Bad news: Federal possibly discontinuing 8 pellet Flite Control

[167]

Lol I should have read through the replies before digging up the Hornady load.

Anyway I got some info from Federal yesterday that the 8 pellet isn't being discontinued so who knows?

Steve Fisher has said the same.

[LHS]

I have not been impressed with the 1600fps Hornady stuff. Not only does it tend to pattern... mediocrely, I've had it exhibit a fair amount of sticking in otherwise good-to-go chambers.

[kwb377]

TAP Low Recoil says 1150fps on the box, Crit Defense, BLACK, and Tap Light Magnum are (I think) the same shell different branding, 1600fps. The American Gunner is as 167 said advertised at 1325fps.

All from 30" test barrels. I don't know what length Federal tests it's velocities from.

Hornady's specs are showing 985fps from an 18" barrel and 1100fps out of a 30" barrel for the TAP Reduced Recoil. I bought a batch about a year ago, and while it patterned just a little looser than FC in most of my guns, it was horrible out of my 1301 using both Cyl. and IC choke...to the point it almost wouldn't keep all 8 pellets on an IDPA target at @ 15 yds.
The recoil was comically low...the first couple of rounds, I had to check that they weren't squibs.

https://www.hornadyle.com/shotgun-am...uced-recoil#!/

[LHS]

Fisher's posting on social media that he contacted two sources at Federal who said LE13300 is not going away, and that the CS rep gave incorrect information that started this concern.

[Guerrero]

Fisher's posting on social media that he contacted two sources at Federal who said LE13300 is not going away, and that the CS rep gave incorrect information that started this concern.

[GearFondler]

Fisher's posting on social media that he contacted two sources at Federal who said LE13300 is not going away, and that the CS rep gave incorrect information that started this concern.

The cynic in me notes that "Not discontinued" is not the same as "Still in production"... But good to hear nonetheless.

[TCinVA]

I've seen enough that I'm pretty sure now this was a false alarm.

Good thing.

Losing 8 pellet and Raquel Welch in the same day really sucked.

[RevolverRob]

Losing 8 pellet and Raquel Welch in the same day really sucked.

We can hang out.

And just as a total aside...I don't understand from a bean counter perspective why they don't discontinue the nine pellet variant.

From a purely production standpoint that just makes sense. Removing a pellet from the 9-pellet forms means after every 8-rounds of 9-pellet you produce, you have the pellets to make an additional 8-pellet round. Are plated pellets cheaper than grex? The fact that the 8-pellet patterns better and more consistently in most guns and the production savings...it just...doesn't make sense to me.

I ASSume it is entirely historical inertia that maintains the 9-pellet variant over the 8-pellet variant as the top seller. I get from that perspective that you aren't discontinuing your biggest seller.

[LHS]

We can hang out.

And just as a total aside...I don't understand from a bean counter perspective why they don't discontinue the nine pellet variant.

From a purely production standpoint that just makes sense. Removing a pellet from the 9-pellet forms means after every 8-rounds of 9-pellet you produce, you have the pellets to make an additional 8-pellet round. Are plated pellets cheaper than grex? The fact that the 8-pellet patterns better and more consistently in most guns and the production savings...it just...doesn't make sense to me.

I ASSume it is entirely historical inertia that maintains the 9-pellet variant over the 8-pellet variant as the top seller. I get from that perspective that you aren't discontinuing your biggest seller.

A fair number of agencies have policies that specify 9-pellet 00 for issued buckshot, and as with most things, big agency purchases carry a lot of weight.

[RevolverRob]

A fair number of agencies have policies that specify 9-pellet 00 for issued buckshot, and as with most things, big agency purchases carry a lot of weight.

Historical inertia is tough to overcome. And since agencies are largely moving from shotguns, I won't be surprised if they never change the policies.