I was pretty shocked on these also after I got my red dot to hit where I wanted the first 3 long beard rounds had over 150 holes in a 10" circle. After those I shot 3 3" Hornady heavy Magnum #5 shot, and didn't like the pattern. Finished off the rest of the Remington nitro 3" (3 shots) in #4 shot size, and 3 more nitro 3 1/2" #4 shot. Out of those rounds I liked the density of the long beards so I used the fancy turkey targets and got less then 100 holes. Maybe the inconsistency came from a tired body. I was out there for several hours teaching my youngest son how to shoot a stronger weapon then he is use to. We put more then a hundred rounds threw my SKS and over a hundred threw my mini 14 before I got my hands on that 12 gauge. Anyways I'll fill you in how the next day goes.