These shells are my favs. Last year, noticed a local a farm supply store had 7 boxes of 12-3-6 and 8 boxes of 12-3-6. in their small hunting section. To begin, I bought one of each for $20/box of 10. My Benelli Vinci with a Rhino .660" adored the #6s. The five that I pattered on a near perfect day averaged 185 with a high of 207 in 10" at 40yd. The #5s through the Rhino were just okay. I went back and bought all the #6s.
This spring I was at the patterning board testing a Jeb's .665' choke. I pulled a couple of the #5s from my ammo box to see what they'd do. In short, I've never had #5s pattern as well as they did through that choke. Those two shells put 135 and 139 in the 10" at 40yd. The load with 139 had an additional 44 in the 15" and 14 in the 20" with 11 pellets out. The load with 135 had 20 pellets in the 3" aiming circle. While tight, it was a beautiful, even pattern. For 1.75oz of Hevi-13 #5s, I was stunned by these patterns.
I again visited the farm supply store and, as luck would have it, 7 boxes of the #5s remained a year later. I bought them all for $20/box. I've never been a huge fan of HTL #5s and still think #6s and #7s are better choices. Even so, these OWs were solid performers to 40yd plus a big fudge factor. Moreover, they are the most consistent POA to POI shell I've ever tested. That gun and choke combination just gels with that load.
I still have about 45 of the #6s and just over 60 of the #5s.
