Shotgun Sidesaddle - Brass Up or Brass Down

[Cruel Hand Luke]

One further comment on patterns of buckshot. One load to the next can make a HUGE difference. I was teaching a class in Knoxville several years back and one of the students had a Mossberg that was throwing "Hollywood quality wall of lead " patterns at 10-15 yards...that is pellets ALL OVER the target and some NOT on the target. I'm pretty sure it was mostly a matter of his particular gun not liking that particular shell. We substituted some of the Hornady TAP buckshot (the original Flight Control) and suddenly it was throwing palm sized groups.....at 20 yards.... So if you are having trouble with your patterns the Federal Flight Control and Hornady TAP will certainly tighten them up. It is like a "choke in a box of shells".

In 2014 (IIRC) I was in Tom Givens' 2 day shotgun class in Memphis. I had brought a mix of RIO birdshot (cheap and excellent quality) some Federal Walmart value pack birdshot with aluminum rims (cheap and absolutely AWFUL- it would not reliably eject from my Scattergun Tech 870) and for the practice buckshot I had a bunch of Estate Tactical Low Recoil buckshot and some Federal H13200 (Low Recoil) for qualification. Tom looked at the Estate boxes and kind of "sneered" saying something to the effect that it was garbage and probably would not pattern well at all. When I shot it at 15 yards it threw the entire pattern inside the 8" "Down Zero" area of the targets we were shooting. Tom looked at it curiously and just shook his head. The point being that SOMETIMES a particular gun will like a particular load better than another and sometimes it will shoot one very well that you might not expect it to shoot well at all. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Cruel Hand Luke

[mikegideon]

53 minutes ago, jlw said:

How many rounds do you have through that setup?  From my research, the recoil impulse of shotguns tends to kill off cheaper RDS.  Even RMRs are not known to have great lifespans when topping shotguns.  That's why I went with the Aimpoint.

Counterpoint:  A very experienced shotgun aficionado friend has had very good results with a Holosun.   

I have an Aimpoint on a Bobro mount if I ever had the urge to really depend on a shotgun. That, or one of my Eotechs. That gun is way down in the pile of goto guns  

[mikegideon]

50 minutes ago, Cruel Hand Luke said:

One further comment on patterns of buckshot. One load to the next can make a HUGE difference. I was teaching a class in Knoxville several years back and one of the students had a Mossberg that was throwing "Hollywood quality wall of lead " patterns at 10-15 yards...that is pellets ALL OVER the target and some NOT on the target. I'm pretty sure it was mostly a matter of his particular gun not liking that particular shell. We substituted some of the Hornady TAP buckshot (the original Flight Control) and suddenly it was throwing palm sized groups.....at 20 yards.... So if you are having trouble with your patterns the Federal Flight Control and Hornady TAP will certainly tighten them up. It is like a "choke in a box of shells".

In 2014 (IIRC) I was in Tom Givens' 2 day shotgun class in Memphis. I had brought a mix of RIO birdshot (cheap and excellent quality) some Federal Walmart value pack birdshot with aluminum rims (cheap and absolutely AWFUL- it would not reliably eject from my Scattergun Tech 870) and for the practice buckshot I had a bunch of Estate Tactical Low Recoil buckshot and some Federal H13200 (Low Recoil) for qualification. Tom looked at the Estate boxes and kind of "sneered" saying something to the effect that it was garbage and probably would not pattern well at all. When I shot it at 15 yards it threw the entire pattern inside the 8" "Down Zero" area of the targets we were shooting. Tom looked at it curiously and just shook his head. The point being that SOMETIMES a particular gun will like a particular load better than another and sometimes it will shoot one very well that you might not expect it to shoot well at all. 

Amen. You gotta pattern your gun and your loads. I have honest to God patterning targets for that. Never got around to using them.