I decided to pattern my new 590a1 with buckshot using my recently bought lot of Federal Tactical low recoil 00 buckshot. At 25 yards I fired one round at a big cardboard box and discovered one big round hole where there should have been eight small holes. I fired another round. Same result.
Then I stood on the bank of the adjacent river and fired three more rounds into the water at sixty yards. I observed one buckshot pattern and two slug hits. All shells were labeled as 00 buckshot. The next box of five showed five buckshot patterns.
I emailed Federal and will share their reply. Lot number is 5V-01QJ699.
The wad can/will create slug-like holes. I’ve patterned my turkey gun at 50 yards & even though the wad was empty, it leaves a larger hole in close proximity to the pattern. If your wads didn’t open, you essentially have one single projectile. I’ve seen it happen before. Not an entire box but one here or there, throughout the years.
Yes, I’ve seen many hits of wad on paper over the years, but hole was always irregular. Here the acid test was firing into the river and seeing the big splash from the slug.