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Do you remember Winchester’s Mark 5 shotgun shells with the protective plastic collar? I know that they were the predecessor of the one piece plastic wad, but I don’t know how effectively they protected the shot and the barrel. Does anyone use plastic strips have any experience with same?

Shot collars work okay in light to medium 12 gauge loads and in the lighter 16 and 20 gauge loads as well as long as the required collar is not too long. However once the shot column approaches two calibers in height, shot collars start to fail. The longer column requires a longer collar to do the job. I suspect this produces too much resistance between the barrel walls and the plastic collar for the supporting card wad to hold the collar in place around the shot. The solid wad occasionally fails to keep its place under the longer collar. This allows the collar to collapse and disrupt the pellets in the column which adversely affects the pattern.

I learned this was true from witnessing too many pattern failures and inconsistant results when using Winchester Super X 3" .410 loads and their Super X, 1 ounce 28 gauge load as well. These two loads use simple shot wrappers supported by nitro cards at the bottom edge of the wrappers. I began testing the loads for patterning and retrieved the shot wrappers to observe what they looked like after being fired. I found that if the retrieved wrappers did not show any wrinkles, folds, or other signs of collapsing, the patterns they produced were fine. However if the retrieved wrapper showed evidence it had collapsed, folded up, and got tangled with the shot, the pattern was poor. Too many Winchester rounds were producing poor patterns because the wrapper failed.

I stopped using Winchester Super X .410 loads and began loading my own 3 inch, 3/4 ounce, .410 loads with a slightly trimmed down Remington 3" magnum .410 wad in a 3" polyformed plastic hull. I immediately solved the poor patterning problem I was having with the Winchester ammo. My loads were a tad slower at 1125 FPS than what Winchester claimed for theirs, but they killed birds far more consistantly, and further out as well.

My success taught me a lesson. I found that loading a one piece wad with an integral shot cup base protects long shot columns far better. The cups do not collapse and disrupt the pellets, because the integral base won't seperate from the cup walls if it is strong enough or supported properly. The shot can't escape the cup walls or get tangled with them. The result is far better and more consistant patterns.

I then developed my own 1 ounce 28 gauge load that uses the full length shot cup of a 28 gauge Pattern Control wad to hold the shot. My load is faster and produces far better and consistant patterns than the 1 ounce Winchester Super X load. The shot cup does not hold the full 1 ounces of shot, but it never collapses either. I have used this load to consistantl take stocked pheasants out to 35 yards regularly. I've even dumped several past 40 yards with it as well, so it has proven itself to be a very dependable load.

The results I get from my own loads are far better, more consstant, and harder hitting than any heavy smaller gauge loads with shot wrappers. I do not argue with success. I learn from it.