Federal Barnes Expanders - 08/25/09
As I have entered my dotage, I have come to the realization that 2 3/4" slug loads provide me with all I need to keep my sinuses clear and my shoulder joints loose. Given that, I changed scopes on my 1300 and when I went to get things together for sighting in, I found that I was a bit short on 2 3/4" Federal Barnes Expanders, but had a pretty fair stash of 3"ers from the days when I was tougher. I decided to go ahead and sight in with the 3s and use them this year (if I don't go with the old 37 and Fosters). It took one complete miss at 100 yards to get me to go to 25 yards, where I should have started out in the first place. Two shots there got me where I was satisfied to go back to 100 and two more shots there got the scope and barrel working in partnership. The interesting thing is that the penultimate shot left the bottom of the target looking a bit off. (We use a tall cardboard box with stakes in each corner to hold it solidly in place.) I figured that one of the stakes was leaning in a bit and I had clipped it. This sometimes happens with rifles and results in some interesting holes in the box as well as sheared-off rebar stakes. When I got to the target, I found that the tear had been made by the base (and perhaps at least one of the petals) of the sabot. They were lying on the ground inside the perimeter of the box. Further examination of the box also revealed a perfectly circular imprint made by one of the sabot bases right next to the hole made by the slug. I found it interesting that at least parts of the sabot were staying with the slug to that distance.