Quote:
Originally Posted by Model12Win
I'm not a fan of that load.
It uses deceptively undersized and underweight pellets (this is to cram them into the flite control wad), has one less pellet than other #1 buck loads (one less wound track), and the reduced velocity and decreased weight doesn't give much more penetration over full power #4 buck loads, and the whole reason to use #1 buck is for more consistent and deeper penetration over #4 buck while increasing the wounding potential over 00 buck by increasing total surface area of the shot.
The flite control wad is excellent but in the #1 buck iteration it seems Federal had to or chose to make some compromises. Still effective? Of course, but I think traditional full-power 16 pellet #1 loads are superior. With a Vang Comp or similar barrel job the patterns can be very tight and effective on human attackers out to 30 meters.
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The trade-off between pellet size and improved pattern performance has been going on a long time:
Winchester's 1963 introduction of the Mark V Shot Collar and granulated buffer to to the Super-X buckshot line effectively reduced the inside diameter of the hull. This in turn required a reduction in buckshot pellet diameter.
This was noted by Jack O'Connor in The Shotgun Book, (1970 printing, page 303).
00B was reduced from .330 to .323
#1B was reduced from .298 to .289
#4B was reduced from .240 to .233
Recently the size of current Federal brand 00B and #1B were noted at .323"/50 grains and .286"/33grains, respectively. See:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot56.htm