I have a 28" Wad Loc hastings barrel I should pattern, 3" on an 1100.
There are few guys here shooting the Hastings Wad Loc barrel that are 34" busting crows at long range. These Wad Loc barrels have 4 grooves in them to keep the wad from rotating as the wad goes down the barrel. This non rotating wad is supposed to stop shot from deforming...I have no idea...just read the hype...not drank the kool aid. The one that I have I got in a pawn shop on a 3" 1100 for $300 five or six years ago. The Wad Loc barrels never really caught on, probably due to price. Everyone of those 34" barrels are grabbed up in a hurry by crow shooters since the muzzle pressure is less and the shell is "quite", proclaimed by those that have drank the Kool Aid. I hunted with some professional crow hunters and they did not like my "LOUD" shells, as theirs was 1 1/16 oz of shot at 1140 fps, #6's. Mine were 1 1/2 oz of copper plated, buffered #5's at 1300 fps shot out of my Beretta 391.
Long time ago when lead was legal on geese, I and my partner would regularly tag honkers at 100 yards with 1 5/8 oz of buffered super hard T shot with a MV of 1350.... custom turkey chokes, forcing cones lengthened, and back bored.
At that time, there was a Retired NASA engineer in Florida that was "tuning" shotgun barrels by the name of Jack Sehase. When the shotgun barrels are tuned, the pellets deform much less and core density of the pattern is MUCH tighter. Jack charged about $1000 to tune a barrel. This "tuning" of shotgun barrels I believe is a lost art as Jack died of cancer and would not sell me the rights to his secret. He took those secrets to the grave with him.
I don't know if Hastings Wad loc barrels are any good or not, they are rare and run around $250 if you can find one for sale. I believe that Hastings was having a company in Italy make the barrels for them, but that was just a rumor.
There are few guys here shooting the Hastings Wad Loc barrel that are 34" busting crows at long range. These Wad Loc barrels have 4 grooves in them to keep the wad from rotating as the wad goes down the barrel. This non rotating wad is supposed to stop shot from deforming...I have no idea...just read the hype...not drank the kool aid. The one that I have I got in a pawn shop on a 3" 1100 for $300 five or six years ago. The Wad Loc barrels never really caught on, probably due to price. Everyone of those 34" barrels are grabbed up in a hurry by crow shooters since the muzzle pressure is less and the shell is "quite", proclaimed by those that have drank the Kool Aid. I hunted with some professional crow hunters and they did not like my "LOUD" shells, as theirs was 1 1/16 oz of shot at 1140 fps, #6's. Mine were 1 1/2 oz of copper plated, buffered #5's at 1300 fps shot out of my Beretta 391.
Long time ago when lead was legal on geese, I and my partner would regularly tag honkers at 100 yards with 1 5/8 oz of buffered super hard T shot with a MV of 1350.... custom turkey chokes, forcing cones lengthened, and back bored.
At that time, there was a Retired NASA engineer in Florida that was "tuning" shotgun barrels by the name of Jack Sehase. When the shotgun barrels are tuned, the pellets deform much less and core density of the pattern is MUCH tighter. Jack charged about $1000 to tune a barrel. This "tuning" of shotgun barrels I believe is a lost art as Jack died of cancer and would not sell me the rights to his secret. He took those secrets to the grave with him.
I don't know if Hastings Wad loc barrels are any good or not, they are rare and run around $250 if you can find one for sale. I believe that Hastings was having a company in Italy make the barrels for them, but that was just a rumor.
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