A 7" pattern is tight for an HD gun, and I'm sure it suits your needs well. The post however is about hunting loads. Patterns fall off quick as range increases. I would just about bet a 7" 20 yard pattern would be more like a 20+" 40 yard pattern.
No disrespect intended. I would be happy with that pattern too in an HD situation.
The 00 pattern I've been killing deer with for a few years will put all but one flier into 12" @ 40 yards. Every pattern with that load has that one dang flier. This is a hand load of 16 .33 cal 00 that runs right about 1225. This load will still hold a 20" pattern @60 yards.
Next year I'll be switching to a 14 .35 cal pellet load. That one has no fliers. It will hold a nice round 10-12" pattern @40 with a real tight 8 pellet core that will carry a tight pattern a long ways. A friend shooting my loads killed a buck with that load last year @ 68 yards and it broke him down.
All this is with a Buck Kicker full choke.
If I was smarter, I'd post pics.
Buckshot, good info, no offense taken, i read we were shooting coyotes and crackheads at 50 yards, all good anyway, were i to try to build a longer range load i'd experiment with shot wads and smaller shot, most likely 00 buck, then re-do the choke deal looking for best patterns, i'd still cast them hard with the 22 BHN alloy, you'd just have to see what that load did to a ham wrapped in a long handle shirt wrapped in a carhart coat wrapped with duct tape, very telling, and completely un-survivable within it's effective range.
