Major problem with Longbeard shells!!!

[smh]

See my original post.

I did try a .665 at 35 yards, and it was slightly better than the .660-–75 and 73 from the .660  and 90  with the .665. Even with the 90 hits, this is about 50% if what I am accustomed to and five yards closer than my usual 40 yard pattern testing.

Again, this compares with consistent 170s from 40 yards with a .660 for the last several years with the same load.

[Ihuntoldschool]

Did you shoot at 35 last year or just at 40?  Maybe try one at 40 and see how it compares to your 35 yd patterns. That shell is crazy sometimes. I would still try a different shell in that choke tube and see if you get your usual numbers with it.   Good Luck

[smh]

See my reply #7. Immediately after the very poor performance at 20 and 25 yards, I shot a 3" #5 Longbeard through the same .660 choke at 40 yards and had 138 in 10".

[tnanh]

Try cleaning the barrel and the choke super good. Clean the choke with Hoppes then give it a overnight soak in Hoppes and clean it again. I had a similar problem year before last with Longbeards. Gun went from shooting 200-205 in 10 to 120s. I had been trying different shells in it playing around and put a Longbeard 6 in it and pattern was way off. Cleaned the gun and choke as mentioned above and cleaned all the Hoppes residue out of the barrel with denatured alcohol and it went back to normal. Only difference was this was with the same box of shells. Choke was a Sumtoy 665.

[smh]

I will definitely try this, but note that I DID use two different choke tubes, and also that the pattern went as follows with seven consecutive shots in the same shooting session:

"Old shell lot" for shots 1-4 from 40 yards) and "new shell lot" for shots 5-7 (from 35 yards)
1. 178
2. 174
3. 166
4. 173
5. 75
6. 73
7. 90

As you can see, the pattern was more than cut in half between shots 4 and 5 and with the distance of shot 5 being five yards closer.

I did receive a message from Winchester last week and am awaiting their return call.

I also received purchased three new boxes I plan to try next week.

I WILL provide updates to the forum when I have more information.

Thanks!

[tnanh]

Hopefully its something simple and not the shell. I will switch back to old Winchesters if you find they have become inconsistent from lot to lot. PM sent.

[smh]

Update:

As I indicated in an earlier post, I recently purchased three new boxes of the 3-1/2" 2 OZ #5 Long Beards and had a chance to shoot them last week. Their performance was better than the suspected "bad lot" but considerably below my historical numbers as follows:

From 40 yards (not 35), the shells I purchased two weeks ago put 138 and 102 in a 10" circle (compared to an average of 79 for three shots from 35 yards for the "bad lot"). I suspect, as others have suggested, I can improve these numbers with choke selection, but I am disappointed they are so far below my usual 170s in 10" for the last several years.

ALSO, Winchester has replied to my online report submitted via their website, and will be examining the suspected "poor lot." They are sending UPS to pick them up, hopefully tomorrow. I hope to have a report from Winchester/Olin soon.

I will update this thread when additional information is available.

[Old Timer]

Sounds like their working with you which is a positive. Keep us posted.

[dzsmith]

I shot longbeard since their inception until I started shooting tss last season. I never got 5s to shoot good through my gun so I shot 6s with well beyond average results. they were fantastic. never had an issue....however......My gun was only good for about 3 shots and the pattern always started to fall off pretty drastically. I don't know if you are cleaning your barrel, but I always polished mine before season, and would shoot no more than 3 shots on the range between cleanings. Longbeards are some of the dirtiest shooting shells ive ever seen , don't know if its the powder or the resin...but it sludges my barrel quickly. like I said lets say I shoot a shot and it puts 250 6s in a 10" circle at 40. "870 21" barrel 3" 6s" after shot 3 im down in the low 200s 215-225ish.....if I continue to shoot it always settled out below 200 slightly and it stays there consistently until I clean the barrel again. so I would suggest at least trying that. if you are worried about using hoppes and leaving a residue in your barrel use denatured alcohol. I shot a lot of long beards when I was finding a choke and seeing what was the most optimal and for my 870 with a short barrel it needed to things to shoot 6s well....a tight choke "sumtoy 655" and a super clean barrel. also I shot shells from a polished barrel vs a clean non polished and that increased my pellet count about 20 pellets alone. something to consider.

[smh]

Reply from Winchester (no help!):

Hi Mike,

All of the test results are kept proprietary, but did add all of your notes to the file so our QA team could see them.

We appreciate you letting us know about the issue and a check will arrive in 1-2 weeks to get you reimbursed for all of those shells.

[Ihuntoldschool]

Might want to try #6 shot.  Good Luck.

[tnanh]

Did you try cleaning the choke and barrel super good? I have had this problem, as mentioned before, with Long beards and Fed Hwght. 7s. Usually it was after 2 to three shots and you shot a lot more than that according to your posts. Longbeards seem to be pretty dirty and it is worth a try. Hwght 7 patterns in a h and r 20 gauge would more than drop in half when the gun was dirty. The 12 gauge 3 inch 6s would go down numbers wise considerably. Sum toy and jelly head chokes seem to need cleaning more than others I have shot. Denatured alcohol seems to make a big difference at the end also.

[dzsmith]

Did you try cleaning the choke and barrel super good? I have had this problem, as mentioned before, with Long beards and Fed Hwght. 7s. Usually it was after 2 to three shots and you shot a lot more than that according to your posts. Longbeards seem to be pretty dirty and it is worth a try. Hwght 7 patterns in a h and r 20 gauge would more than drop in half when the gun was dirty. The 12 gauge 3 inch 6s would go down numbers wise considerably. Sum toy and jelly head chokes seem to need cleaning more than others I have shot. Denatured alcohol seems to make a big difference at the end also.

long beards shoot very dirty. cleaning the barrel every couple of shots is a must in most cases.

[Missouri hunter]

Shot my 12ga this week. Started using long beards last season as I was running out of my favorite load by federal that they dropped, the 3" 2oz #5. So I was getting some pretty amazing patterns out of my 1300 with a pure gold 670 ported. Had a new box of 1 3/4 #5 just like I had been shooting. Shot at 30yds and it looked a lot worse than my 40yd from last year. Then I shot at 40yd and had a hole in the paper that looked like a slug and about half the hits I was getting. My numbers went from 150s in 10" last year, to 70s this year.
I still had a box of 1 7/8 #5 so I tried those and they were doing great but a little scary tight. I might use them some but I'm probably going with double X 5s as they were throwing a pretty good pattern.
I just don't think a can trust these long beards. I'm guessing the resin isn't breaking up all the way. Could just be a lot problem but I'm not going to find out.

[Longshanks]

When my POA/POI started to wander around and occasionally I would shoot a pattern that looked like a slug I was done with Longbeard shells. Went back to old school shells like Win XX 3" 6's and the consistency is awesome.  Nothing worst than a turkey coming in and wondering if your pattern is going to go left or right or if a slug is going to come out of your gun.
That being said, I bought a stockpile of Longbeards several years ago when they came out. Guess they will be worth something to someone since the new production of shells sound terrible.