I recently purchased a new shotgun so I thought I would run some different loads through it. For the majority of my turkey hunting years I have swore by anything hevi-shot. I never really doubted lead but I never tried it either for the simple fact that I felt heavier than lead loads were superior to any lead shot or "old timer shells" :-X At the NWTF convention I spoke with a few guys and no one that I talked to mentioned anything bad about Winchester long beards. Since the weather has been warm I recently got out to compare, hevi 5's, 6's, blends and the longbeard 6's. I tried every way in the world to make my browning like hevi-shot better and it just doesn't. The longbeards patterned better out of my Sumtoy .675, Trulock .660, and Indian Creek .665 by a landslide with the trulock having the most pellets in the 10" circle at 40 with 248. The reason for this post is to let someone know that no matter what you hear about the longbeards they are the real deal and should be tried if you're searching for the best pattern out of your gun.
I feel ya man.... Made the switch last year.... No regrets!!!
I switched over this year, that's a good pattern with 248!
Smoking shells.
I'm in the same boat as you. I picked up a couple boxes last year but did not shoot them til yesterday. I shot the fives against Heavy 6's and still got better numbers. Right at 200. I'm switching.
I've heard good things about the longbeard loads. Gonna try them myself this year.
Tried them at the last minute last year and immediately made the switch.