Winchester Super X2
40 yards solid bench
80 degrees
Some wind but not a ton
I shot a LongBeard XR 3.5 #5 first with the Rob Roberts 660 choke and got 178 in 10" Very solid performance from a lead shell and about what I had done last year. For shot 2 and 3 I had the same Hevi 13 #6 3.5 inch shells I've used before (3 left in this box) and I got 85 in 10" with my Rob Roberts .660 (previously has shot 215+ in 10" with same load) and 129 in 10" when I put in the .675 SumToy. I recognize the barrel went from clean on shot 1 to dirty by this point but these were terrible performances. The patterns were full of holes all, barely would have killed a turkey, and looked more like what a typical 60 plus yard pattern would look like. For the 4th shot I put a LongBeard #5 through the SumToy and got a very even 181 in 10"
Easy thing to say is maybe I should just use the LongBeards, but the same gun choke shell combo that produced consistent 210+ in 10" in 2013 is now worse and worse I mean 85 hits in 10" for a HTL premium shell and a top end choke? ...what in the world could be causing this? My barrel gets a thorough cleaning (not full polishing) regularly. And even with a dirty barrel both LongBeard loads shot pretty darn close together between clean and dirty shells