Fiocchi 2 3/4, nickel plated 00 Buckshot
Im doing a review on the Fiocchi 00 Buck because its quite affordable and Fiocchi tends to make some quality Ammo for the price. And since this is a prepper forum, a low cost quality round we can afford to stockpile is desireable. This Fiocchi ammo can be had for around 51 cents a round depending on quanity purchased at a time. I will be referencing Winchester Super X 00B for a comparison as it is what i currently carry as my go to Ammo for my shotgun and because it is in my opinion a competitor in the category based on price. it can be had for around 66 cents a round at your local walmart.
Right off the bat comparing the two cartridges you can visually see that the Fiocchi cartridge has a shorter base, and is over all a shorter shell. The Winchester shell is heat sealed at the crimping on the end of the shell. The Fiocchi is just crimped and you can see exposed Pellets through the small hole. This may be a negative in environments that there is a lot of moisture. I would imagine if this round was submerged in water it wouldnt survive long in working condition.
The listed Velocity on the box for the Fiocchi is 1325ft/s. It is loaded with (9) 00B Nickel Plated pellets. It has a clear Hull that is cool looking but also serves some function because at a glance you can see what is in the shell. The load comes with no buffering but aslong as it patterns well thats fine with me (to be continued). For comparison the Winchester Super X has Buffering but does not have plated Pellets.
The Shotgun i will be testing the Fiocchi ammo with is my 870 Express with an 18'' cylinder choke barrel. all other modifications are irrelivant for this review. I think this is a good gun to test with because its pretty similar to what a lot of people tend to have to employ in a self defense role.
For a target im using an official USPSA/IPSC competition target on the white side for better visibility of the holes. The loads recoil was very nice comparable to a big birdshot load. it hit where i was aiming and the group stayed pretty well uniform all the way out. the first test was at 7 yards. I held center body because i didnt know what the load would do and wanted to make sure to get the whole pattern on the target. I was pretty impressed with what it did. It was around a 3.5'' pattern. I didnt think to bring a ruler for this test so all sizes are approximate.
Then i shot at 15 yards and i was not so happy how much it had opened up. that group was around 10'' or so.
Last i shot at 25 yards and not suprising based on the 15 yard target that only 6 of the 9 pellets hit the target. i was aiming at the center mass chest area so perhaps if you held center body instead more pellets would have landed on the target.
Over all id say for the price its a good load. its a little cheaper then the Winchester Super X and performs id say a little better. there were no feeding, extracting or ejecting issues with the 9 rounds i fired. Aslong as you know your pattern and know whats behind your target i think it can be used atleast out to 25 yards effectively and safely with things you dont want to shoot near your target at 15 yards and in. With some pellets staying nearly centered on the target i wouldnt hesitate to shoot out to 35 yards to try and catch the bad guy with a few pellets, Assuming nothing else near by that shouldnt be hit. And of course all of this is based on my shotgun specifically. differnet guns, with different barrel lengths and chokes will act differently.
With all that said i think this load is a load that could be considered in stockpiling for your 12 gauge shotgun... it performs ok and at 51 cents a round it is a hard price to beat. there are deffinatly other loads that will put this one to shame in performance but those loads arent exactly prepper friendly due to the price of them. One could also consider stocking these in large quanitys and then topping off the stockpile with some higher quality rounds as your go to rounds. I always say id rather have 500 FMJ rounds then 100 HP rounds for at the same cost for my sidearm. and the same can be said here. you wont get the ideal performance but they will go bang and they are lethal.
-Kenny
