Herters oddball shotgun ammo

The place to discuss ammunition, reloading, ballistics, loads, and chamberings.
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Termite
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Re: Herters oddball shotgun ammo

Post by Termite »

Netpackrat wrote:The 8 pellet 00 loads don't make a whole lot of sense to me, given that 00 buckshot naturally stacks in layers of 3 in a 12 gauge shell.
Reduced recoil.
"Life is a bitch. Shit happens. Adapt, improvise, and overcome. Acknowledge it, and move on."
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Termite
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Re: Herters oddball shotgun ammo

Post by Termite »

Federals Flight Control #1 Buckshot is supposed to be the "bees knees".

Box-O' Truth report
"Life is a bitch. Shit happens. Adapt, improvise, and overcome. Acknowledge it, and move on."
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HTRN
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Re: Herters oddball shotgun ammo

Post by HTRN »

Netpackrat wrote:The 8 pellet 00 loads don't make a whole lot of sense to me, given that 00 buckshot naturally stacks in layers of 3 in a 12 gauge shell.
It's the mandated load for the military and feds.
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Rich Jordan
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Re: Herters oddball shotgun ammo

Post by Rich Jordan »

I finally made it to the range with the KSG and the chinese '97 trench gun.

I shot the trench a few times before without issue save for its aforementioned dislike for Aguila minishells. Today off a bench to sight in, both shotguns hurt to shoot. The KSG in particular slapped my face with each shot; more muzzle rise meant the 'comb' (receiver) gave me a love tap at the cheek-weld, using a cheap red-dot on the top rail for sighting.

I shot 30 rounds of Walmart Suprema buckshot, 15 rounds of Winchester SuperX rifled slugs (2 or 3 per gun sighting in, 5 for target), 20 rounds of Herters MultiDefense (buck and ball) and 20 rounds of mini-buck. The reported info below was the last sets shot with each type in each gun.

It was a mistake to not take along some 'premium' buckshot to see how tight the pattern would be with both guns. The cheap stuff was like shooting a blunderbuss.

Trench.

The trench gun did not like the Herters mini-buck loads, the Suprema buckshot loads, or the Herters buck and ball. It shot fine but kept hanging up on ejection; maybe the rims are a bit thicker, and the extractor just doesn't let go. I'll need to take it apart to see if there's a burr or roughness in there. Winchester rifled slugs fed perfectly. I didn't have any other ammo type (four should have been enough).

It only has the gold bead sight and I don't think I held consistently enough. Win Super-X rifled slugs did about a 7 inch group at 25 yards, strung mostly vertically. I think that was me more than anything. I think the bead sight was dead on since the vertical string centered on the bull.

The Suprema buckshot loads centered 3-4" left when aiming at the bull (after that I pulled in to about 15 yards to avoid hitting the target holders with huge patterns). 5 shots at 15 yards, 16" pattern.

The Multi-D buck and ball was the surprise and was both consistent and inconsistent in inconsistent ways. At 15 yards, 3 shots, almost everything stayed inside 4 inches and nicely centered on the bull, except for two stray buckshots that went 10" high and 8" low (or else a neighbor cross-shot my target). The two balls were inside 2". Two shots on another target went low; the large ball hits were < 1" apart and 2+ inches low, while the buck scattered to about a 1 foot group. So the ball is fairly accurate and consistent but the ball is all over the place.

6 rounds of the Mini buck on a 15 yard target (with multiple FTEs) produced a nice circular group around 12 inches, centered on the bull. The wads punched some slug-size holes also. These were MUCH more pleasant to shoot from the bench.

KSG

Fed everything with fewer problems. 1 FTE and one FTF overall but I'm almost certain I short stroked it those times; the KSG needs to be pumped hard. The mini-buck loads fit 8 in a tube instead of 7. I had one incident of the mini-buck double-feeding which tied up the gun. No issue switching tubes, Having the tubes fully loaded helps with recoil and muzzle rise; thats a lot of weight!

I've read that a double feed can happen if you 'bounce' the pump at the rear of the stroke. Maybe that happened. It didn't recur.

At 25 yards with slugs, four went into a < 2" group at 25 yards with the gun punching me in the cheek each time. The fifth I flinched (called) and it dropped 6+". Red dot definitely helped here compared to the trench bead sight.

Four rounds of mini-buck produced a large group centered about 4" right of the bull at 15 yards. More than 1' diameter (bigger than the trench guns 6 shot group).

5 shots of Suprema buck went right and a little bit up, < 12" group (smaller than the mini buck).

The Multi-D buck and ball shells did about a 2" group for the balls and 6" plus fliers out to about 12" centered 4" high and right.

Interesting. I need to do more testing with the KSG for feeding different ammo types, but have to use a different range; this one doesn't allow birdshot, only buck/slug. And definitely get the extraction/ejection on the trench looked at. There's no reason it should not be able to handle almost any decent shell.
Rich Jordan
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Re: Herters oddball shotgun ammo

Post by Rich Jordan »

The '97 trench ejector spring was loose. That didn't cause problems with the better ammo but might have caused the cheap ammo FTEs. Hopefully find out in the near future. Blue Loctite to the rescue

Has anyone else used either the Herters or the Suprema ammo and have opinions to share?

Thanks
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