Winchester Long Beard Shells

[allaboutshooting]

I'm beginning a study of the new Winchester Long Beard shells.

I'd really appreciate hearing about any experience you have had with them.

Thanks,
Clark

[KPcalls]

I've only shot a couple of them at forty yards and in my opinion no other lead shell I've ever seen will come close to them. My girlfriend killed a bird using the 3" six shot at 12 yards and it looked like the shot/resin was still intact at that distance. I would really like to see some shot at various yardage...and since you were probablly given a pile of these shells enlighten us....

[pccutter]

Best lead load i've seen, this stuff will react to a choke the way shot should. The tighter you go the tighter the pattern, all size shot do well in all the guns i have tried. Would love to find some of the Rooster XR to shoot in the 20. If they do this with their htl & it works the same, it will be the best factory shell ever.

[WV Ridge Reaper]

I've done stocked up on em..I have had nothing but good out of them as well as people I hunt with...50 yards seems not a problem for the load..Past that I don't know and don't care.

[ICDEDTURKES]

Best lead load i've seen, this stuff will react to a choke the way shot should. .

Thats my thoughts as well.. Alot of factory loads you are looking for "The Choke".. With longbeard if you start at 650 extremely dense, 655 a little less dense, 665 more open.. It responds to choking like a shotgun shell should.

I did a quite a bit of surfing this spring and I cannot say I ever saw anyone get a non adequate pattern regardless of gun/choke..

[Spuriosity]

I've only shot one of those shells in my 11-87 and one in a buddy's Benelli, but they were both solid 50 yard loads. Here's a pic of the one from my gun. I like the patterns of conventional shells from Winch and Federal better inside 40 yds, but if you are going to shoot beyond 40 yds with lead, the LBs are the only game in town. But for all those that swear they would never shoot a turkey beyond 40 yds, I see no good reason to pay more for the LBs.

[ICDEDTURKES]

But for all those that swear they would never shoot a turkey beyond 40 yds, I see no good reason to pay more for the LBs.

You know I see your point.. But I have played with a quite a few lead 12 gauge loads in various guns and with a variety of choke designs and constrictions.. Even with 6s it can take alot of tinkering and alot of shells to get what I would feel comfortable hunting with 150ish with other lead offerings.. Heck a few years ago I wanted to do some tinkering because I enjoy it and was not going to shell out doe to do so with HTL and this is when the Thugs were popular I played around with a variety of chokes and at the same time had a couple boxes of Fed FCW 6s and I could come no where close to what I feel comfortable with.. If i had not had chokes and bought a box of each I was still out coin and did not have a dog I would hunt.

I think the greatest selling point of this shell is how easy it makes it to achieve those numbers.. I cannot recall if I went 670 in the mossy 500 but I know I choked 665 and was in the 160s had the same choke design in 655 and it was 200.. Within reason I think with about any choke designated "turkey" and longbeard 6s the probability of averaging over at or over 150 is higher than lower... For the guy that cannot or does not want to cough up the doe, go buy an undertaker, TG GSX, Primos Tightwad and a box of longbeard, put a target at 40, pop a few and be done

Its kinda like when the Hevi 7s came out, it was the ease of use that made them attractive.. If you were looking for adequate and not ultimate patterns, screw in your choke, shoot and 99% of the time you were good to go.. Despite the price per shell, in the long run it was the cheapest route to an acceptable pattern, longbeard now provides the same benefit at a lower price point.

[WV Ridge Reaper]

I've done stocked up on em..I have had nothing but good out of them as well as people I hunt with...50 yards seems not a problem for the load..Past that I don't know and don't care.

[Spuriosity]

But for all those that swear they would never shoot a turkey beyond 40 yds, I see no good reason to pay more for the LBs.

I think the greatest selling point of this shell is how easy it makes it to achieve those numbers.

Your point is well taken. It does take some choke experimentation to get solid 40 yd patterns with conventional lead shells, whereas the LBs are pretty much plug and play. My only concern with the LBs is that the patterns I have seen appear to be optimized for 40-50 yds, where most folks kill the majority of their birds between 20 and 30. If I were to shoot the LBs, I would definitely be running an optic of some sort.

[kygobbler]

I have not tried the 3" shells out but I have used the 3.5" shells. I will say that I am very impressed how they pattern out at 40 yards. Now Clark something that I noticed in the 3" #6 load is how open it looks in the very middle of the pattern. I have not done as much patterning as you guys have done but in your opinion is that too much of a gap. I have no doubts if you was shooting a turkey that he would die from that shot. In my opinion, I would like to see more shot in the middle of the pattern than open areas. So what Im asking is what do you all think is too much open areas in the shot pattern to determine its good or bad?

[FullChoke]

Clark,

I have not shot any of those shells so I cannot speak to my experience with them. I do ask that if you have the ear of Winchester, please have them consider putting out a 3" 20 gauge 6 shot shell before this next turkey season. That'd be great.

FC

[allaboutshooting]

I have not tried the 3" shells out but I have used the 3.5" shells. I will say that I am very impressed how they pattern out at 40 yards. Now Clark something that I noticed in the 3" #6 load is how open it looks in the very middle of the pattern. I have not done as much patterning as you guys have done but in your opinion is that too much of a gap. I have no doubts if you was shooting a turkey that he would die from that shot. In my opinion, I would like to see more shot in the middle of the pattern than open areas. So what Im asking is what do you all think is too much open areas in the shot pattern to determine its good or bad?

I really appreciate your observations about gaps. When I evaluate patterns, I do count pellets but that is not my major concern. I've seen patterns posted in places with good numbers but many have huge open spaces. I always measure the gaps and I use a 2" rule. I do not like to see gaps of 2" or over in patterns with #6 or #7 shot. Larger pellets will most often have more gaps and some will have too many to be acceptable to me.

I recently shot a number of patterens with #6 shot that had "0" gaps of 2" or over. I consider those excellent patterns.

This evaluation that I'm doing currently is with chokes specifically designed for the WLB shells. I'll compare patterns with those chokes to patterns with chokes not designed for those shells and then all of them with Hev-13 shells.

That should give us some good information.

Thanks,
Clark

[allaboutshooting]

Clark,

I have not shot any of those shells so I cannot speak to my experience with them. I do ask that if you have the ear of Winchester, please have them consider putting out a 3" 20 gauge 6 shot shell before this next turkey season. That'd be great.

FC

It's very difficult today to learn how successful any shothell really is. Manufacturers don't really want to discuss numbers and turkey loads are such a very small percentage of shotshells sold by most companies that it's even more difficult to determine their success. I know that it takes a lot of R&D before any shell goes to market and a lot of folks are involved in the decision making process. Marketing dollars are pretty precious.

There are also some complexities and differences in loading different gauges of shells and a product that may perform exceptionally well in one may not perform as well in another.

My guess, and that's really all that it is, would be that an evaluation would be make by Winchester of the sales success of the 12 gauge shells and then make an evaluation of the numbers of 20 gauge shells that they sell or believe that they could sell using the same technology, before any manufacturing would begin. That might mean they have one in the works currently that would be revealed at SHOT or at the NWTF Convention in 2015. Things in the industry can turn on a dime at times and can be very unpredictable.

Thanks,
Clark