Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum 12 gauge deer buckshot

I've hunted in Clarke county years ago. But I'm sure technology has changed the game. I have epilepsy and heart disease know, I think it's the medicine but not positive. Some mornings I'm fine, sometimes not so much. I shake so bad simply couldn't shoot a rifle accurately. I've got a mossberg 935, auto loader. 3/12 mag. What would be the best choke and load for this gun? Just asking cause that would be my only option some times?

#1 buckshot will give you 24 (30 caliber) pellets, pretty lethal in the rib cage, use a full choke. I kill a lot of hogs with that round.

2 oz of tss T shot, if you load your own

Buckshot is like a turkey load. You gotta pattern it my friend. This is a very unpopular opinion. But at the end of the day, 2 3/4 and 3” usually patterns better than 3.5” to me. You get some Remington 2 3/4 000 buck, pattern it through your gun, it’s a mean dude for what it is. But gotta see what flys the best for ya.

Patternmaster Classic chokes are supposed to shoot buckshot very well . I haven’t tried them myself

Buy the 2-3/4" or 3" apex predator load and get ready. Shot a buck at 80 yards with the stuff and he didn't take a single step, straight to the ground like a pile of bricks.

Do not shot 3.5 inch buck shot out of it. With your physical limitations you will probably be picking yourself up off the ground. Those 3.5s are brutal.

In general, I've gotten the most consistent results and best patterns from any gun with Federal Flite Control 00B and a Modified choke.

You’re gonna have to probably pattern and see what works best on your gun. If you get too tight of a choke, it’s actually opens up the pattern.

Flight control are supposed to be the best.

I’ve always just used 00 buck (copper plated lead), but folks are using tungsten shot now with good results (but be aware the regs state it must be buckshot, slug, or single round ball, so technically you can’t do that per the law).

Finding 3.5” shells these days is tough. You will probably have to order online.

For reference with 00 buck, typically;
2.75” =9 pellets
3” = 12 pellets
3.5” = 18 pellets

I have some 3.5 Reminngton 000 buck, I sometimes take with me to the hunting club. I swap the turkey choke for a modified one.

I shoot a Remington 11/87 and 870 and have the best patterns with a XFull and plain cheap 2 3/4” 00 all brands about the same.

9 pellets in a paper plate is better than 18 spread across 3 feet. Way less recoil and faster follow up shots if necessary.
I can load 9 in my 870 with the extended tube on a 28” barrel and have wrecked some doe trains.

If you can make up to my area I have some 3" Federal 00 Buck shot shells I'll give you to try. I'll never use up what I have in my lifetime

I do 90% of my hunting with buckshot. There is no one correct answer, you have to pattern your gun. If you want a good starting place, try Remington 3.5" 00 and a factory full choke. They are pretty stout, but most good buckshot loads will be. With 3" shells, I usually find my best patterns with 000 over 00, also through a full choke. Lead buckshot patterns fall off quick. You need a super tight 40 yard pattern just to make an ok 50-60 yard pattern. I usually consider my patterns good enough of I can get all or almost all of the pellets in a 12" pattern or so at 40 yards, and can normally find a load and choke combo that will give me that.

The last couple years I've been shooting TSS Ts. It has required a little more open choke but will give me 80 yard killing patterns pretty easily. It also hammers the deer like nothing I have ever seen. It's expensive, but not too bad if you load your own.

You gonna have additional health problems if you start banging away with 3.5” buckshot-

Intriguing….

Running dogs?

Man, bringing back the good ole day right here!

My all time favorite. My early 70's 1100 loves em.

tss T shot is illegal to hunt deer with . #4 buckshot are bigger.

Number 1 buck shot...I hunted with a friends wife and their son ... the father asks me please sit with my boy and wife and try to help him shoot a deer , all the while the daddy sits in another stand and my brother in another... I was like okay.... pretty wife ..eager son and us sitting in the hayloft of a barn... he's got a single shot 20 gauge and #1 buckshot... small buck comes out eating at a molasses and corn mix like a couple hours after we got in the hayloft... his mom is like OMG a deer ... with excitement the boy puts the barrel in a cut out ..points it at the deer... I says ...hit him the chest...

He pulls the trigger ...boom... buck runs into the brush... he's so excited his mom too. We get out of the hayloft and I walk over to where the buck ran into the brush... the buck was laying dead right where it jumped in... after carefully examining the buck...I find one ...just one #1 pellet had hit the buck right in the boiler room and was enough to drop him dead with in feet of where he shot it. I figure he must have been aiming too low and got lucky to have one pellet find the kill spot.. The young boy was so excited he and his mom kept hugging me and well I.....

As the Dad and my brother get back to the camp site they're both astonished ...there's a buck on the ground and they both didn't even see a deer... had to tell it.... if a youngin can kill a deer with just one #1 buckshot pellet so can older folks. #1 buck shot... yeah.

Check out Matt Tyree’s channel on YouTube. He patterns buckshot and birdshot out of various shotguns and chokes. Interesting at least.