Help with choosing lead 10 ga load

[FLINT]

Hi all,

I have a Stevens 9478 single shot 10 ga.  It has a 36" barrel and fixed full choke.  I've killed two turkeys with this gun in the past, but this year I thought I would try to do it right and see which shells gave the best pattern before taking it out into the field.  So, I bought one box each of the six lead loads I could find for the 10 ga.  As this gun is from the late 70s or early 80s, I figured that I shouldn't shoot the heavy stuff in it.  So I shot one shot each at a small one inch orange dot at 40 yards - which was without a doubt the most unpleasant shooting experience of my life - and one that I will never repeat.  I'll try to post a picture of the horrible bruise on my arm now.  It is essentially not tolerable to shoot this gun over twice in the same day - much less 6 times within a half hour - anyways, thats a different story - on to the patterns. 
The gun pretty much shoots 70% patterns at 40 yards, which is what you would expect from a full choke.  One load did much better though.  Take a look at the chart that I'm going to try to post here - and let me know:

A.  Which load I should take into the field
B.  What you would recommend as a max distance shot.

In my mind, the Fed. 5s did the best - but the Rem. 4s also did really well, and had a really nice even pattern - lower 30"%, but very high 10" %

I know the 10" shot counts are much lower than what most people are getting with tight chokes and heavy shot, but this is what I have at least for this year, so this is what I'm going to use. 

I also know that its better to shoot two or three of each load and get an average, but that is not going to happen.  I'm just hoping that my arm will be functional enough to try to go hunting in a week at this point. 

Also, I paid the most attention to the 10" circle centered around my point of aim - because this gun does not have adjustable sights, and is not going to get any adjustable sights - so I really only care about what kind of pattern its going to put where I am aiming.    Though in the chart, I did also include the pellet count and percent of the best 10" circle as well. 

Thanks for any help!

[deadbuck]

I have a 1984 model H&R 10 ga single barrel with 32 inch factory full choke and it inflicted similar pain on me until I put a limbsaver recoil pad on it. Now it is no big deal to shoot it several times at a sight in session. From the looks of your arm, you did not have the buttstock  placed on your shoulder high enough. The old factory recoil pad on mine had become hard as a brick over time and it would give me a headache if I shot it 3 times in one sitting.

[FLINT]

I also wondered why the bruise was so low - I was definitely holding the buttplate up on my shoulder.  If you look, you can see a faint bruise above my underarm where I held the stock - but all I can figure is that when I shot, the recoil pushed the gun to the right and into by bicep.  I think that the LOP of the gun is too short - which might be the culprit of the excessive pain and placement of the recoil.  I also have a bruise on my cheek from the comb of the stock. 

[the Ward]

OUCH!!!

[10gaugemag]

Remington Premier with 2 1/4 oz. #4's will be hard to beat.

[FLINT]

ok, thanks,

did you see the cart I attached.  The Federal 5s did the best I think - but the 4s did almost as good - and with larger shot size. 

The federals put more pellets in the 30" circle, but only a couple more in the 10" circle, which is probably the most important. 

So, you think I should hunt with the 4s over the 5s? 

Thanks

[10gaugemag]

I think 5's are fine and have killed a gob of birds with them from my 10 but always returned to the Remington 4's. The Remingtons have shot well from both of my present 10 bores and several others I have been around. The best loads I ever patterned from my BPS were Winny 5's, 2 1/4 oz. of them from a Hastings .695 tube. Have not shot the 5's since but I do have 2 boxes of 2 oz. HV Federal #5 I need to mess with. If you have plenty shoot them and when you run out switch to #4's. I also have 3 boxes of #6 that will get shot someday after my stock of other ammo is gone or if I hunt close up areas in the timber.

[Lucky Clucker]

The 5 are good, I shot 4's in my old super goose 10, it liked the rem, and federal 4 shot in 2 1/4,  I think you need close to 80 hits in a 10 inch circle to have a reliable killing pattern, save up for next spring and get some federal heavy weight 7 shot , it will kill like lead 4 shot and pattern very good.

[FLINT]

thanks, yeah, I just had the local sporting goods store order me a box of the HW 7s, and will try them out in a couple weeks. 

I also just ordered a limbsaver nitro recoil pad and a 3/4" lead bar to replace the steel in the stock for more weight.  I also taped on a piece of foam pipe insulation onto the comb.  going to make this thing shootable yet.