Benelli SBE II with Indian Creek .665 load choice

[brimmyfish]

Hey guys! This is my first post and I have been reading a lot of posts on here about hevi-shot and their different selections of shells. I have always used lead and had good results with killing birds, but after patterning my gun this year I kept remembering people talking about how awesome hevi shot is. I tried the new Winchester longbeards in my gun and the 3 1/2" shells regardless of shot size did terrible for me. The 3 inch longbeards did a lot better and I got 165 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards. The problem that I have with them is that my pattern is terrible once I get outside of that 10" circle which leaves me very little room for error at shorter distances. Now that I've said all that I am looking into finally trying some of the hevi stuff and I would like your recommendations. Should I try Magnum Blend or Hevi-13? And I am used to shooting 3 1/2" shells but would you recommend 3" or 3 1/2" shells?

Thanks to all in advance!!

[learn2hide]

Post a pic of a pattern you got...I can tell you that guys have had good luck with both shells...my personal opinion is straight Hevi 13 #6 or #7 in the 2 1/4 oz 3.5 inch but you have to shoot em with your choke/gun to know.  I have killed turkeys with the Mag Blends but in my set up the single shot size shells pattern about 25% better.  Best of luck to you.   

[nyhunter]

My SBE2 patterns the H-13 6's & 7's better also. I have never found a 3" shell that patterned better than a 3.5" in my SBE2. I can tell you this the SBE2 is not a high number pattern gun. If your lookin for big numbers go with a 835 , 935 , or a back bore gun. The SBE2 is a finicky gun to pattern because of it's small bore barrel, Once you find the right choke load cambo you'll get good patterns. 

[brimmyfish]

This is the pattern using 3" winchester longbeards #5's at 40 yards. 165 pellets in the 10" circle.



This is the pattern using 3 1/2" winchester high velocity #5's which has always been my "go-to" turkey load until now. There are 97 pellets in the 10" circle.



Here is the same winchester 3" longbeard #5 at 25 yards. Didn't count the pellets.



And he are the 3 1/2" winchester high velocity #5's at 25 yards. Didn't count the pellets.

[learn2hide]

I think you would reach close to 200 if not exceed it by switching to Hevi 6....

[brimmyfish]

So you would recommend the hevi 13 #6's for my choke and gun?  Would you recommend the 3" or 3 1/2"? Thanks again for the reply

[nyhunter]

Yes 6's or 7's and 3 1/2 "

[MDSTRUTNRUT]

Find somebody nearby that has a SBEII and has a different choke and try it out( I cant afford to buy all the ones out there either).       My SBEII put 199 hits with 3" LB'# 6's in a 10" @ 40 yards with a Down & Dirty Haymaker .670 choke.  I fell thats pretty good for lead prob someone has better out there, in same setup with Hevi-13 3"7's it was 219 hits which is not extremely high for that load.   Chokes make all the difference in the world and sometimes they may be too open or too tight for your load in your gun.   I remember patterning some of my old chokes that killed birds and seeing numbers like 79@ 40   LOL!   I also had better luck hunting and patterning when I switched to a halogram sight, mine is a TRUEGLO and is not expensive.    It's hard to find the perfect solution,  but you're on the right site to find out.     GOODLUCK!

[brimmyfish]

Thanks for the responses so far. I'll try to find someone with other chokes but not many prople around here have sbe's bc of their price and other than turkey hunting there really isn't anything else to hunt around here that you can use 3" or 3 1/2" shells for. NYhunter, if I do get a good pattern with the hevi shot shells will there be a decent pattern outside the 10" ring? Like will I have any margin of error, or will it be like throwing a softball sized pattern and that's all?

[nyhunter]

the 7's are a little more forgiving simply because there is more shot per shell than the 6's, but both will give you pretty good coverage out to the 20" ring. I think you'll be very happy with that I.C .665 choke and either one of the  H-13 shells. Keep in mind that your not gonna have a high 10"number count and a high number of pellets out side the 10" area. IE 200 #6's pellets in the 10" ring don't leave a lot to cover the rest of the 20" ring . My SBE2 puts 190's #6's and 290's #7's in the 10" ring and has plenty out to the 20" ring. 
     If your not happy with the I.C I would suggest you give Rob Roberts from gobbler gun's a call and try one of his "Final Strut " chokes, If your not happy with the pattern your getting he will switch chokes with you until you get the pattern your looking for, his chokes go from .650-.670 for the sbe2. I had all of them at the same time to compare head to head and ended up with the .665, it shot both the  H-13 6's and 7's good . Most SBE2's seem to like the tighter chokes better but mine did best with the .665.

[learn2hide]

Even though I shoot a win X2 I had this exact experience. I tried both .665 and .675 Indian Creek they were great about letting me switch. Both of them shot consistent in the 160 to 180 range with 3.5" hevi 6.  From the research on the site I knew I could improve that. If I am going to use a 70 dollar choke tube I wanted to find the best performance.  Ended up speaking to Rob Roberts told him what was going on. He sent me a .660 Final Strut as a first step. Ended up shooting 215 and 220 in 10 inch at 40 yds with Hevi 13 6s and 260 plus with 7s.  That same choke I shot fed heavyweight 7s and Win LB #5 and it didnt perform as well as hevi13 but other guns chokes might throw those LB 5s in the 180s.  You just have to find what works. Good news is that all 7 loads i have tried through my set up would crush a bird at 40 yards. The worst 10" circle was cheap federal lead 5s and it was 135. The numbers game is fun but doesnt kill em any deader.  Thats my experience. Good luck

[brimmyfish]

Ok guys I went to several stores today and only found magnum blend in 3 1/2" and hevi 13 was either 4 1/2" #5 or just 3". I'm not sure what to do now bc shipping on ammo is really expensive.

[learn2hide]

rogerssportinggoods.com or shopdunns.com typically ship for free...try that. Otherwise shoot the MagBlends I don't think they are a bad shell lots of guys like em

[learn2hide]

rogers does charge for shipping but I can tell you their price per box on the Hevi13 3.5 is about 7 bucks less than Cabelas right now plus hevishot.com is offering a 20 dollar rebate on two boxes of shells...makes it pretty affordable

[brimmyfish]

Ok well I stopped by a dicks sporting goods on my way to work today. They had all turkey ammo buy one get one 25% off. So I picked up a couple of boxes of 3 1/2" magnum blend. It was 29.99 for one box and 22.50 for the second, so with the hevi-shot rebate i figured it would be worth a shot. I'll try to shoot some Tomorrow and post some more pics. Thanks