Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How effective is buckshot?

Haven't used it much but carried it a lot for bear protection in camp esp. at night in Alaska. The type pellets make a huge difference with the high antimony Magnum type patterning better and the copper or nickle hard plated shot doing even better. The buffered loads were also an improvement but don't know if anything better is available now.

Buckshot has been used to dispatch many wounded leopards and if the PH's trust it with their life as the weapon of choice that's a pretty good endorsement. They used European or Brittish loads that were about the equivalent of size 0 or # 1. Or if American loads then 00 as most of the improvements are directed at this size.