How are promotional loads ie: Walmart Winchester, Cabela’s Herters or Dicks Remington ,inferior to other lead loads? For The purpose of shooting clay target games.
They're usually loaded with shot containing less antimony, in the lead/antimony alloy mix. The higher the antimony content the harder the shot. Harder shot costs more $ to produce, thus a more expensive loading.
What's the big deal about harder shot? Harder shot generally produces better patterns, which hold up better for longer distance targets. WW AA, Rem. Nitro, and the higher priced premium loadings from other companies usually are loaded with harder shot. But, the promo loads are plenty good enough for a lot of the shooting most of us do.
If you're careful you can buy AAs, get rebates of $2/box, up to 50 boxes per year, and end up buying them for as low a price, in the end, as the promo loads.
SRH
I’m in that 90%. For some folks the more expensive/higher quality ammunition makes a difference, real or perceived. Myself, I loaded up last week on the 1oz Federals at Walmart. If I fail to break a target it’s not the fault of the ammo.
Lower grade of shot. Promo shells often have steel heads instead of brass and a bit thinner plastic hull. Less desirable for reloading. Years ago some did not have a wad like the target loads did but a thin wrapper around shot. Target loads tend to be very consistent while promotional loads less so. Still promo loads are a good value for target shooting.
Any informal shooting and I'm grabbing the cheap ones, staying away from the quote "hi speed" loads. Don't need 1,350 FPS to break a clay. That said, I shot 100 rounds last week of Federal Game 20 gauge loads with 7/8 oz shot at 1,200 FPS out of a 5 lb 12 ounce factory 2 3/4" Fox and was beat up pretty good. If I was full of money and not a wall mart shopper I'd be shooting RST 3/4 ounce loads all the time. Just hard to pay twice the cost when you are just having some fun. Especially when you are already paying $30 per round to shoot.
PS. I think the Herter's shells seem like they kick less then some of the others, but I could be wrong. They are all dirty and require a barrels swabbing after every shoot.
My low cost shell has always been Estate Super Sport Competition shells. At 1 oz./1180 fps in 12 ga., they have hard shot are clean burning and easy on the shoulder. Not as inexpensive as promo shells but less than AAs at around $6.50 a box. Good components in an inexpensive hull.
Karl
Many years ago, I bought and used promo shells. After a trip to the pattern board, I no longer buy promo loads.
It's always made sense to me to reload hard shot 7/8 oz loads for clays at sensible velocities. I might not be saving much, but I know what I have.
Most of the promo/dove loads that hit the shelves this time of year are 1 oz. @ 1290 fps or so and are pretty high pressure loads with cheap fast-burning powders, and have more recoil as a result. The shot looks like floor sweepings and pattern accordingly.
I'll stick with Clever T1's, Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics, Rio Target Load (TLT), or the aforementioned Estate Super Sport Competition, all at 1 oz. 1200-1235 fps. Not that much money difference from the promos and much better on both ends.
JR
Looks like OP is in California, and we can no longer order ammo over the internet without having it shipped to an FFL who will do the transfer for a fee, and a lot of FFLs just won't do the transfer. Ammo dealers know this and have raised retail prices accordingly. Some big online sellers like Mack's Prairie Wings will not ship to CA, period. They don't even care if you have an FFL. It will get worse after January 1 when we have get an ammo buyer's license for a fee, with a background check and fingerprints. That probably means that even fewer FFLs will be willing to do transfers unless they bump their fees to offset the paperwork and hassle. Shelf selection at most dealers is very limited, so you're not likely to find Clever or RST or B&P or Herter's or even Rio anywhere. I haven't even been able to find Fiocchi training loads. So bottom line is promo loads from WalMart may be the best deal for a lot of shooting, or step up to Fed, Rem or Win premium target loads at twice the price. Or go back to reloading. This is the last season we will be able to use lead on doves here, next year is non tox for all hunting statewide.
And the current situation is further complicated by the Real ID driver license issue. CA was late to the party and didn't start issuing the Real ID licenses until a few months ago, and some ammo dealers are now requiring a Real ID license for ammo purchases, even though the law does not require it. If you want a Real ID license, plan to make a DMV appointment two months in advance, and then spend the whole day at the DMV waiting in various lines, even with the appointment, then wait a couple of weeks for the new license to come in the mail, assuming that you successfully navigated the bureaucratic maze.
Everybody seems to market low cost ammo now so I'm not sure that anything constitutes a "promo" anymore. The only less expensive ones I have not been happy with are Herters and they pierced primers WAY too many times. Maybe they just don't like Perazzis. There is the onus of bad patterns but I suspect that even if that is true (and what is a "bad" pattern) the skill level if most shooters will never feel it. As a friend in Oz told me, "the poorest factory load is still better than me." And the patterns I've shot with the low-cost Feds, Rems, and Wins have never given me any reason to not shoot them.
(and what is a "bad" pattern)...
The opposite of a good one, Charles. Dang.
JR
Related info, my Winchester AA rebate credit card came in today’s mail. Think I mailed the form in Mid June.
Bass
I've done pretty much all my clay shooting (modern guns) for the past 15 years with Remington game loads, 1 oz of #8. Its as good as I am, and I buy it by the case when they go on sale in the fall. About $5 a box usually, sometimes 5.50. Its as good as I am for sure
I prefer to select my shell based on their performance on the clays course. I've tried most every brand and load offered. I have one flat remaining of twenty flats purchased of a bargain brand of shell that I have had extremely good results, (especially long range targets.) They are loud and fast and some would consider the recoil objectionable. I have great confidence in them and maybe that's the crux of the matter! Time to reorder.
Replacement,
California's back door gun control is nothing new, California is getting worse and worse politically. In fact lots of good classic American made double guns are now being sold in California, because of the banning of lead shells. It really is funny that the politicians in this liberal progressive state will not stop the nut cases from deficating in the streets, but they go to incredible lengths to enact back door gun control.
RGD/Dave
L.C. Smith Man