Prairie Storm Issue

Labs

Labs

Well-known member
Last week I was pattern testing my new Orion 20 gauge with various loads & chokes and had a Prairie Storm 1 ounce 5's wad hit the board at 30 yards. I found a clump of pellets stuck in the bottom of the shot cup. I blew it off as an anomaly, until it happened again this afternoon. This time we were patterning my wife's new Franchi Afinity 3 Compact 20 gauge. Again it was a Prairie Storm 1 ounce 5's. I'll attach pics of the pellets fused into a clump at the bottom of the shot cup, and of the pellets after I cut the wad to get them out. Note how badly deformed and crushed the pellets are. It's safe to say I'm done with Prairie Storm. I'll shoot what is left of them at clay birds...
 

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You don't even need to shoot them to realize their ballistic shortcomings.

The truth about Prairie Storm

Prairie Storm is part of Federal's Premium offering of upland hunting shotshells. As they often come up on this site I figured it'd be important to fully explore the properties of this shell. I'll start with the Pros 1. Copper plated 2. Higher quality lead, here I am assuming you get what you...
forum.ultimatepheasanthunting.com forum.ultimatepheasanthunting.com
 
VERY common now that they have switched to a softer wad material. Just wait until you hang a wad in a rooster at 25 yards due to shot stuck in the wad!
 

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Fiocchi Golden Pheasant turned in the best overall performance followed closely by Federal Premium Upland. Toni's Franchi like them, and also shot the Dakota Country 1 oz 5's very well (Federal standard velocity game load they put in a fancy box for Runnings in 12 & 20. I bought a bunch of Dakota Country in 12 gauge on sale last winter at Runnings and stored it for the next ammo famine). I'll be using Golden Pheasant or Premium Upland in my Orion this Fall and Toni is opting for the Dakota Country as the recoil is next to nothing in her little Franchi.
 
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I’m sure federal has rebranded different loads. I just don’t see PS as much as I use to on the shelves.
 
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Labs said:
Fiocchi Golden Pheasant turned in the best overall performance followed closely by Federal Premium Upland. We'll be using one of those loads in our 20 gauges this Fall.
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Those would be the two I'd be going with. They are about the only loads I've used for many years whehter it was in a 12 ga. or 16 ga.
 
Dakotazeb said:
Those would be the two I'd be going with. They are about the only loads I've used for many years whehter it was in a 12 ga. or 16 ga.
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I agree with the Federal pheasants forever upland load it is my favorite. But the current price is stupid high.
I'm trying Winchester super pheasant this year which came at sale price that was much more reasonable.
 

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I'm a big fan of the orange & black box Federal Premium Upland, they've been my 12 gauge go-to upland load for many years. I have quite a few boxes of that load in 12 gauge 1-1/4 oz 4's on hand. I believe their Premium Upland now is the same load in a fancier box. For certain they pattern & perform every bit as well.

A couple days ago I found orange & black box Premium 12 gauge 1-1/4 oz 7.5s on the Scheels website and ordered 10 boxes. Pair that load with an IC or LM choke and it is a deadly combination out to 50 yards. Not much of anything goes anywhere but down dead with several 7.5s in it's knob and neck...
 
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Plannerman said:
B&P Heavy Pheasant 1oz #5.
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Would like to give them a try but we don't see them on the shelf out here in SW ND. I was at Scheels in Bismarck last week, there were only 5 boxes of 12 gauge B&P nestled in the shelves full of Fiocchi, Kent, and Federal. They were on sale as well, so I took that to mean Scheels might not be carrying them this year.
 
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Wow that is unbelievable the shot is all clumped together like that. I shot one box once and it was a bad experiment, totally destroyed short range birds. Looked exactly like KEOutdoors photo above. No thanks never have shot any more since.
 
I bought a case of PS when Obama was President and haven't used it much just because I have other cheaper stuff I normally grab first. I'm not going to throw them out obviously but I need to get a box out and pattern them now. Oh well.
 
Mosby said:
I bought a case of PS when Obama was President and haven't used it much just because I have other cheaper stuff I normally grab first. I'm not going to throw them out obviously but I need to get a box out and pattern them now. Oh well.
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I shot up the 20 gauge PS I had on hand busting clays on Sunday.
 
Upland Load is essentially the same as Prairie Storm. The only difference is that PS has saturn-style pellets and UL had regular pellets. Ballistics are the same. They're even made at the same factory. UL had been out much longer whereas PS is less than 20 years old.

I have no issues with Prairie Storm. Except trying to find it on the shelves.
 
4shot said:
I’m sure federal has rebranded different loads. I just don’t see PS as much as I use to on the shelves.
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That's because it gets sold quicker.

The shelves I see are full of other stuff besides Prairie Storm. Tons of everything else and that spot is almost always empty.
 
gimruis said:
Upland Load is essentially the same as Prairie Storm. The only difference is that PS has saturn-style pellets and UL had regular pellets. Ballistics are the same. They're even made at the same factory. UL had been out much longer whereas PS is less than 20 years old.

I have no issues with Prairie Storm. Except trying to find it on the shelves.
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It's not just the pellets. The big difference in the two are the wads. PS uses the Flightcontrol Flex wad. That wad does not open like a standard wad causing a much denser pettern. IMO it is too dense for the vast majority of shots taken at pheasants even with a more open choke.
 
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