The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Effective range of 00 buckshot (disregarding pattern issues)

Lon308 · March 3, 2008, 11:49 AM

This is from experience as a police instructor - not from a scientific study.

If the shotgun is sighted correctly for buckshot, 25 yards/75 feet is a pretty reliable hit distance.

It can still be quite lethal out to 100 yards/300 feet, but one problem can become shot spread. A very GENERAL rule of thumb is shot spread averages about 1 inch per yard from the muzzle (and I'm not going to get into an arguement about chokes; sometimes chokes deform the shot, make the pattern more erratic, and can be counter-productive). So 100 yard distance = about 100 inch spread for 9 to 11 pellets. Now put a torso-shaped target there, and there is plenty of potential for not getting a lethal hit.

But I noticed that our people/guns got the most misses because of sight discrepencies. Our guns with bead sights would often impact 2 to 3 feet high at just 10 to 20 yards. This can equate to a complete miss. We used to tell the officers to aim at the belt to hit the chest.

The guns with adjustable rifle sights could be compensated for this, but it created a whole new problem; two different points of aim for our issue squad shotguns (and the common officer won't remember which gun to aim low with).

Again, not being an engineer, I believe that this is caused by muzzle rise due to the heavy loads used in buckshot ammunition. (I've noticed with our .45 pistol ammunition that heavier bullets & loads resulted in the point of impact being several inches higher at 50 feet.)

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if you have adjustable sights and have your shotgun zeroed for a particular brand & load of ammunition, 25 yards can be considered reliable, and 50 yards may not be unreasonable.

If you're just picking up a shotgun and ammunition that you have not recently checked for point-of-impact, keep it well under 25 yards or it's spray & pray.

March 3, 2008, 11:49 AM	#2
Lon308 Member Join Date: February 7, 2007 Posts: 31	This is from experience as a police instructor - not from a scientific study. If the shotgun is sighted correctly for buckshot, 25 yards/75 feet is a pretty reliable hit distance. It can still be quite lethal out to 100 yards/300 feet, but one problem can become shot spread. A very GENERAL rule of thumb is shot spread averages about 1 inch per yard from the muzzle (and I'm not going to get into an arguement about chokes; sometimes chokes deform the shot, make the pattern more erratic, and can be counter-productive). So 100 yard distance = about 100 inch spread for 9 to 11 pellets. Now put a torso-shaped target there, and there is plenty of potential for not getting a lethal hit. But I noticed that our people/guns got the most misses because of sight discrepencies. Our guns with bead sights would often impact 2 to 3 feet high at just 10 to 20 yards. This can equate to a complete miss. We used to tell the officers to aim at the belt to hit the chest. The guns with adjustable rifle sights could be compensated for this, but it created a whole new problem; two different points of aim for our issue squad shotguns (and the common officer won't remember which gun to aim low with). Again, not being an engineer, I believe that this is caused by muzzle rise due to the heavy loads used in buckshot ammunition. (I've noticed with our .45 pistol ammunition that heavier bullets & loads resulted in the point of impact being several inches higher at 50 feet.) So, I guess what I'm saying is that if you have adjustable sights and have your shotgun zeroed for a particular brand & load of ammunition, 25 yards can be considered reliable, and 50 yards may not be unreasonable. If you're just picking up a shotgun and ammunition that you have not recently checked for point-of-impact, keep it well under 25 yards or it's spray & pray.