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Thread: Patterning Federal FliteControl

  1. #1

    Patterning Federal FliteControl

    Here are a couple pics of patterns I shot with Federal FliteControl Low Recoil (Tactical) buck and two different shotguns:

    1) Remington 870 18" barrel with IC choke:

    Name:  R870FC-IC.jpg
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    2) Mossberg 590A1 18" barrel with cyl. choke:

    Name:  M590A1FC.jpg
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    The top pattern in each picture is the FC 8 pellet 00 buck load, the bottom pattern is the FC #1 buck 15 pellet load. All patterns are at 15 yards. The 870 with the IC choke patterns are +- 4 inches, the 590A1 with the cyl. barrel are 2 1/4" for the 8 pellet 00 buck, and 1-1.5" for the 15 pellet #1 buck. The Shoot-n-See targets were placed on thin plywood the wad cannot penetrate. I find this helpful as the wad tends to impact the target pretty close to the pattern, and can obscure the pellet distribution. The smear on the upper target for the 590 is where the wad impacted, FYI. Looks like the wad followed the 590 #1 buck pattern right through the pattern 'hole' as I found no evidence if an impact anywhere else on the plywood. The second small Shoot-n-See target is another #1 buck pattern I shot with the same gun a few month's ago.

    Conclusions:

    - Mossberg 590 shoots really tight patterns with the FC, especially the #1 buck load.
    - A choked barrel grabs the FC wad and separates it from the shot load earlier than a cyl. bore. Even a tight bore might have this effect as well. My 870 with the IC barrel shoots consistently larger patterns than my cylinder bore guns. Still, 4" patterns at 15 yards is still freakin awesome.

    The IC choked 870 does seem to shoot slugs more consistently, so it's kind of nice to have.

    Note: The #1 buck 870 pattern is missing a pellet as it impacted just off the Shoot-n-See sticker.
    Last edited by Tabasco; 12-16-2017 at 05:11 PM.

  2. #2
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    This is my finding as well. Nothing out patterns an overbore/backbore with FC. My benelli shoot 8-12" 25 yard patterns with fc. #1 patterns best.

  3. #3
    Member That Guy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tabasco View Post
    Conclusions:

    - Mossberg 590 shoots really tight patterns with the FC
    We got some very... interesting results when patterning 00 buck FliteControl rounds with my girlfriends 590.

    The round exhibited very (and I mean incredibly) tight patterns out to, if I recall correctly, 15 meters. But on the 20 meter target, only a few of the pellets hit the entire IDPA target. Somewhere within the 5 meters between those two ranges something very weird happens and the shot pattern seems to entirely fall apart.

    Granted, we haven't repeated this test very many times (you would not believe how expensive that ammunition is over here... and extremely hard to find as well), but the few rounds we expended all gave the same result.

  4. #4
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    Hopefully I'll place these pics in the right order and explain the process I used.

    I've been a huge fan of the flight control and versatight loads since they came out. My biggest beef with being issued my Benelli was that the issued buckshot sucked. Half a payload of 00 and the performance of the shotgun was not as awe-inspiring as I had heard.

    Now that I can use whatever I want I've been using these types of loads for defense and hunting and have had incredible performance on deer out to about 50 yards.

    The Hornady#4 buck in the versatight was has gotten 2 deer at 45 and 50ish yards and has convinced me I'm not lacking anything inside that range. The 9 pellet 00 full power flight control has also performed as well. I only tried the #4 because I was living on the farm and had to chase varmits away from coups from minks to coyotes and everything in between. The more pellets helped with the smaller targets. After seeing the performance on 180lbs deer I have no qualms with fighting with it.

    Federal 9 pellet full power at 25 yards. The POA was the chin
    Attachment 22391
    I then walked back to 35 yards shot once, 45 yards shot once, then 50 yards with 3 shots as fast as I could pull the trigger with the front sight on the torso
    Attachment 22392

    The next set is with Hornadys #4 buck in their wad at 25 yards
    Attachment 22393

    35 yards
    Attachment 22394
    45
    Attachment 22395
    And 50 yards
    Attachment 22396

    At the farther distances I'm getting enough flyers that I really need to be paying attention to my surroundings but depending on the situation I would not hesitate to grab one of my Mossbergs for nearly anything I might need a long gun for outside of some hunting.

  5. #5

    590A1

    25 yard patterns, #1 FC Buck 590A1. Both measured +- 6"

    Name:  590a1FC25yds.jpg
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  6. #6
    Member Balisong's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 03RN View Post
    Hopefully I'll place these pics in the right order and explain the process I used.

    I've been a huge fan of the flight control and versatight loads since they came out. My biggest beef with being issued my Benelli was that the issued buckshot sucked. Half a payload of 00 and the performance of the shotgun was not as awe-inspiring as I had heard.

    Now that I can use whatever I want I've been using these types of loads for defense and hunting and have had incredible performance on deer out to about 50 yards.

    The Hornady#4 buck in the versatight was has gotten 2 deer at 45 and 50ish yards and has convinced me I'm not lacking anything inside that range. The 9 pellet 00 full power flight control has also performed as well. I only tried the #4 because I was living on the farm and had to chase varmits away from coups from minks to coyotes and everything in between. The more pellets helped with the smaller targets. After seeing the performance on 180lbs deer I have no qualms with fighting with it.

    Federal 9 pellet full power at 25 yards. The POA was the chin
    Attachment 22391
    I then walked back to 35 yards shot once, 45 yards shot once, then 50 yards with 3 shots as fast as I could pull the trigger with the front sight on the torso
    Attachment 22392

    The next set is with Hornadys #4 buck in their wad at 25 yards
    Attachment 22393

    35 yards
    Attachment 22394
    45
    Attachment 22395
    And 50 yards
    Attachment 22396

    At the farther distances I'm getting enough flyers that I really need to be paying attention to my surroundings but depending on the situation I would not hesitate to grab one of my Mossbergs for nearly anything I might need a long gun for outside of some hunting.
    Dude was that shot on the set of Return of the Jedi??? That seriously looks like the same forest on Endor!

    But anyways, thanks for sharing the pics and info. I'm curious about the 2 deer you got with #4 Buck Hornady at 45 and 50 yards. Do you happen to know how much penetration those pellets got? And how far did those deer get before dropping? Thanks again for sharing, this subject is very interesting.

  7. #7
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Balisong View Post
    Dude was that shot on the set of Return of the Jedi??? That seriously looks like the same forest on Endor!

    But anyways, thanks for sharing the pics and info. I'm curious about the 2 deer you got with #4 Buck Hornady at 45 and 50 yards. Do you happen to know how much penetration those pellets got? And how far did those deer get before dropping? Thanks again for sharing, this subject is very interesting.
    Nope, just Rhode Island. (Completely unrelated video showing the same area)

    A few a the #4 pellets exited the deer, lots were in between the offside hide and the muscle.

    Neither ran far. Both iirc were around 150#

  8. #8
    Member Balisong's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 03RN View Post
    Nope, just Rhode Island. (Completely unrelated video showing the same area)

    A few a the #4 pellets exited the deer, lots were in between the offside hide and the muscle.

    Neither ran far. Both iirc were around 150#
    Thanks for the info. The revelation that buckshot is very penetrating is quite new to me, and I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. It's baffling that lightweight round lead pellets don't very quickly lose velocity/penetration when hitting something hard. So it's cool to see some real world results of the stuff. I'd like to learn more about buckshot vs slugs penetration and performance. So again, thanks for sharing!

  9. #9
    Name:  R870CylFC 2.jpg
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    More patterns, this time with an 870 Cyl. 18" barrel. The top Shoot-n-C is an FC 8 pellet load that measures 2" at 15 yards. The bottom is the old Federal Tactical (pre Flite Control) low recoil 9 pellet load, four rounds. That 4 shot pattern measured 14" or so at 15 yards. Pretty consistent with the 1 inch spread for every yard of travel rule for non FC loads. The smear in the middle of that pattern is a #1 Buck Flite Control load that pretty much made one hole like the Mossberg pattern above. The rectangular hole top right is the 8 pellet FC wad. Normally the wad won't penetrate the plywood backing, but this plywood is getting pretty shot up.
    Last edited by Tabasco; 01-15-2018 at 04:42 PM.

  10. #10
    Went out today with the same 870 Cyl. barrel combo and some FC #1 and Hornady Critical Defense 00 with the "Versatite" wad. The Hornady performed as expected, a bit larger group than the FC 8 pellet load ( 3+" vs. 2") at 15 yards, but the FC #1 was quite a surprise. First group, same thing as before, one big hole. Moved the target out to 25 yards, one big hole (size of the wad). Tried 3 more rounds, same thing.

    I cut a #1 buck FC shell open a month ago and noticed the shot was packed into the wad tight. I had to pry it out with a pointy thing to get it out of the cup. My SWAG is that the Remington barrel I'm using it is a bit looser or smoother than the Mossberg, and the shot is pretty much staying in the wad and acting as a "cut shell" type thing. I'll do some more testing in a couple of days to try to confirm.

    Definitely pattern your scatterguns with your chosen load; with shotguns there are lots more variables in play than with a rifle....
    Last edited by Tabasco; 01-20-2018 at 08:55 PM.

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