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I am planning a white tailed deer "meat" hunt in an area restricted to buckshot. All shots will be at 30 yards or less and the deer will probably be running. Can anyone suggest what choke should be used in a 12 guage with OO buckshot?

Dbfletch,
Dog hunting around here ( South Carolina lowcountry) is a way of life, that's been going on for 100's of years. The ONLY weapon of choice is a shotgun loaded with buckshot. You can ask 100 different hunters, and get just as many diferent answers on what gun, choke, barrel length to use.
With our long season, 5 months, and no limit on bucks I've killed more than my share of deer with buckshot.
That said, I would START with a modified choke. I've only owned one shotgun that shot well with a full choke. My favorite deer gun shot best with a Imp Cyl. I would also pattern my gun with 0, and even #1 buck. I had a Beretta Silver Hawk SxS that loved #1's As far as ammo goes, Winchester Super X is king in these parts. Federal Premiums are pretty decent also.

rangerman,
Thanks for the fast reply. The hunt will be with my son-in-law who is 170 miles away in the Philadelphia suburbs. He has OO ammo he used to kill a deer last year. The only buckshot sold locally is OO for home defense purposes. I think my Rem 870 has a modified choke but I'll have to pull it to check. This will be a new adventure for me. I've be thinking of it as shooting rabbits on steroids with oversize BB's. lol!

I saw a shotgun a guy tried to use OOO and turkey chokes in, he brought it back to the shop I worked at claiming he wasn't using buck (even though he specifically asked about that load when he bought the gun and said that it was turkey loads that blew the barrel up.

I'd say OO in a modified choke is plenty and a great place to start

Hey, Be careful out there.

Modified choke, be sure to pattern the load before You go

Good luck,
Gunner

Modified with #1's and #4's in a 12 gauge is what I started with back in the 70's.

The best patterns I've had with buckshot were with 3.5" Federal Premium #1 from an extended Northwind Improved Modified choke in a Moss 835. None of my other scatter guns will touch that set-up, but many will make it to 50yds with various loads. One of my favorite buckshot setups for years was a Win 1300 with flush Mod choke and 3" Fed Premium 000 buck. It was good to 50 as well.

In your situation, "30yards max," just about any buckshot load you buy will be deadly from a mod choke.

If I were trying to optimize the range, I'd run a few extended buckshot chokes from Primos, Pure Gold, Kicks, or Indian Creek and run Federal Premium in #1-00 to see what combo held the best in a 16" ring at various ranges.

Also, don't just assume the gun will impact with the bead, most shotguns do not shoot true to the bead. Many shooters never even realize that, but after shooting more scatter gun patterns than I care to remember at 3' x 3' sheets of paper, it's eye opening.

Good luck, hope you pile up some meat.

loder

I had a Remington 870 with a modified Remchoke that would put at least 12 00 pellets from the Winchester Supreme 3 inch 15 pellet load into a 9" circle every time at 30 yds. Very deadly load, and I killed several deer with it, some out to 45 yards. the gun shot no other load that well, and any other choke spread the load more. The key to finding out is experimentation.

Modified ar cylinder or improve are the best ones Thier killers in guns

Back in the day when "deer hunting" in East Texas was primarily dog hunting a shotgun and buckshot were "the" weapon of choice for almost everyone. Just a few observation from LOTS of deer killed with buckshot loads.

First, as most have said here a modified choke is a good place to start and will most often be the "best" choking. However, every shotgun is a rule to it's self and sometimes the "rules" just don't apply to an individual gun. If possible, check several different chokings from cylinder up to and including full choke. Modified will probably be close to "perfect", but maybe not. The very best shotgun I ever owned (or saw used) was a SxS double choked (as were many older shotguns)....full and fuller. That particular gun would keep 7 or 8 pellets from a "standard" 2 3/4" load of OO buckshot (9 pellets total) inside A 12" cirlce....EVERY TIME...at 30 yards.

This brings up a couple of other points. The "traditional" method of testing a shotgun's pattern is to count the hits inside a 30" circle at 40 yards. That's fine for testing a quail gun, but useless for seeing how buckshot will perform. A "load" of buckshot can very very lethal, in fact devistating to a deer, but a single buckshot has very little power individually. The goal with buckshot is to hit the vital area with as many pellets as possible. "Fringe" hits are no good and can be very bad because of wounding.

A buckshot load should be tested at 30 yards and the circle that is important is no more than 12" instead of the "normal" 30" target. Only those pellets inside the 12" circle are sure "killing" hits....and you MUST be able to hit where you aim (not just measure the tightest grouping wherever it hits). Once tested, that load should also be used at ranges of 30 yards or less. Most hunters overestimate the effective distance for buckshot. Sure occational longer kills "can" be made, but once you srtetch the range out past 30 Yards you are dealing with more "luck" than effective patterns.

Another note.....don't overlook the smaller buckshot sizes. Larger pellets DO have a slight edge in penetration and power at longer ranges, but since you should NOT be using buckshot at 30+ yard ranges.....this advantage is irrevalent. Any buckshot pellet size from #4 on up will be effective at close range. Many shotguns just group better with the smaller #1 or #4 buckshot than they do with 0 or 00. That tight shooting shotgun I owned grouped 00 very well.....but with a load of #4's was OUTSTANDING. One barrel NEVER failed to keep ALL 27 pellets from a standard 2 3/4" load inside a 12" circle at 30 yards (the other barrel would sometimes "only" place 25 or 26 pellets inside). If you want to see something special, you should see what 27 .24 caliber pellets do to a deer's lungs!

My final advise is to ALWATS assume any shot taken was a killing hit. Search for as long as you have light and then return to search some more the next day. Buckshot kill deer quite well, but it is more likely than not that the initial blood trail will be poor and the deer will run a ways before falling. In heavy cover this can be a real problem (which is the main drawback to buckshot). Do not assume a miss just because there is no sign at the point the shot was taken In fact, if at all possible obtain the use of a good trailing dog to assist with recovery. In the years I hunted with buckshot, we very seldom "lost" a deer we shot at, but we always had dogs there to trail.....and the dogs made all the difference many times.

Good luck on your hunt.....you will enjoy every minute I'm sure.

The information by TexasRick is right on, be a man who knows his stuff. I can add only a caution. Remember that buckshot scatters in all directions,as range increases, including UP. Doudle ought buck that travels upward can go as far as 600 yards! As a man who has been narrowly missed twice(that I know of) by buck fired from more than 400 yards, I say be sure there is enough timber behind the target to absorb whatever shot doesn't go into the deer.

I have been handloading my buckshot loads since the mid 80's for use on coyotes. I have done extensive patterning with Remington 1100's, Rem 870's, Ithaca 37's(ouch), Rem 1187's, and now a Beretta 390.

Like everyone else, I started off with Modified chokes. We had penety of 40"x40" patterning material available.

First thing is to realize with a shotgun, one shot might pattern well, and the next one go to heck, so shoot multiple shots.

I started working with an 870 28" mod barrel and a 30" full choke first. It was all too apparent that the full choke produced the tightest patterns with #4 buckshot. Next, went to the Ithaca with the Mod choke, and it shot larger patterns than the Full choke 1100 on par with the MOdified choke 870.

I have patterned a lot of shotguns and the only shotgun with a modified choke that would shoot patterns as tight as my full chokes was a Browning BPS with a 28" Modified choke.

So, in our Predator calling Club, it was standard to use a full choke with 3" #4 Buckshot, perhaps 200 guys.

Next, the screw in chokes came out. I started playing around with tighter chokes with #4 Buckshot, 00, and 000.

I found a Carlson's turkey choke that produces the tighest chokes with 000 buckshot and produces 12"-15" patterns at 40 yards with zero flyers. 00 buckshot shoots 15" patterns and #4 Buck comes in with 20" patterns at 40 yards.

For folks that like to patten their shotguns, I suggest that you use a 40, 50, and 60 yard patten board...you will be AMAZED at how buckshot opens up the patten in 10 yard increments.

Shooting patterns at 25 and 30 yards is how IC and Mod chokes get their reputations at being so good, put the pattern board up at 40 yards, and it will be a very humbling experience.

Over on the www.predatormastors.com board, A guy that goes by the name "GC" has done extensive patterning, and there is a permanent sticky there for folks to read. GC's post may be the very best shotgun patterning for large shot that I have ever seen in print. I would encourage everyone that loves to shoot buckshot to read his findings.

Shotguns are all very different, chokes, backbore, leade angles, and you will never know just how well your shotgun prints till you try several....at 40 yards(especially for deer hunting).

It is also typical for shotguns to not throw the pattern where you are aiming, especially as the range increases, hence the 40,50,60 yard patterning.

Good luck

TR and Keith pretty well summed it up...

Each gun is different and each shoots different. Pattern your shotgun with every brand and size of buckshot. You will find out what it likes and what ranges it will still be effective for hunting. I use the 70% rule... 70% of the buckshot have to be in the 12" square. That is the max range for that gun. Less than 70% and the target is out of range.

I'm old-school and my 3 12 gauges dont have multiple chokes.
870 3" Full likes 3" #4 Remington
870 3" Mod likes 3" #1 Super X
Westernfield 2.75" Full likes #1 Super X

All 3 guns will do 70% or better with the proper ammo at 40 yds every time. Change ammo and all bets are off!

Just my 2 cents

IMHO the best buckshot available is the Tri-Ball load from Dixie Slugs. This is loaded with 3 60 caliber hard cast heat treated balls that weigh 315 grains each. With a .660 screw in choke with 1" of parallel sides, will place all three balls with in 4" inches at 40 yards. This buckshot is the most effective that I have ever seen

I've never heard of that brand before, course like I said, I'm old school.

Is it like the 410 buckshot? 3 stacked on top of each other?

Best buckshot load I ever saw... Hand loaded OO, wired together, 10 ga 3.5" mag! At 75 yds they were still wired together. Shot thru plywood, "L" shaped, about 2" low!Fellow that showed me the load said they were deadly under 100 yds. After the plywood demonstration... I beleive it!!!

Dixe Slugs Tri Ball

Shot a many a buck growing up with 12 Ga. No. 1 in a modified.

Never saw a reason to change.

Grew up in East Tx hunting with dogs myself. Didnt have screw in chokes or multiple shotguns to play with. You had to figure out what your gun shot. That being said, my old 870 with 30" full choke barrell shot #1's better.

An old 870 with a modified choke and I have reamed the forcing cone.
It likes every shot size so far from no.1 to 9.
If you can get the forcing cone reamed it will not deform the shot because it has an easier transition from chamber to whatever choke you use.