A look at Hornady Versatite 8-pellet 00B

[ssb]

Given the present ammo situation, I wanted to have some alternatives to the Federal LE133 00B I prefer. A local gun store had sixty rounds of Hornady TAP Versatite Reduced Recoil 00B in stock. This is an eight-pellet reduced recoil load marketed at 1100FPS. The round consists of unplated lead pellets with no buffering. Pellets were stacked in a 2-2-2-2 configuration. The Versatite wad is, from what I understand, licensed from the same design as the Flitecontrol wad and performs a similar function. A cut shell is pictured:

https://i.imgur.com/g4SiNoE.jpg

Patterns were fired from an 18" Gen 1.5 Beretta 1301. This is the fixed improved cylinder barrel. For comparison purposes, here are two rounds of LE133 from that gun at 10 and 15 yards:

https://i.imgur.com/G7eqPpw.jpg

Patterns from the TAP load at 5, 10, 15, and 25 yards are below:

https://i.imgur.com/SfMnvkc.jpg

Pattern density at 15 yards seemed quite good. There was one flyer:

https://i.imgur.com/7mDdEJY.jpg

Conclusions:

The Hornady load compared favorably to Federal LE133 from my gun. The TAP shot to approximately the same point of impact as the LE133 within 15 yards, though it printed a few inches higher at 25 yards. Patterns were approximately 2" at 5 yards, 3" at 10 yards, 5" at 15 yards, and 7" at 25 yards (note that I failed to catch one of the 25 yard pellets in the photo -- the impact on the left side of the target's neck with no Sharpie markings was from 25 yards). An observation I had is that the TAP buckshot felt very light -- noticeably lighter than the Federal, which is marketed as 1145FPS. Though only nine rounds were fired, the TAP cycled the 1301 with no issues. Both the Federal and Hornady rounds felt significantly lighter than the Federal #4 buckshot load (F127 4B, marketed as 27 pellets at 1325FPS) I also patterned this date.

I would recommend the TAP load without reservation in a pump-action gun. On the surface I would be comfortable using this load as a substitute for LE133 as my stock of that round is depleted, though I would want to test it more thoroughly for cycling in the 1301 due to that aforementioned light recoil. For comparison, my 1301 was vetted with over 200 rounds of LE133 with no malfunctions from that load. A LGS stocks this TAP load somewhat regularly and I will be purchasing more in the future.

[SteveL]

Thanks for sharing. I've also had good results with the Hornady TAP in my 1301.

[Spartan1980]

I'm gonna try to nab some of these and try them. My results with Hornady were no better than cheap conventional buck loads, but that was with the Critical Defense defense full power snot slinger loads. I always thought the reduced power load would lead to less shot deformation and better performance and was at least in part why Fed FC did so well. It seems that I may have been right.

[Magsz]

I saw a velocity listed at I believe sub 1000 fps? Is that correct?

Is there a listed velocity on the box? Pardon me if I missed it in your post. You said it was marked 1100 fps? I think Mile High Shooting has a screen cap graphic showing 991 fps? That's REALLY low lol. I know the box says 1100 fps but...yeah. I'm wondering if that's a typo?

[167]

I saw a velocity listed at I believe sub 1000 fps? Is that correct?

Is there a listed velocity on the box? Pardon me if I missed it in your post. You said it was marked 1100 fps? I think Mile High Shooting has a screen cap graphic showing 991 fps? That's REALLY low lol. I know the box says 1100 fps but...yeah. I'm wondering if that's a typo?

Hornady’s advertised velocities are out of a long test barrel. Actual velocities out of 18.5”-20” barreled guns will be quite a bit less than the on the box velocity.

[mmc45414]

111119

I find the obvious parting lines on the pellets to be interesting. All of the emphasis on buffers and such to eliminate deformation I guess I would expect them to at least start out rounder.

[DocGKR]

Both the Federal Flight Control and Hornady VersaTite use the same licensed version of the original Choke shot spread reducing wad. I wish Choke still made their ammo directly, as it seemed to have better QC than the licensed versions.

[167]

111119

I find the obvious parting lines on the pellets to be interesting. All of the emphasis on buffers and such to eliminate deformation I guess I would expect them to at least start out rounder.

Hornady pellets be that way.

(also, I should pay more attention to what I am reading)

There is a reason the Hornady loads generally do not shoot as well as the Federal loads. While the wad design is the same, the execution is a little different. Hornady is also not using hardened shot, or grex. Federal is who has put most of the pieces of the puzzle together, and it shows in their load performance. Most of the time. The old stuff is better than the new stuff.

[mmc45414]

Are those Hornady pellets, or Federal pellets?

The Hornady (presumably), just a snip from the picture in post #1 (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?58712-A-look-at-Hornady-Versatite-8-pellet-00B&p=1523637&viewfull=1#post1523637).

[Erick Gelhaus]

Both the Federal Flight Control and Hornady VersaTite use the same licensed version of the original Choke shot spread reducing wad. I wish Choke still made their ammo directly, as it seemed to have better QC than the licensed versions.

I still have a few boxes, etc of Billings' shells.

Fwiw, I'm rather happy with the Hornady Black & TAP Lt Magnum shells.

[Joe Mac]

Billings' Choke rounds were our duty load when we got serious with our patrol shotgun program in 2003. They worked great for a while, including a few shootings.. When Federal bought the design from him, they worked as usual for a time, then we started getting horrendous, keyholing frisbee fliers. We complained to Billings himself, who tried to produce the ammo for us again, but we got the same fliers – apparently something had changed with the wad production, and he never could get it dialed in again (we subsequently changed to LE133 and LEB127 slugs). I still have a stash of the Choke stuff but I don't trust it for anything but practice.

[JTMcC]

Billings' Choke rounds were our duty load when we got serious with our patrol shotgun program in 2003. They worked great for a while, including a few shootings.. When Federal bought the design from him, they worked as usual for a time, then we started getting horrendous, keyholing frisbee fliers. We complained to Billings himself, who tried to produce the ammo for us again, but we got the same fliers – apparently something had changed with the wad production, and he never could get it dialed in again (we subsequently changed to LE133 and LEB127 slugs). I still have a stash of the Choke stuff but I don't trust it for anything but practice.

How do you "keyhole" a spherical buckshot pellet ???
Larger patterns, ok, but keyholing ??

Buckshot chokes can and do emulate the best flight control patterns but they aren't catching on in a widespread manner.

[Joe Mac]

How do you "keyhole" a spherical buckshot pellet ???
Larger patterns, ok, but keyholing ??


The Billings Choke rounds were an entirely encapsulated wad that flew as a single projectile, only opening upon impact (imagine the Flitecontrol wad with an enclosed front). When they were working well, they were quite accurate to 30 yards or so. When they started having problems, we'd get the occasional flier (maybe 1 out of a box of 25) that would sail away in a random direction and keyhole on target (*maybe* on target...).

[BobM]

I started buying it for my department when our vendor quit carrying Federal products. It patterned well in the 870s. I’ve been using it in my own 870s and Tac 14.

I’m almost out of it though, anyone seen it in stock.

[DocGKR]

Chris Billings had developed two different designs to limit buckshot pellet pattern dispersion.

-- The Precision buckshot load (used by SJPD) had the pellets completely encapsulated in a resin material, so the projectile flew through the air in one piece, like a slug, but then broke into individual pellets upon striking the target.

-- A shot spread reducing wad which helped control pellet dispersion, resulting in a tighter pattern, but the pellets still flew individually; this is what is used with FlightControl and VersaTite.