I bought the same gun and choke and put a retractable stock on it for my oldest son (he was 8 yrs old at the time) prior to the 2024 season. I shot the factory choke and the IC .385 with the original Apex Ninjas, Rogue and Federal. While all the patterns would easily kill a bird at 25 yds, the IC .385 with the Apex Ninjas was just better at that distance and then even more so at 40 yds. He killed his first with that combo last season, and my 6 yr old has already killed two with it this season.
I know people vary on what they want their patterns to look like, yet I wanted to pass along that the Stevens 301 .410/IC .385/Original Apex Ninjas combination has proved to be very deadly in my boys' hands. I even shot the new Apex Next Level Ninjas out of it a couple of weeks ago, and it just didn't pattern as well as the original Ninjas.
