Shot for BBF 95 97

[snoob]

Maybe someone of you did some research for best shot load for BBF?

Ive checked 12/76

Rottweil no 6. 52 g
Rottweil no 3. 52 g
Pionki no 5. 45g

And pattern was ok till 35meters. Longer distances spread is to big and you could miss for example a duck if a duck was lucky to fly between pellets..

[dieselten]

Try Federal with their Flight Control wads. I have had good results from those.

[snoob]

What does it means good?

[mchughcb]

The choke is modified or half. For duck size even 35m with 32gram #5 should be okay. Ive shot foxes to 60m on the run using 42 gram BB loads. You might find you are blowing your patterns with such heavy loads.

[dieselten]

Good, means that the patterns with the flight control wad are tighter at further distance than the patterns with conventional wads used in factory ammunition. If I was going to shoot skeet I would not use the flight control. For shooting game at 30-40 yards I would.

[snoob]

Thanks dieselten & mchughcb. mchughcb Maybe youre right. I have to make a resarch with lighter loads. Ive shot foxes badger duck phesent but everything under 30m of range.

[stokesrj]

I haven't done any research on a BBF modified barrel, but I've done extensive research on other barrels and can give you some general guidance. Be aware that shotgun barrels and their patterns are a bit science such as the bore diameter minus the choke diameter is fairly predictable in the kind of patterns it will throw but the transition from barrel diameter to choke diameter is not, different loads react differently to this transition, how steep the angle is and how long it is which is called to forcing cone. This is where it becomes more like magic than science. It isn't really but that is the reputation it has because of the complexities.
There are several factors that contribute to this reputation of magic.
1. Shot hardness - such as standard lead, chilled lead, high antimony lead, bismuth, Hevi-Shot, steel, or Tungsten Super Shot the harder the shot the truer the pattern.
2. Shot size - some of the denser shot such as HeviShot or TSS require much smaller shot sizes to achieve the desired level of penetration, steel requires much larger size than lead to achieve the same penetration. i.e. # 9 TSS will penetrate about the same as # 4 lead or # BB steel.
3. Payload size -the heavier the payload the longer the shot stream will be. i.e. a square load such as 1 1/8 oz 12 gauge, or 1 oz 16 gauge, or 7/8 oz 20 gauge will produce optimum pattens with shorter shot strings this is because the load is as long as it is wide. A 2 oz 12 gauge load will produce a shot string that is 9-11 feet long at 40 yards. This means a stationary target will receive all the pellets headed it's way but a moving target will not. This is why Turkey loads can be very heavy as the turkey is ideally shot standing still at longer ranges with head and neck erect. The opposite example would be a crossing teal at 70 mph which may receive only a small percentage of that same payload. A shorter faster load would be more effective.
4. Load velocity - optimum patterns are shot with around 1200 fps, poor patterns result at faster speeds such as 1300, 1350, or 1400 fps unless very hard shot is used. This is due to deformation of the shot during initial acceleration and how hard they are forced together as they transition through the choke.
5. Shot protection - as Dieselten mentioned the Federal Flight Control wad will most often produce tighter and more evenly distributed patterns. This is because of the significantly thicker side walls that protect the shot from scrubbing against the barrel of this wad design. It also has rear fins that pop out and crate drag as it exits the barrel which allows the shot to clear the wad before it becomes unstable and tips sideways. This is also the reason Federal had to recently redesign the flight control wad to what is now called the flight control flex wad. The original version didn't fare well with ported choke tubes which caused the wad to turn sideways before the shot stream had cleared resulting in large holes in the pattern. This is not a concern for your BBF but is for anyone contemplating using a ported choke tube. There are other factors that affect the shot damage by prolonging the initial acceleration pulse such as the original Remington Power Piston wad that crushes the rear portion of the wad in turn cushioning the shot.

In general a modified choke will produce clean killing patterns with standard lead loads out to 35-40 yards but crippling patterns beyond that distance with appropriate sized shot for the game being pursued. If you want to reach further, it will cost you in tradeoffs of greater recoil, smaller patterns up close, and higher costs. I'm all in on accepting those tradeoffs for some types of hunting. Usually in cases where the number of shots to be taken are low, and the other costs are high, expensive shells with narrow patterns up close, heavy recoil and high costs are a good fit. As an example I went on a Sand Hill Crane hunt in Arizona last winter. The limit was three birds and the cost to participate was several hundred dollars. I chose to use Federal Hevy Weight TSS loads which are very expensive and very effective. Here is a video of a double I took using the 1 3/4 oz #9 load using the flight control flex wad through and improved modified choke at about 45 yards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIDe35NPshQ

[SPEEDY]

Shotguns are funny things, everyone likes different shells despite being built practically identical.
I didn't know they were fixed choke but I have a few fixed choke guns and it's easy to adjust the pattern by changing loads and shot sizes.
Big shot and buffered shot patterns tighter, slower loads pattern tighter and smaller shot size always throws much fuller patterns for longer distances although the pellets loose energy that much faster so their range is a bit reduced.

I always pattern any new shotgun with a heap of different makes and loads, a 36gm load of #2 shot might be a crap pattern but a 36gm load of #4 in exactly the same brand/line might shoot amazing patterns.

Those are some heavy loads your using, I only use a 34gm load of #4 nitro steel for ducks or a 36gm load of steel BB for geese.
Most of my fox shooting I use a 36gm BB or a 42gm mini mag, fully thing a mini mag out patterns a 3" shell in the same weight load?

You might find there is one brand/load of lead that your gun shoots amazing with, and it shoots 5 others more haphazardly.
If you want to know what choke that gun really is there's two ways to check, 1st off have a look at the barrel marking around the block.
It should have two number stamps, one will say 18.4 + or - and 17.5 + or - quite a bit. Subtract the little number from the big and what's left is your actual physical constriction that will let you know what loads are safe to shoot and what size patterns you should expect.
Then shoot a pattern board at 30m and measure a 30" circle around the center of the pattern and start counting pellets, the percentage of pellets in the circle will tell you the actual choke pattern your gun shoots.

Shotguns are part science, part beauty and part black magic.

[SPEEDY]

Oh PS, I've never used loads that heavy for 30m shots, I'd get some 32-42gm 2 3/4" shells in shot sizes to suit your game, or something that will be a jack of all trades load.
I'm partial to 36gm #3 as an all round load for rabbits to Foxes, it kills foxes very well past 40m in my experience and is perfectly suited for rabbits too.
Bigger shot kills them better, harder but dead is dead be it hard or soft.