winchester long beard XR shotgun shells

eastbank · April 2, 2014, 08:23 AM

i bought a box of winchester long beard 3.5 "mag #4 shot and shot them out of my rem 870SM with 1x4 leupold scope and at 42 yds off a lead sled it put 133 #4,s in a 12" circle, i was hunting a good solid 40 yd(i like to shot at 40yds or less) turkey killing pattern and i found it. i am going to try #5 and #6,s within the week. a friend said his shotgun does better(more pellets in 12" circle at 40yds) with #5,s. the nice thing about these new win. LB shells is they are about 2.00 a piece. eastbank.

bamaranger · April 8, 2014, 08:51 PM

Winchester sure has advertised that load heavily. Sixty-six yards and all that.

I'm with you concerning shots at gobblers,....40 yds, and less is better. Where we differ is I shoot 3" shells (only had a 3" gun for years). Don't seen any 3.5 stuff in my future.

I've not looked at the LB stuff at all, satisfied with my current favorite lead load.

Can you advise though.......is the LB an alloy space shot load or is it lead?

ohiomossyoak · April 9, 2014, 04:19 AM

They are lead..

Biggest complaint most folks have is the pattern with the longbeard xr is to tight at closer range..15-20 and in.Thats some people not everyone.

eastbank · April 9, 2014, 04:41 AM

i got my 870 SM 3.5mag express off a man who won it in a raffle and didn,t want it and offered it to me for 200.00. all i used before were 2-3/4- 3 inch mags. i just got a box of win LB,s in #5 shot to pattern,if they give a better pattern at 40yds,that what i will use. eastbank.

ohiomossyoak · April 9, 2014, 06:17 PM

Why not try 6s as well?

Model12Win · April 9, 2014, 11:26 PM

Are these the new "Duck Dynasty" shells?

bamaranger · April 10, 2014, 01:58 AM

I hate to even start on this, cause the shot size argument for gobblers has raged for ever, and likely always will, but........ There are quite a few folks (me being one of them) that believe that somewhere past 35 yds, #6 lead shot begins to run out of steam and will not consistently break gobbler bones. Seems like a read where a major ammo company actually did some calculating on the whole matter and went on record about it. Consider the steadily increasing payloads of mag shotshells, and the shortening of turkey gun barrels, and velocity of the load may well suffer and add to the problem.

Now....before the scorching starts, I shot #6 lead for a good many years, and have killed a goodly number of birds with #6 lead past that distance. But I've also had to stomp more than one that, though well perforated, was not really dead either. Lead #6 loads have always patterned well in my guns, there's a lot of pellets in the typical 2 oz load.

So #5 seems like a good compromise. More pellet energy than #6, more pellets than #4.

I'm hoping to find somebody to swap a few of these XR shells with and see how they shoot in my guns. But $20.00 a box of 10 is about all the higher I ever wanna go on gobbler shells.

April 2, 2014, 08:23 AM	#1
eastbank Senior Member Join Date: February 7, 2008 Location: pa. Posts: 2,450	winchester long beard XR shotgun shells i bought a box of winchester long beard 3.5 "mag #4 shot and shot them out of my rem 870SM with 1x4 leupold scope and at 42 yds off a lead sled it put 133 #4,s in a 12" circle, i was hunting a good solid 40 yd(i like to shot at 40yds or less) turkey killing pattern and i found it. i am going to try #5 and #6,s within the week. a friend said his shotgun does better(more pellets in 12" circle at 40yds) with #5,s. the nice thing about these new win. LB shells is they are about 2.00 a piece. eastbank.

April 8, 2014, 08:51 PM	#2
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,303	shells Winchester sure has advertised that load heavily. Sixty-six yards and all that. I'm with you concerning shots at gobblers,....40 yds, and less is better. Where we differ is I shoot 3" shells (only had a 3" gun for years). Don't seen any 3.5 stuff in my future. I've not looked at the LB stuff at all, satisfied with my current favorite lead load. Can you advise though.......is the LB an alloy space shot load or is it lead?

April 10, 2014, 01:58 AM	#7
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,303	#6 v.#5 shot size I hate to even start on this, cause the shot size argument for gobblers has raged for ever, and likely always will, but........ There are quite a few folks (me being one of them) that believe that somewhere past 35 yds, #6 lead shot begins to run out of steam and will not consistently break gobbler bones. Seems like a read where a major ammo company actually did some calculating on the whole matter and went on record about it. Consider the steadily increasing payloads of mag shotshells, and the shortening of turkey gun barrels, and velocity of the load may well suffer and add to the problem. Now....before the scorching starts, I shot #6 lead for a good many years, and have killed a goodly number of birds with #6 lead past that distance. But I've also had to stomp more than one that, though well perforated, was not really dead either. Lead #6 loads have always patterned well in my guns, there's a lot of pellets in the typical 2 oz load. So #5 seems like a good compromise. More pellet energy than #6, more pellets than #4. I'm hoping to find somebody to swap a few of these XR shells with and see how they shoot in my guns. But $20.00 a box of 10 is about all the higher I ever wanna go on gobbler shells.

April 9, 2014, 04:19 AM	#3
ohiomossyoak Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2010 Location: East Central Ohio Posts: 143	They are lead.. Biggest complaint most folks have is the pattern with the longbeard xr is to tight at closer range..15-20 and in.Thats some people not everyone.

April 9, 2014, 04:41 AM	#4
eastbank Senior Member Join Date: February 7, 2008 Location: pa. Posts: 2,450	i got my 870 SM 3.5mag express off a man who won it in a raffle and didn,t want it and offered it to me for 200.00. all i used before were 2-3/4- 3 inch mags. i just got a box of win LB,s in #5 shot to pattern,if they give a better pattern at 40yds,that what i will use. eastbank.

April 9, 2014, 06:17 PM	#5
ohiomossyoak Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2010 Location: East Central Ohio Posts: 143	Why not try 6s as well?

April 9, 2014, 11:26 PM	#6
Model12Win Junior member Join Date: October 20, 2012 Posts: 5,854	Are these the new "Duck Dynasty" shells?