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In the newest issue of "Shooting Sportsman", author Silvio Calabi in his article The 67 Gauge, recommends several Polywad Crak-R .410 shells. At $135/250 shells, is this as good a hunting shell that one can buy today? Is it worth the price or are there better recommendations folks can make?

I bought some of Polywad's 2.5 inch Crak-er .410 loads to shoot in a Marlin lever-action gun I have. They go bang reliably and will kill a squirrel, but I don't know whether they're any better than the shells the big companies sell...Geo

I read Dig's comment about them on another site. He is smitten with them.
I went to the site and discovered that they produce both 2 1/2 inch and 3 inch shells. You may have either #6s or #71/2 shot.
When considering that they are a gross pain to reload, the store bought may be worth the tiny savings over reloads.
With the Polywad shells costing (including the $12 shipping) near twice what the "normal" brands does, I would not buy them for clays. They may be well worth considering for birds.
If the patterns are as tight as touted, they should be great early bird killers in #71/2 shot. The #6s may do well on later season or wild birds. This is predicated on the skill of the shooter. An accomplished shot may be able to cleanly kill at a somewhat greater than 25 yard distance.
Best,
John

Polywad makes a truly quality product for a specific need. If you just want it to bang and it is a modern gun go with Remington, Winchester, or Federal.

Jay is offering a better product for a specific market. I have been very impressed by his attention to detail, pressure testing, and overall quality of the product and the company.

al

His 28 gauge crak-r loads are phenominal.

Also try RST shells in 28 Bore 2 1/2 lite 5/8 oz. Shot some preserve pheasant today and the birds fell out of the sky and it was NOt my shooting ability.

I might have given too short an answer to Woodcocker's query about Polywad products. I don't know much about the "Crack'r" loads other than that the 2 1/2 inch 410s work just fine. However, I've been using Polywad's vintager and doublewide loads for several years and I love them. When I call about placing an order those guys seem to have all the answers to my questions and delivery is immediate. I recomend their products...Geo

George,
Thanks for your further comments on the polywad products. From what I've seen from the folks who have posted here, it appears that I should be satisfied with both the 28 and .410 gauge wads for hunting. I apprecaite hearing about everyone's experiences with this produce. Thanks.
Woodcocker

One other thing you might want to consider if you hunt in the cold is their cold weather performance. I don't know anything about their 28 gauge and .410 gauge shells but I put 6 of their 7/8 oz. 16 gauge loads through my Chrony in 20 degree weather and got a high of 1090 and a low of 1015 for an average of 1049.5. I even got lower results with RST 1 oz. loads. They gave a low of 923 and a high of 961.

If you've got a Chrony throw some in the freezer and freeze them down to about the temp. you expect to be hunting in and see what you get.

Larry