Simple penetration test of Blind Side vs. reg. shot

C

calamari

Member
It's the off season and California will be going to all non-toxic for everything soon so I decided to do a simple test of penetration of the Blind Side hex shot ammo. Intuitively I thought it had to be worse than round shot because of the chance of getting a flat side hitting the target.
I compared it to an equivalent speed of round shot from another manufacturers shell that I don't recall. I was testing a bunch of manufacturers patterns at the same time and got them a little mixed up. I do know the speeds were comparable though which for penetration is all that's important. i shot the test at 40 yds.
I used two phone books as an easy way to determine penetration and shot two sides for each shell. I took an average depth of about 20 pellets each shell and found that the Blind Side penetrated an average of 183 pages plus the cover and the round pellet averaged 174 plus the cover. Both covers were the same thickness.
Scientific? Only marginally. Useful? I think so because I thought the Blind Side would do poorly. It didn't seem to make a difference if the pellet hit on its side or on an edge because I checked as I dug them out. The good news I took away from this is that I shouldn't shy away from those hex pellets because of penetration. The bad news is that none of 15 +/- loads I shot patterns consistently in my 20 ga. Citori with chokes from Skeet to Super Full extended choke lead tubes. It's going to be interesting this fall out here.
 
Thanks for the info.

A client recommended blindside to me a few years back. He did something similar to what you did, but with a number of different rounds/brands to see which one's patterned better than the next.

Anyway, after he told me about blindside shells I gave them a try. Today that's about all I use on wild pheasants;). Blindside #5's are my favorite. This past season was the first season (I can remember) where I didn't loss a single bird. A lot of that was dog work, but I know my shot-shells had something to do with it too. Only 2 birds out of 25 were still alive after being shot with 0 birds lost.:)

Nick
 
The patterns with all the loads were more problematic than the penetration issue. I don't know what the issue is but all the loads seemed to have clumpy patterns with big holes with all the choke tubes useful for the hunting ranges I experience. The very open skeet tube was about the best but the pattern at 40 yd.s that I shot was too thin to be a consistent killer. I'm using the heaviest shot weights I can find but maybe I will have to drop back to 7/8 oz. to get both consistency and density.
 
From what I have read your not the only one that has had trouble getting consistent patterns from blindside. The reality is that flying squares are not very aerodynamic. Which leads to some strong knuckleball effect.
 
I wish I could say it was just Blind Side that was inconsistent but it seems all the steel 2s I shoot are clumpy. I don't understand why the 6 different choke tubes would all result in poor patterns but I'm about to buy more shells than I want in #3 to see if that helps.
 
calamari if you are shooting a 20 ga try the #3 . I shot a 20 ga all season last year and did well on duck s and pheasants with 3 " #3 some of the best performers were Hevi-metal , PMC and Winchester drylok all ounce #3

Shot a limit of 6 big honkers with # 2 steel and # 4 Hevi-shot
 
When non-toxic shot first became mandatory on federal refuges in Calif. I reloaded several boxes of #3 steel to use. I found the penetration wasn't consistent on those early reload recipes so never got serious about reloading. I should try 3s because Tom Roster found them only slightly less effective than 2s for pheasants but while looking for some outboard motor parts I found I have over 40 boxes of various brands of steel shells in 20 ga. 2s and 4s. Since I don't shoot two boxes of shells in a year to get the pheasants I want to eat and since I'm going to be 71 soon, I think the X and Y axis are going to cross before I run out of what I've already got. KSBrittman, thanks for the input on the 3s though.
 
I will make this simple any pellet not round is a big mistake. It's a Marketing Gimick out of round pellets don't fly straight. Why do they use a special Wad ?
When Money is on the line No Manufacture of Shotgun Shell's sells them in there target line of shell's for Trap and Skeet or Sporting Clays.
Buy the way these shell's are the best you can buy for small birds Quail, Doves, Hungarian Partridge, Ruffled Grouse. Yes they cost more but they are worth it.
Every hear you get what you get what you pay for, Premium Target Shell's Yes, Duck Loads with pellet not round are JUNK.
 
1100 Remington Man said:
I will make this simple any pellet not round is a big mistake. It's a Marketing Gimick out of round pellets don't fly straight.
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I take your point about odd shaped pellets not flying true and I'm not trying to defend or shill for Blind Side but in looking at actual gun writers tests it doesn't seem to be any worse than round shot. That's not a glowing endorsement but it may not be a marketing gimmick either.

1100 Remington Man said:
Why do they use a special Wad ?
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Actually a number of different loads use special wads. If you look at all the wads for reloading none of them are the same.

1100 Remington Man said:
Money is on the line No Manufacture of Shotgun Shell's sells them in there target line of shell's for Trap and Skeet or Sporting Clays.
Click to expand...
I think that trap and skeet shooters want a very consistent, uniform pattern that is not necessarily the tightest pattern possible. Trap from the back line, yes, but the rest of the games probably not. They also don't shoot steel so...


1100 Remington Man said:
the way these shell's are the best you can buy for small birds Quail, Doves, Hungarian Partridge, Ruffled Grouse.
Click to expand...
What kind of shells are you suggesting?


1100 Remington Man said:
hear you get what you get what you pay for, Premium Target Shell's Yes, Duck Loads with pellet not round are JUNK.
Click to expand...
I don't know about junk but I can't say they're worth the extra cost. In 3" 20 ga. you get an extra 1/16 oz. of shot which in #2s is a little over a 6% increase but in actual count is about 8 individual shot. That and a very slightly greater penetration is the only advantage I can see so for me at least it's not worth it.
 
Manufacture's are always trying to have something new to sell & some times it works & some times it doesn't.

Look at Federal's Flight Control Wad is what I was referring to. It's made to hold the shot longer so the odd shape pellets can make it to the target.


Yes at the 27yd line is where they want the best and in Trap Shooting this is where the money is. A Few years ago the added Money to the Grand American Trap shoot was $ 100,000. If a different shaped pellet broke the targets better and tracked straight it would be made and sold, but it's not.

Remington makes a Target Shell in STS called a Pigeon load and it the only 1 1/4oz in the STS line and use to be the only shell Remington sold in Nickel Plating. Winchester had there version in Copper Platted & Federal had one also. In other Countries there are still tourments shooting live Pigeon's. It is for the Rich and big money is wagered.

I'm with you on this if they don't fly straight and make it to target they don't do you any good. As for Peneration of Pellets from Round, o the Round with the Saturn ring, to Hex shot. One would have to test different ranges and loads in the same FPS verified on a conograph. So you have a fair test of different types.

Truth be told Steel shot Sucks. If hunting Pheasants buy a shell like Kents Tungsten Matrix, Bismouth, or Federal HD.
Why the limit for Wild Birds is only 3 in Iowa & Pheasants are easy to shoot so a person does not go through many shells and the difference is like night & day.
Good Hunting
 
1pheas4 said:
Thanks for the info.

A client recommended blindside to me a few years back. He did something similar to what you did, but with a number of different rounds/brands to see which one's patterned better than the next.

Anyway, after he told me about blindside shells I gave them a try. Today that's about all I use on wild pheasants;). Blindside #5's are my favorite. This past season was the first season (I can remember) where I didn't loss a single bird. A lot of that was dog work, but I know my shot-shells had something to do with it too. Only 2 birds out of 25 were still alive after being shot with 0 birds lost.:)

Nick
Click to expand...

What was the condition of the meat?
 
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