The short and sweet of my first deer taken with buckshot:
11/06/17 0706 hours Whitetail Doe walks out at 28 yards, two pellets entered shoulders, one pellet entered lungs, all pellets exited, Doe was DRT PDQ.
For the Gearheads:
Shotgun: Remington 870 Express Magnum 12 Gauge, 28 inch barrel, with Magpul Buttstock and Remington Factory Trap Trigger/Sear Spring (This alone dropped the trigger pull from 7 pounds to 5 pounds, really helps with precision placement of tight patterning buckshot and turkey loads) and Carlson's SS Sporting Clays .690 Extra Full Choke.
Ammunition: Handloaded copy of 3 Inch Dixie Slugs Tri-Ball Buckshot using James Gates' data posted on this forum. Three .600 hard cast lead balls cast from a Double Cavity Lee Mold using an alloy of WDWW with 2% Tin added. Balls weigh an average of 318 grains each. The above shotgun/choke gives one hole patterns at 17 yards, 1.5-4 inch patterns at 40 yards, 6-8 inch patterns at 55 yards, and 10-12 inch patterns at 75 yards. This stuff is the B-52 Stratofortress of Buckshot...Speed, Range, and Payload.
I started casting just to make the hard cast round balls for this load. 99% of my shotgun shooting is with buckshot and slugs and none of the buckshot on the market even comes close to Tri-Ball Buckshot.
Just my .02,
LeonCarr