My Win 1300 with 22" Barrel, 3"/2oz Mag Blends and the .643 SSX only put up 125(29%)/10" dirty and 164(38%)/10" clean of 426 total pellet count.
Year before last it put up 200 in 10"@ 35 yds(47%) with Undertaker HD .675. 40 yds was around 150(35%)/10"IIRC, but I accidentally threw away the target with info on it.
These were good even patterns, but considering there are 425 pellets in this hard recoil load(for 3" shell), I wasn't impressed with penetration beyond 40yds(even though I took 2 birds beyond that with them).
I tried the Long Beard #5's after suggestions/reading ...and they were pretty pathetic with SSX at 99 hits/10"@40yds...(33% of 296 total pellets) in my gun/choke.
This year I dedicated some effort to the Fed HW 7's after being so impressed with the 7's knockdown/penetration on my kids bird at 35yds with little 20 ga 1 1/8 oz load.
I've patterned these in my Win 1300 12 ga with 92 hits/10"@50 yds and 165 avg/10"@40 yds. Pattern isn't too tight in close that I'll miss but tight enough to enable a genuine 50+ yd pattern..as well as sustain enough penetration to do the job at longer ranges as well.
The HW'7s out penetrate the Mag blend's by far..In fact, I think Lead 5 is actually as good or better than the Mag Blends.
The MB pellet count is mostly made up of small(smaller than #7)shot and it doesn't penetrate well beyond 40yds. The handful of 5-6# shot penetrate a bit better, but NOT even close to the FED 7 HW and there isn't enough of them to make them to really matter.
IMHO- The HW7 has only 1 5/8 oz (in 3" 12 ga) and puts up the same numbers as the Mag Blends despite having less pellet count(353 vs Hevi 426) in my gun with a LOT less recoil and more penetration at longer ranges. I honestly believe it has the penetration to do the job beyond 50yds whereas the Lead 5 and Mag Blend are simply not AS good.
I'll be using the Fed HW 7's in both my 12 as well as my 20 now. I like the better recoil, for equal patterns as MAg Blend in addition to enhanced penetration on longer shots..
