#4 buckshot and deer

model 70 · #1 08-12-2005, 02:51 PM

anyone taken a deer using a 12ga and #4 buckshot?

trex · #2 08-12-2005, 04:18 PM

I have, but I dont care for it very much. One it's just too darn many pellets, which leads to more damaged meat than necessary. Second, I dont think the pellets are big enough to give pass through performance. The ole mass x velocity thing. I wouldnt use anything smaller than #1 buckshot and really I like oo and ooo the best. #1 would be fine if it'll pattern good in your gun. Buckshot is the ticket for hunting in the thick stuff. Anything 50 yds and in is toast.

8X56MS · #3 09-18-2005, 09:05 AM

My position is that even 00 or 000 buck shot is not adequate for deer. #4 is a joke, and shooting animals with it would lead to lost and wounded game animals. I don't think that an ethical hunter should use shot on game animals.

wrenchman · #4 09-18-2005, 02:57 PM

I dont like #4 i have yoused 00 and 000 buck shot with great
results.
The thing to do is pattern the gun make sure you know how it will shoot with what you have.
If your shots are over 40 yards you might want to look at slugs
even if you are youseing a smoth bore.

skeet · #5 09-18-2005, 11:02 PM

is ok for foxes and close coyotes but not anywhere near big enough for deer...except at very close ranges(30 ft or less) Use something bigger

Dom · #6 09-19-2005, 06:09 AM

Double 8x56MS thots -- I'll stick to slugs if I'm using shotgun. And from my experience, with 00 or 000 buck, maybe out to 20 or 30 yards max, I think 50 is really stretching it. Sure, it might just take one ball in the right spot, but you have no way of knowing where that one or two balls is going to hit. No way with #4, not near enough oomph.

The best refinement over the past few years for shotgun only areas since sliced bread has been the refinement of rifled shotgun barrels shooting sabots. Waidmannsheil, Dom.

fabsroman · #7 09-19-2005, 01:21 PM

I agree with Dom on this.

I just opened up some really old 16 gauge #1 buckshot the other night to destroy the shells and there weren't many pellets inside.

Buckshot is illegal here in Maryland for deer hunting, but even if it was legal I still think I would be using slugs in lieu of buckshot. My shotgun has a slug setup that is pretty darn good out to 150 yards. In shotgun only areas, the human population is so tight that you don't see many shots longer than 150, and most are a lot less than 150. The slugs/sabots have done the job just fine and I almost never need to worry about the outcome (i.e., will a pellet hit the right place or not, will they make it out that far).

If I HAD to use buckshot, I would buy a 10 ga. and use #00 or #000.

gd357 · #8 09-20-2005, 12:55 AM

I'm in total agreement with most of what was stated earlier. A friend of mine uses a 10 gauge and 00 buck for deer. He's never lost one, and it does the job, but he's also pretty judicious about his shot selection.

gd

trex · #9 09-20-2005, 10:05 AM

Funny, most of the negative things you hear about buckshot are from folks who live in states where it's illegal in the first place and they've never really used it. The folks you hear positive things from are the folks who live in states where it's legal, and they use it all the time. It's just like any other type of projectile folks. If you pattern your gun, and you use it to it's limits, you know that if you aim at the vitals (Within the limits) your gonna have multiple hits in the vital area and a dead deer. The most powerful buckshot rounds are actually 2 3/4" 12ga loads. Thats if you take velocity per pellet into count. 9 00 pellets in the lung/heart area is rather lethal! Most folks like to use 3" shells because it offers a nice compromise between velocity and pellet count. Plenty of oomph to kill the small to medium size deer we hunt around here!

8X56MS · #10 10-02-2005, 01:47 PM

Trex,
Buckshot is legal in Florida, and many guys use it. This is really common on public land, where 'hunt clubs' are involved. A few ill put the dogs in on one side, and drive the deer through a section of planted pine. The other guys line up in their pick up trucks on the dirt road on the other side, and try to shoot the running deer as they emerge from the palmettos and pines.
Great sport, eh?
I have seen many deer killed this way. Its never pretty, hardly ever a clean kill, and there are many lost, wounded deer.
I have used, and still use, shotgun slugs when hunting in heavy cover. I like a slug, and find them plenty accurate out to around 75 yards.
Still, I will take a rifle over a shotty any day, for deer hunting.