[ShotgunPro]

I love me some Federal LE133 00 Buck for a defensive shotgun load but Federal seems to be having (artificial?) problems with keeping up with demand. It's almost impossible to find any quantity of this load. Consequently, I've started looking at other, similar loads and I came across Hornady's reduced recoil TAP 00 Buck. Has anyone here done any patterning of these two loads? Have any comparison photos? TIA

 

[ShotgunPro]

Guns & ammo did a great write up this a few issues back. Fed will hold the tightest group out to about 15 yds (3.5 in). Have you checked budsgunshop.com I got some fed from them awhile back for under 5 a box. LE 9 shot Buck 00.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[ShotgunPro]

To be dead honest...it don't mean a whole lot how any of our shotguns may pattern this load; what matters is how your shotgun does with it.

Example: my chopped-down Wingmaster loves Winchester Ranger & Federal Tactical reduced recoil, to the point that I can't tell the difference in how they pattern. My Benelli does great with Winchester, but spreads Federal to hell and breakfast. My Mossberg keeps Federal tight, but Winchester doesn't pattern well at all. Some of them like Remington, some don't.

So...I really suggest you find out how it works in your shotgun, instead of somebody else's.

 

[ShotgunPro]

To be dead honest...it don't mean a whole lot how any of our shotguns may pattern this load; what matters is how your shotgun does with it.

You're preaching to the choir, brother. I'll end up patterning yet another load in short order. (Perhaps you've seen some of the pattern pics I've posted on here over time.) I was just hoping we might have a cross-section of folks on here that had already done some patterning to give me a coarse-grained idea of the differences between the two loads while I'm sitting in my office wishing I was out patterning. :lol:

 

[ShotgunPro]

Guns & ammo did a great write up this a few issues back. Fed will hold the tightest group out to about 15 yds (3.5 in). Have you checked budsgunshop.com I got some fed from them awhile back for under 5 a box. LE 9 shot Buck 00.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

No luck. I bought a lot of this ammo "a while back". It's been just the last 2-3 weeks that it's disappeared.

 

[ShotgunPro]

No luck. I bought a lot of this ammo "a while back". It's been just the last 2-3 weeks that it's disappeared.

sgammo.com has it I just checked, you can buy it by the 50 rd case

 

[ShotgunPro]

To be dead honest...it don't mean a whole lot how any of our shotguns may pattern this load; what matters is how your shotgun does with it.

Example: my chopped-down Wingmaster loves Winchester Ranger & Federal Tactical reduced recoil, to the point that I can't tell the difference in how they pattern. My Benelli does great with Winchester, but spreads Federal to hell and breakfast. My Mossberg keeps Federal tight, but Winchester doesn't pattern well at all. Some of them like Remington, some don't.

So...I really suggest you find out how it works in your shotgun, instead of somebody else's.

Its like a 22rf when it comes to shotgun ammo. One 410 loves Remington shotshells, the other wants Winchester, one shoots Federal slugs spectacular and the other hates it, it wants the 3" Winchesters. I switched my HD buckshot load from Rem #1 buck because my new HD shotgun hates it where the old one has the most uniform round patterns I ever seen from a shotgun with it. That shotgun hates Q1544 but the new one throws Q1544 into nice round patterns. Thats the joy of shotguns, gotta shoot 'em to learn thier personalities............

 

[ShotgunPro]

I've read that basically Feds PD132 is darn near the same thing...I guess...

On a side note,

I currently have a FN TPS that internally choked for buckshot...

With that said...I am going to do a "00 buck" test with my gun before the end of this shooting season. So far I have lined up:

-Winchester buffered 9 pellet 00 Buck military over-run
-Winchester Supreme 3 pellet buck/slug combo (joke ammo I know but I wanted to try it out)
-Winchester Super-X 9 pellet 00 buck
-Federal Vital-shok buffered copper plated 9 pellet 00 buck
-Federal Self Defense low recoil 9 pellet 00 Buck
-Hornady TAP 9 pellet 00 Buck (original issue black box)
-Hornady TAP LE low recoil 8 pellet 00 buck
-Hornady Critical Defense 9 pellet 00 buck
-Hornady TAP light Mag 8 pellet 00 buck
-Centurion double ball buckshot (again, lame but I want to see how this patterns)
-NobelSport LE 12 pellet 00 buckshot
-Fiocchi low recoil Exacta 00 nickel plated buck
-Wolf 00 buck

We'll see how these feel and pattern from a self defense distance. I plan on getting pretty detailed with the tests if possible...or at least as detailed as I can being an amateur. In the past the pattern/recoil is as different as night and day when comparing different brands...

What spawned this "test" is that I used to have a cyl bore Rem 870 and found different 00 buck to pattern completely different. here's some shots I took back then:

Hornady TAP:

Winchester Military surplus:

Fed Vital Shok:

All were fired from 10yds and obviously patterned completely different although all are listed as buffered. The TAP was amazingly tight where as the other two weren't.

 

[ShotgunPro]

To be dead honest...it don't mean a whole lot how any of our shotguns may pattern this load; what matters is how your shotgun does with it.

So...I really suggest you find out how it works in your shotgun, instead of somebody else's.

^This

I have shot both.

I prefer the Hornady blue hull reduced recoil 00B. They really are some soft recoiling loads.

Here are a few examples how they did for ME.

Here is the Tap at 20 yards. 18.5" cylinder bore mossberg 500

The bullseye was traced from a coffee cup I had in the blazer. It was also a zero'ing shot with the Bushnell Trophy

And here is the Federal LE 9 pellet buck about 55 seconds into it