Originally Posted by
TCinVA
Patterning happens in every shotgun class I teach.
Each individual has the opportunity to pattern their gun with buckshot they would consider using for defense. The class description encourages them to bring at least some sort of that ammunition so they can test it in class. We then have them shoot patterns at different distances looking at how their gun performs with the load they chose, comparing performance to other folks in the class and their equipment.
We encourage folks to use their cell phone cameras to document their gun's performance so they have a baseline to compare any other loads they try against, and so they have some documentation of how their gun performs should they ever need to use it in defense. We also discuss things that can impact patterns like fouling in the barrel, installing different chokes, etc.
The defensive shotgun is used primarily with buckshot...so we place a heavy emphasis on understanding how your gun performs with the type of buckshot you have chosen to use.
These days I'm finding most clients are coming to class with Federal Flight Control. Not terribly surprising because I suggest it in the course descriptions...but I suggest it because it tends to give results that vary between very good and truly excellent whereas many other buckshot loads range from very good to shitshow depending on the gun.
We always point out that we are looking for a pattern that gives us maximum effect on target (as explained earlier in the thread) and for a pattern that gives us total accountability for the projectiles we fire. I don't really care what brand it is if I'm getting the results I'm looking for, but after shooting a lot of buckshot through a lot of shotguns (Rob Haught and Tom Givens have done more defensive buckshot testing than I have, but there probably aren't too many other names we could bring up who have) Federal's Flight Control performs well enough in practically every gun we've seen that it is my default recommendation for someone who doesn't already have an established load for their gun.
We refer to shotgun barrels as snowflakes. Given the wide variation that typically exists in their manufacture and the wide variations that exist in ammunition manufacture, and then on top of that how fouled the barrel is, predictions are difficult.
I taught a class Saturday where we saw a gun with a Vang Comp modified barrel that shot Federal Flight Control ammunition very well, but Hornady's Versa-Tite (same wad, different name) ammunition like absolute dogshit even at 5 yards. The internal geometry of the barrel was fine with the Federal load, but it was actually stripping the wad off of the shot column on the Hornady load causing the pellets to spread out unacceptably at even close range. The differences between those two shells was likely exceedingly minor...but it was enough to generate a massively different result on the other end.
We had a police issue 870 that was turning in the worst performance with Federal Flight Control I've ever seen, and after finding out that the department that gun belonged to had only very recently stopped using their practice of exclusively issuing lead slugs I suggested making a deliberate attempt to de-lead the barrel and trying to pattern again. I'm awaiting feedback on that one but I suspect it will perform significantly better after the years of lead buildup that results from slug shooting are removed from the barrel.
In terms of barrels, Beretta & Benelli are manufacturing their barrels with tolerances that are likely the most stringent in the industry at the moment so their guns tend to perform more consistently between different samples than many other makes. I have yet to see a 1301 that shoots Flight Control badly. Some shoot it better than others, but none in the dozens I've seen shoots it badly.