More shotgun patterns, and my 870 updates

Polymerhead · Oct 10, 2015

I recently added a Mesa Tactical stock and a Magpul forend to my 870. I needed to function test it so I figured I'd try out some cheap Estate buckshot and some Federal Premium Defense at the same time. It's a reminder that you need to pattern your shotgun if you're planning on using it for self defense or hunting.

Here's the gun. I dig it. I initially traded into the gun in rough shape. I bought an 18" rifle-sighted barrel, bead-blasted the entire gun and Cerakoted it in titanium. New mag spring and follower as well. I put a Hogue stock and forend on it. It seemed really heavy with the Hogue 12" stock on it, but the new Mesa pistol grip helps control the weight much better. The angled cheekpiece is harder on the cheek though. It's absolutely perfect for adding the little bit of comb height I needed for the elevated tritium rifle sights.

The Magpul forend is OK; the real benefit is the ease of adding a light. I have a Streamlight TLR-1 mounted to the offside.

Here's one round of Estate 12 Ga buck from 7 yards. The cheapest stuff on the market. Note that all pellets are center mass but it's already a pretty good spread. Not ideal, but OK at cross-room distance. Wouldn't be very good for a coyote at 40 yards though.

In comparison, I fired one round of Federal Premium Defense with the flite-control wad from the same distance, at the same target, low on the cardboard to keep it separate. Ignore the rip from the wad, and you'll see a very tight pattern.

I got a fresh target and moved back to 10 yards, an extreme distance for what might be required in the home. Here are 6 rounds of the Federal stuff, rapid fire. Again, ignore the big rips from the wad and you'll see a tighter pattern at 10 yards than what the Estate was giving at 7.

Long story short, I'll continue to run Federal, though Estate would do fine at cross-room distance. No stoppages or failures were experienced from either brand, though this was only a ~30 round function test.