Prairie Storm consensus

B

Bird Buster

Active member
How did people feel shooting this stuff and would you buy more? I tried it on one trip and was pretty dissatisfied with it myself. Either blew apart birds in closer or totally missed them. Longer shots was about the only decent thing for it seemed like. Did not pattern any better at long range than Kent Fast lead either for me. After all the hype last year kind of disappointing :(
 
Special Purpose Loads

Federal has a winner for special purposes IMHO. We hunt over Spaniels and Labs later in the season. Only used PS as second barrel loads on birds which were getting out there. They killed well and anchored birds. I abhor losing cripples. And very rarely did.

As for patterning, they gave ~ MOD patterns out of an IC tube in my BUL 12. That FlightControl wad is the key- has a very good record in the waterfowl world and in the turkey woods too. It will take some time to catch on. I see too many roosters wounded by guys using cheap shells- soft shot, cheap wads and poorly balanced loads.

I think they do what Federal said they would do. I would not use them on early season birds, on pointed birds, pen raised birds, or anywhere that shots will likely be close. Not needed there.

NB
 
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Special Use Only

I bought a box and patterned them. I was getting full choke patterns with IC Choke. Not what I need most of the time so I didn't use then. That said, I'll bring then with me next season for the odd time I need more range. With PS I can get it by just changing ammo and not the choke. So, not a good load for all round use. Special purpose only for me.

Lock and Load! :D
 
These patterned like full choke using IC at 30 yards in my Browning. To me they are too tight of a pattern at closer yardages. They did work fine for longer shots no question.
 
Here's my .02 on all the hype surrounding the PS loads. Federal ammunition doesn't make crappy ammo, especially when it comes to their premium line. But so to does Remington, Winchester, Kent and many other major ammo makers. Premium ammo performs FAR better than we as wingshooters ever will. Buy what works for you or what you can find the best deals on and stick with it. :)



FWIW
 
What PS Shells were each of you using? I have some 6's that are 2-3/4" and haven't really used them yet, are those the shells you had such tight patterns with?

I see they at least make 5's and 3" shells, and I assume those would pattern differently

Thanks
Chuck
 
Six Shot

The ones I have are 2 3/4 inch No. 6. Changing to No. 5 shot should not make a difference in how tight the pattern is. You will just have fewer pellets in the pattern. But, you never know for sure until you shoot some patterns.

Lock and Load! :D
 
I patterned PS 3" #6 with my Benelli. It barely made a difference what choke I had in.

I also found that #6 sure crippled a lot of birds. My dogs a pretty good at finding cripples but we still lost a few. I will probably try #4 shot next year.
 
I used the 2 3/4" #6 shot load. Another thing I forgot to mention earlier was birds I cleaned had tons of lead fragments in them from the flite stopper pellet system used I suspect. I do not care for excessive lead fragments scattered from the entry points as I have never seen this to this extreme using other loads ever.
 
Not 4's

jeffstally said:
I patterned PS 3" #6 with my Benelli. It barely made a difference what choke I had in.

I also found that #6 sure crippled a lot of birds. My dogs a pretty good at finding cripples but we still lost a few. I will probably try #4 shot next year.
Click to expand...

I don't think going to No. 4 with PS will help. I'll almost bet the problem is too tight a pattern. One just can't get enough pellets in the bird unless you really center them. Try a Federal load of No. 6 without the Flite Control wad and I think your problems will be over.

Lock and Load! :D
 
Zeb someone bumped the old one back up after I had started this one recently to get end of season views on it.
 
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