not strip it away to prevent it from blowing through the shot and disrupting patterns but I've clearly got a very nice round 3/4" hole in the target and not too far off the bull.
That said, I'd still rather see more dense patterns but its not going to happen without smaller shot and with HTL disappearing, the longer shots won't be possible anyway. The only option would be Hevishot and that's way expensive.
My favorite combination remains the Carlson's coyote choke with the Winchester heavy B. It will reliably put pellets on target to 50 yards, but again, stock of that load is drying up. I still consider it reasonably priced at $11 for 5 especially compared to an equivilant Hevishot load which is $47 for 10. I'm still going to try a couple less expensive loads, like the Federal WingShok 3" copper plated BB. I still want something to use through the Carlson's choke.
Another note;
I found Truglo Bone Collecter chokes (.670) for the 835 for I think $32 if anyone finds themselves interested. The Truglo Struttstopper is around $20 on eBay.