Win Long Beard Test

[SumToy]

Ok I just got the Long Beard in.  I cut one open to check it out.  The wad is the same wad as in the HV.  Now it has a small gas seal with felt spacer.   Now the thing is the shot has got a type of glue/resin holding it together.   It is a roll crimp with a plastic cover.    Now I just built a choke to stick in the 935 to see.  Had a 20 MPH head wind today but had to test fire one to see.  It looks good.  Now time will tell how it will work in the small bore guns.

[Styer]

I think I speak for everyone but we want to see more. Please 

But really I would like to hear your opinion. I am new to turkey hunting and trying to find a good inexpensive lead load. I can pick up Winchester Super-X 3" 1-7/8 #5-6 , Winchester DoubleX 3" 1-3/4 #5-6, or these new Long Beards in the same sizes. Or would it be better cost wise to try and hunt down some Turkey thugs on the picked over barren Walmart shelves?

which would you say is probably the best bang for the buck?

[SumToy]

With just one shot fired in 20 mph head wind this is one of the best lead shells out.  Fed FCW or this one would be the two I pick.   NOW I see one bad thing with it.  It will KILL PAPER a long ways.  It is going to be one of the best things out for the average guy that shoots out to 40.  Now on PAPER it will show it is beyond that but it is a LEAD load.  I hope that folks don't get a false sense security because of the old 100 in a 10 is dead.  Now one thing I plan on testing is the 4's and 5's in this load.  I have them in 3 & 31/2 inch in 4,5 and 6.    Now I shot the 5 and it was killing paper like a HTL.  Now I plan on a test on tin to see how that works at 40.   I think with the way the load looked you could shoot the 4 or 5 and feel safe with the energy that it has along with pattern.  Now the 6 is the one I think will put the patterns up that will make folks buy it.   

It is all about the Marketing of the stuff.  It like me I take a choke that will put up some odd off the wall pattern folks want it.  Do they need that or a more open/even hunting pattern.  It is the eye candy that sales a lot of folks.   This load has ALOT of eye candy to it.  Very good load but worries me some folks will push it beyond the limits.

For a lead load I think you will not find a better load. 

[SumToy]

One is 31/2-2-5 HV  the other is the 31/2-2-5 LB EX 
Both was at 30 yards in 20 mph head wind out of new choke in dirty 935 hunting gun. 

[FullChoke]

Those look like very good lead patterns! The day may come when the escalating prices on HTL shot pushes us to revisit lead shotshells, and their limitations. I like that the major ammunition manufacturers are still working on new loads for us. 

I am very curious about this stuff holding the shot together as I assume that this is what is so innovative about this shell . I assume that it is there to bind the shot into a somewhat fragile unit that cracks apart somewhere between the firing pin and the pattern board. If it breaks up in the barrel due to the forces of the powder ignition and sudden acceleration, what makes this shell any different than most every other standard lead load? If the shot stays together in the barrel and then break apart after they have exited the barrel, what makes it come apart? Does the sudden constriction at the choke tube crush the resin and release the shot from each other? They still should act like a standard shotshell. If the resin holds the shot together well away from the barrel, how does the shot/resin know when to fragment? If you shoot at a shorter range, will the shot/resin unit still be solid and would we be faced with what amounts to a frangible slug. What about the resin adhering to the plated shot and creating irregularly shaped and faceted pieces that send shot off into fliers on the patterning paper.

And what about 20 gauges? Too many questions.

FullChoke

[Styer]

Those look like very good lead patterns! The day may come when the escalating prices on HTL shot pushes us to revisit lead shotshells, and their limitations. I like that the major ammunition manufacturers are still working on new loads for us. 

I am very curious about this stuff holding the shot together as I assume that this is what is so innovative about this shell . I assume that it is there to bind the shot into a somewhat fragile unit that cracks apart somewhere between the firing pin and the pattern board. If it breaks up in the barrel due to the forces of the powder ignition and sudden acceleration, what makes this shell any different than most every other standard lead load? If the shot stays together in the barrel and then break apart after they have exited the barrel, what makes it come apart? Does the sudden constriction at the choke tube crush the resin and release the shot from each other? They still should act like a standard shotshell. If the resin holds the shot together well away from the barrel, how does the shot/resin know when to fragment? If you shoot at a shorter range, will the shot/resin unit still be solid and would we be faced with what amounts to a frangible slug. What about the resin adhering to the plated shot and creating irregularly shaped and faceted pieces that send shot off into fliers on the patterning paper.

And what about 20 gauges? Too many questions.

FullChoke

From what I have read about these shells is that the "resin" breaks up into a "powder" when the primer goes off. Thus effectively creating a buffering between each piece of shot so that the rear 1/3rd of shot does not deform. The "powder" then is separated from the shot as it exits the barrel. Since the shot doesn't deform more of the pellets fly straight to the target and don't become outliers. 

At least that is the science behind it that I have read from many published early prototype reviews. Hope it helps.

[SumToy]

I don't know what they did in the testing and R&D as they came up with this load.   Now from what I see and think it bust as it entered the chokes.  A lot of powder/dust/resin (look like black powder gun fired) as new shell was fired.  I know the wad did not go but about 30 ft as the wad out the HV load was around 70 ft.  Now the marks on the wad show that the wad did not distort as bad win new load.   Now that gives me the idea that the shot held the wad out so the choke could grab the wad.  It stays in more of a ball not a string.  I will post wad pic later on.

[Styer]

Well I ordered myself a box of 3" 5s and 6s to try out since the big box stores' shelves around me are pretty much bare of any good turkey loads.

[Xcal1ber]

Please test some out to forty on a nice day with a smaller bore barrel like a Stoeger. I have been chompin at the bit, waiting for someone to try these loads. The 30 yarder looks very good though.

[R AJ]

Dan Zimmerman of The Truth About Guns has a pretty good review on this shell with results at 40 yards.
He also has his opinion of the Hornady shell . Someone chides him for using the Hornady in a tight choke when they specifically state that best results are obtained using a modified or such choke. Good luck on that one.

He gets over 200 pellets in #6s against 100+ using Win HV #6s at 40 yds. in the 10" circle. This bears out what William suggested in earlier posts. A Google search has plenty on this load.

Good report Sumtoy.

[ericjames]

Looks good. I might have to pick done up and see how they do out of my 20" 835.

[Gobble!]

Those 30 yard patterns do you good, still interested in seeing what they do at 40.

[fountain2]

sup willie ..good test dude