Bad lot of Winchester LB #5s

[ChesterCopperpot]

So last year I ran out of Winchester LB #5s and ordered a couple new boxes. I'd already patterned the gun and everything was still on, that gun having always shot that load really well. Anyhow, I patterned with the last two shells I had of the old stock and planned to hunt the new shells. First mistake! Last year I wound up missing two birds. After the second I tried to pattern the gun and realized it wouldn't pattern like it had. I didn't know if something with the choke had changed or what, but anyways end of season comes and that's that. I tell some friends I think it's a bad lot of shells and they all laugh at me and say I can't shoot (On some days them being absolutely right! Okay, maybe even most days ).

Well I bought a new gun this year and the other week a friend and I went to pattern my new gun and his gun. We used the LB #5 I had. Neither gun would pattern. And when I say wouldn't pattern I mean at 20yds it looked like dove loads through an improved cylinder at 40. I tell the same group of friends again that I'm positive at that point it's a bad lot of shells. They all laugh at me again and tell me I can't shoot. I tell them let's run them out of their guns and see what happens and they won't.

Today I got a couple new boxes of LB #5s and so the first thing I did was went outside and shot the gun at 20yds. This is my new gun and it's running a Rob Roberts .660. Honestly the pattern is too tight for my liking, which is what I was worried about, but it was the final nail in the coffin on my point. That lot of shells was bad. Like BAD BAD. I don't have any idea what was wrong with them I just know that none of the guns we fired them through patterned and they were all guns that had been tweaked to run that load. All this to say, always pattern your gun, pattern every year, and if you're moving into a new lot of shells pattern again.




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[davisd9]

Do they rattle any?  I know there was an issue of the resin breaking up causing issues at one time.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Do they rattle any?  I know there was an issue of the resin breaking up causing issues at one time.

Had a box and a half left so I just went and checked. In the open box some rattle very noticeably, some a little, and some not at all. More like that in the open box than the unopened box. Also handling them all one after the other I noticed some felt lighter.


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[Tom007]

You don't need your slug gun anymore with that baby...lol

[ChesterCopperpot]

You don't need your slug gun anymore with that baby...lol

Given where and how I hunt, and the fact the birds tend to get inside twenty, it's going to be way too tight I'm afraid. I still want to pattern it at 20, 30, and 40 just to see but I'm leaning toward trying a Sumtoy .675.


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[Tom007]

Looking forward to you pics. Good luck..

[Roost 1]

Looks like typical 20yd longbeard pattern to me. This is why lots of guys miss with longbeards.
40yds is close enough with those shells.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Looks like typical 20yd longbeard pattern to me. This is why lots of guys miss with longbeards.
40yds is close enough with those shells.

That pattern is the new ammo, not the bad lot.


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[Chuck1443]

Looks like typical 20yd longbeard pattern to me. This is why lots of guys miss with longbeards.
40yds is close enough with those shells.

Agreed


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[jwm1485]

My pattern is tight like that with longbeards so I put a rear sight on my gun.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I think I need to go take a picture of a pattern with the bad lot. YES, the above pattern is a typical LB pattern. As was stated, it was shot with the new box of shells. The patterns with the bad lot stretched 30" or greater with no continuity at 20yds.


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[Gobble!]

I think I need to go take a picture of a pattern with the bad lot. YES, the above pattern is a typical LB pattern. As was stated, it was shot with the new box of shells. The patterns with the bad lot stretched 30" or greater with no continuity at 20yds.


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That's the one we want to see.

[davisd9]

Be interested in seeing a pattern from one of the shells that do not rattle from the box of the "bad" lot.  I bet it is because of the resin being shattered in the shell.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Be interested in seeing a pattern from one of the shells that do not rattle from the box of the "bad" lot.  I bet it is because of the resin being shattered in the shell.

You may very well be right. I'll try to shoot them today if it'll quit raining. Maybe I can shoot one that rattles bad, one that rattles slightly, and one that doesn't rattle If your assumption is right I guess I'll have to start shake testing every box.


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[Extendo Clip]

Were they 20 gauge? I had the same experience last uear with a box of 20 gauge #5s.  Sent em back to Winchester and they gave me a coupon.