Patterning Mossberg835 Ulti-Mag

[Guest ronin]

I patterned my old Mossberg because my original factory choke got beat to death last year by HevyShot. I suspected as much when I tried to pattern yesterday and had poor results. I bought a new TruGlo Turkey choke and installed it today. Here are the details and photos:

Mossberg 835 12 guage UltiMag, ported, cammo, with white bead front sight and brass rear. TruGlo Turkey Choke ported.

Ammo:

Bismuth No*Tox 3.5" #4's Magnum High Velocity tungsten alloy shot 1 5/8 oz.

Winchester Supreme Double X Magnum 3.5" Turkey Loads #4's copper plated lead 2 1/4 oz.

Remington Hevy-Shot High Velocity Magnum 3.5" Turkey Loads #5's 1 3/4 oz

I shot at 22, 40, and 50 yards measured with a Leica Laser range finder. The target was a standard NRA 100 yard small bore paper target at 20 and 40 yards. At 50 yards I added a Shoot n' C Turkey Head and Neck target. I shot Bismuth, Winchester and Remington in that order.

I shot from a solid bench rest with the point of aim being the X-ring. The turkey target POA was at the base of the head.

22 Yards:

Bismuth- 32 hits inside the 8, 9, 10, and X ring referred to now as the 8 ring zone. Interestingly the mass of the shot pattern was 5 " left of center in the lower 5 ring and outside. All subsequent shots continued that way for the rest of the tests. I had the same problem yesterday.

Winchester was well centered with the mass being in the 6 and 7 rings. 43 hits in the 8 ring zone.

HevyShot was well centered with the bulk of the shot mass in the 6 and 7 ring. 50 hits in the 8 ring zone.

40 yards

Bismuth had 7 hits in the 8 ring zone. The mass was outside the 5 ring.

Winchester had 13 hits in the 8 ring zone and the mass was centered low in the 5 and 6.

HevyShot had 16 hits in the 8 ring zone and the mass seemed equally distributed throughout the target. The majority of the shot pattern was from the 5 ring inwards only 32 hits were outside the 12" target circle.

50 Yard Turkey head:

Bismuth had 2 hits in the head, 3 in the neck and 2 that gave him a shaving cut. I'm not counting the last two because I know they wouldn't have dropped the bird. I estimated 5 hits in the upper breast.

Winchester had 8 hits in the neck and maybe 2 in the beak. I estimated 8 hits in the upper breast.

Hevyshot had 13 shots in the neck and one in the head. There were 6 hits that nicked the neck and head. I estimated 14 hits in the upper breast.

The Winchester ammo was brutal to shoot on a bench rest. Not to say that the Bismuth or Remington was fun. The Hevy shot had the next biggest punch. The Winchester ammo also seemed to have the heaviest impact down range though I can't prove it. The target was plywood backstop with a 20 lb wood base. The Winchester shot knocked the stand over at every distance. The Hevyshot only at 22 and 40. The Bismuth never knocked it down.

I will be using the HevyShot as my primary turkey load with the Winchester as a back-up. For some reason my gun did not like the Bismuth.

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[HeviShot]

Re: Patterning Mossberg835 Ulti-Mag

Looks like your ready to go! I thought the same thing about Win recoil.That shell has some kick.I still think that the HeviShot has more punch down range.Either shell will do job.

[Guest ronin]

Re: Patterning Mossberg835 Ulti-Mag

The Hevishot should be better down range...at least according to the ballistics. I like the stuff.

[LifeNRA]

Re: Patterning Mossberg835 Ulti-Mag

Yeah Mossberg says not to use hevi-shot with their chokes! But I tried hevi-shot with a jellyhead tube, the results were terrible. Only 19 hits in the head and neck at 40 yards. The Winchester gave me 49 with the Comp-N-Choke! I really wished hevi-shot did better.