Is Blind Side and Black Cloud worth the extra $$??

[DeadEye_Dan]

Calls, decoys, waders, etc, it seems like the list never ends.
Money and Time spent busting clays is a 1000x better investment than gimmicky shells any day.

[DeadEye_Dan]

I'm no help there.
I've never fired my bird guns at paper to check the pattern, and I generally shoot whatever is on sale.
The inside of my shell box looks like someone dumped a bag of skittles - red, gray, green, tan, blue...you're liable to find 3-4 different brands in there at any given time.

Kent is a good place to start, but I shoot way too much to choke down $15 a box all the time

[Weston81]

Until you pattern your gun with your chokes with different loads I wouldn't spend money on expensive loads or aftermarket chokes. My sbe patterned Winchester experts better than hevi metal or black cloud. The pattern percentages out of my factory benellli choke exceeded the recommended percentages. Why spend money on what you think is and improvement but don't know where your baseline is. Spend 80 bucks and pattern your gun with different loads and you may find a great combo of choke and load.

[Weston81]

let us know the results.

[DeadEye_Dan]

I bought an SBE from a guy once and he had a whole set of Briley X2 chokes he put with the gun.
I shoot mod and light mod Briley's in my two SBE's, for the simple fact it's easier to check and make sure the choke is staying tight with an extended choke.
I have no idea how they "pattern" but they seem to kill ok.

[Steele22]

I sure will !! Thank for all the help and input fellas! It is much appreciated

I've shot the hevi shot chokes outta my sbe2 and super Vinci and they do great. They come in a 2 pack at macks prairie wings for 99 bucks. Mr and er mid and extended range. As far as shells of course they like their own hevi shot but I found mine did better with 3-1/2 in 2 shot Winchester super X xpert. Macks and Rogers are the only 2 places I found those shells but they do good for cheaper

[Throbbin Rods]

Personally I don't think so. Few years ago my buddy and I bought some Hevi-Shot. I have never had problems killing birds but we tried it. First 5 shots, 5 ducks knocked down, all 5 got up and flew away with follow up shots ineffective. rich was laughing as I was cussing, took the rest of the box and threw them in the river, told him they would kill as many ducks that way as in the gun. I use plain old steel shot, but try to get stuff with some speed. I use T for geese and #2 for ducks. I don't go broke buying high tech ammo and kill as many birds as the guys I hunt with who do use it.
My .02

[team216]

I also had about the same results that throbbin did. For years I've been shooting winchester, no issues as long as I hit the bird. Early season this year my brother had a box of blind side so I through in a 1 shell followed by my two winchesters. Flock came in. Boom! Knocks the bird to the water. I go to switch to my next bird and the thing gets up to start flying again. When I shoot the goose it looked like someone had punched it back to next week. And would have been awesome looking on film. So I'm just going to stick to simple round bb's. But i also like pecan pie. You might only like apple pie. Doesn't mean either aren't good, it's just what we like

[Rick]

Few years ago my buddy and I bought some Hevi-Shot.

I shoot the vast majority of my ducks and more than a few geese with a 20ga and got it in my head that Hevi-Shot 4s might be better for mixed bags, so I bought a case (ten little boxes/100 rounds) and vowed to use them all before deciding if they were worth the premium. Killed a lot of birds with them, but my close range chips and misses went through the roof, and I was flat relieved when I finally used them up and got to go back to plain steel. Might have been different if I'd run them through a skeet choke that opened the pattern more than the IC I shoot, but my wallet's glad the experiment went as it did.

[aunt betty]

If I use ammo that costs 4 times what I normally use I think 4 times as long before I shoot and miss 4 times as much because I sucked 4 times as much because of all that extra thought involved.
Use the cheap stuff, don't hesitate to shoot all three times,
4 for you ghost-shell carrier guys ,
and kill more ducks.
That is all.

[DukMan]

I bought a bunch of blindside that was on clearance at midway usa... too bad i didn't shoot a few boxes before i bought 4 cases... its junk! I did much better with Kent faststeel. I will shoot up what i got in 5 years and never buy it again...


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[aunt betty]

No.

If you use the money you save on the pricey gun and pricey shells and spend it on shooting some paper to pattern your gun...Then clay targets with target loads. (maybe a thrower)
Shoot a lot from different angles you'll get wayyyy better at hitting ducks. Get the missing out of your system at the range.
Once you can shoot well it don't matter what you're shootin'. It gets instinctive.

D'oh...sucked back into an old thread. lol

[Rick]

See the tongue, shoot the tongue.

[Darren]

I like Hevi-Shot's motto they've been pushing........"I didn't come this far to miss"......soo their shells somehow help you shoot better and aim more accurately?

I shoot blind side when it's free, but have killed hell out of ducks with Federal blue box and red box, Winchester Xpert, etc. without issues of cycling or misfires. Kent has been fine as well. If you hunt a lot, spending $15-$18 on a box of 3" shells is pretty nuts

[aunt betty]

Waiting until you can see their eyeballs before you shoot will increase your percentage way more than any extended range gimmicks.