Longbeard weird?.....

[Rem Man]

Hello guys just wanted to see if anybody experienced this. I was shooting today Rem 870 with 3 inch longbeard number 5. I shot at 42 yds and got a nice even pattern of about 150 which I'm fine with! Before I left I shot one at  30 yds. I only got 100 in a ten inch, but what I noticed was that was my dencest pattern. It looked as it was about a 7-8 inch pattern but there were only about 50-60 pellets
outside the circle and the pattern was 3 inches to the right. I then took the target to 50 yds. And got 70 hits. I shot about 3 boxes and this seems to be common. I guess my question is at close range what is going on?.....  Indian Creek .665 26 inch barrell 3 inch no 5 longbeard and shooting a reddot. Thanks!   Not very forgiving at 30 yds and in!,,,,,,

[Longshanks]

Yup..something that has me more concerned is I have had patterns look like they are cut in half with no shot in the upper part of the pattern multiple times. I noticed some strange differences in my patterns up close with LB 3" 6's. More shot into a center core with scattered pellets and what looked like different POI's. When I was getting off target and shooting with a rest at 30yds I began backing off the LB's.  Went back to running XX 6's and HV 5's and the patterns were nice and even shot after shot. These lead slingers pattern well to 40 with XX 6's and HV 5's..so back I went.

[Rem Man]

   Anybody else notice this ??

[DirtNap647]

to be honest I love the long beard patterns so far it may be your choke

[Longshanks]

to be honest I love the long beard patterns so far it may be your choke

In the south where allot of folks have been hunting turkeys for close to 2 months..their are reports in every hunting store about less than positive results in terms of consistent patterns at the patterning board and questionable results inside 30 yds in the woods. Hear fantastic reports at 40-45 yds. I have had several pm's and emails from folks in the business that do allot of shooting. If I had just patterned my gun a few times I never would have noticed it. Just being honest. Not trying to bash Winchester. Winchester is all I am shooting right now. XX and HV patterns fantastic out of the same guns and chokes. Shooting Kicks chokes.

[Rem Man]

    Thanks for the info, I don't think its the choke due to the fact that it shoots great patterns at 40, 42, and 45yds. I would think that if a combo works at this distance it should only be better at closer ranges. I have a friend that shot some today and he got the same results, he stated that at 30 yds and in it looked as if the pattern was missing a bunch of pellets. He said that he counted 101 no 5pellets in a 10 inch circle but said that he only had about 60 outside. It seems odd because if it shoots 155 at 42yds in a 10 inch why at 30 yds would it only shoot 101 pellets in a 10 inch and 60 in the rest of the paper, Thats 161 total?? just don't seem right.

[Snoodsniper]

This is very interesting.... I have only patterened the LB's at 40yds. They put up great numbers (76 in the head compared to 47 with flight control) but I guess I'll shoot a few more before I drag a handful to the woods. I honestly don't think I will feel right without a federal in the pipe anyway. They've been very good to me.

[Crawl79]

I have shot mine at 20 and 40 and was very happy. Bought two more boxes and will be shooting again before Kansas trip to check POI on FF3.

Killed two birds with mine so far this year @ 35 and 45 yards.

[ohiomossyoak]

I really cant offer much expertise or advice as I am a newbie.But I shot 3in/6s Longbeards/Truglo Gobble stopper Extreme.695 out of a 24in ported barrel 835 and got this at 30yards.I still plan to adjust my sight a tad an shoot some more at various ranges

As I stated I am a newbie..I see problems with this pattern,but then again it also looks fine to hunt with.Adjust sight and drop a few more shots at 20,30 an 40 and see where I am at overall


First shot laser range finder measured 30yards after initial zero of sight using field loads at closer range



Laser range finder measuered 30yards

[IowaGobblers]

Same thing happened to me. Shot really tight and well at 40 but I shot a bird the other day at 15 yards and the densest part hit him right on the spot but I also found a bunch of bb's through out him when cleaning which shouldnt happen at 15.

[Longshanks]

I really cant offer much expertise or advice as I am a newbie.But I shot 3in/6s Longbeards/Truglo Gobble stopper Extreme.695 out of a 24in ported barrel 835 and got this at 30yards.I still plan to adjust my sight a tad an shoot some more at various ranges

As I stated I am a newbie..I see problems with this pattern,but then again it also looks fine to hunt with.Adjust sight and drop a few more shots at 20,30 an 40 and see where I am at overall


First shot laser range finder measured 30yards after initial zero of sight using field loads at closer range



Laser range finder measuered 30yards

I agree..the tight core pattern picture that you have there..if you are off 4 inches either way whether it shooter error or the turkey is moving.. thats not much shot in the turkey at 30yds.  For this reason I had to back off of the LB's due there being very little margin for error. If you are two inches off and the turkey moves two inches..again..there isnt much shot in the turkey. Not something I could hunt with comfortably and lost a turkey this year due to the same exact thing at 30yds. Little flinch on my part with a turkey I had to stop as he was walking through an opening. If I had my old mans factory full choke running any kind of turkey shell it would have been a dead turkey. 

[turkey buster]

I ended up killing 2 in louisiana with the 3.5/6's. One at a tad over 40 and the other at 8 steps. Results were dead turkeys. During my patterning the only fault I found was a 20 yard shot I pulled on would have left a bird running for Texas. When held true all my poa/poi were fine and I never had any issues with uneven or bad patterns

[darn2ten]

I've shot over 3 boxes at the patterning board. It is impossible to have less pellets in the ten at 30 than at 40. The pellets are just more concentrated, multiples pellets looking like only one hole. They are a little tighter than other lead loads at 20, but in reality not a whole lot. My normal lead loads shoot about a 8" core pattern at 20, and the LB's about a 6" at 20. That's 1" on each side of your poi. You've got to give up a little close to get to get the great dense lead patterns at 40. I've killed 2 with them this year, one at 26 and one at 40+. Seen 2 others killed at 15 and 40+. They worked great in each case. I still like my older loads also, and really no need for anything else after green up and the woods get thicker. I like them both and will continue to use both.

[cuppednlocked]

I did not notice a POI shift between 25 and 40 when I patterned.

[houagie]

i had the same thing happen to me opening morning....the turkey was about 20yds max...steady aim at the head and dropped it so i figured it was a good shot....still a dead turkey but after i plucked it i saw the entire side of him was also peppered...counted 20 pellets from chest to tail..i patterned my gun at 20yds and it shouldn't be that open...don't know what went on that shot but needless to say i went back to my trusty winchester xx's.