Federals Black Cloud

[Steiny]

Ok heres the deal I read a little bit about these new loads and was wondering if anyone has had the oppertunity to try these on birds yet. I'm going to Maryland in January and am looking for a good load to shoot at sea ducks. Right now its between these or hevi steel

[quackaddict]

If it were me and I had one chance to shoot sea ducks I would be spending money on Remingtons Wingmaster HD or something similar. With the rebate out you can get the stuff for around 16-18 dollars a 10pk. I have shot black cloud. I killed a few crows with it in decoying situations. Its nasty on the black birds. I will be trying a box on honkers. Hevi Steel is an awsome product. I really like the #4 for ducks. I think its a better shell than the black cloud.

[MarshallH]

If you are not using it until january I am sure you will have plenty of time to get some info on the Black Cloud. Alot of places open up early season goose on september 1st and I will probably be trying it. Try posting this thread up in about mid september and I am sure you will have better results.

[Mark Brendemuehl]

I have a friend who is a rep for Federal. He told me about it yesterday. HE said the patterns are VERY tight with it because of the wad design and the shot coming out the "back." IT is so tight in fact, he said not to use my Extended PatterMaster. The BB's with the line protruding from them produce some ugly wound channels according to him. I can't wait to try it myself and see.
Mark

[Walt McCord]

Mark did you buddy say what a box would sell for? I peronally just use Kent Faststeel, and would like to try some out!

[Eric Wolf]

he said not to use my Extended PatterMaster.
Mark

I also heard you aren't supposed to use Patternmaster's with Black Cloud because the bb's would rip the studs right out.

[Dwayne Padgett]

I don't understand the big deal about the black cloud pellets. With the ridges on the pellets causes more trauma within the wound channels for better kills. Thats good! On the other hand they don't fly well. So in their adds they say they ridged pellets are for better killing up close and the regular steel pellets are for the longer distances which is where help is needed. Seems backwards. Also it takes lees to process these Black Cloud pellets so they SHOULD be cheaper !

[portahunter]

I bought a case of the 3 1/2 inch #2's here recently. The first chance I get, I'm hoping to pattern them, which will hopefully be in the next week.

[Woodiez89]

at scheels for a box of 3 inch BB its 22 dollars a box

[portahunter]

go to rogerssportinggoods.com

They're having a sale on them right now. You can get the 3 inch rounds for 164.99 a case, and the 3 1/2 inch rounds for 194.99 a case. That's where I got that case of 3 1/2 inch rounds in #2 shot from.

[Mallardbreath]

A friend on another forum patterned some through a 3 1/2" Citori Satin Hunter. Sounds like his best patterns were with open chokes. This is what he wrote:

"are finally here. First I will offer a few notes:

1. Overall the new fodder patterns well, although steel in and of itself patterns inherently well (no rupturing or crushing of pellets as with lead), so in essence it patterns as you would expect steel to. Not to be forgotten is that its more than 60% standard steel pellets, so the patterns should be good.

2. It is interesting to note that the Black Cloud pellets tend to hit the target at all different angles. SOme hit falt causing larger tears in the targets, some hit nose first causing more rounded holes, some hit sideways etc. It is difficult to assess the total devastation wrought by these pellets on a target as I'm sure that some of the round holes were caused by the Black Could pellets simply hitting going forward and causing a round hole, not allowing for the tumble effect that would surely follow the pellets striking flesh.

3. The shot did not particularly like being choked. This again is not uncommon with regular old steel so no real surprise. Te worst patterns I had were with the extra full Kicks High Flyer. As the choking went down the patterns increased in their number of pellets striking the circle (a 30". I did tend to find that there's no rhyme or reason to how many of the Black Cloud pellets struck the target. On one shot there may be 15 in the circle and the next may have 22 or even as much as 24 in the circle when shot from the same distance with the same choke.

4. The patterns increased with smaller shot, when shot through tighter chokes, again a finding that I have found in the past.


With the patterns themselves: I shot 30 and 40 yard patterns.

All shells were 3-1/2" and 1-1/2 oz of shot.

With the 2's: the patterns at 30 yards ranged from 79-88 percent with the Rhino Improved Cylinder being the best and the Kicks High Flyer in Extra Full being the worst. They are good overall patterns with nice densities as the chokes opened up. With the tighter chokes there tended to be more flyers and less of the Black Cloud pellets within the circle. Of note is the finding that the Black Cloud pellets tended to be fairly evenly spread, no matter what the choke. Perhaps being loaded on the bottom allowed for slightly longer in the shot cup. Again there's no rhyme or reason to number of pellets but the ones that hit
were evenly spread. The BB's and BBB's that I shot tended to be the same although I did see a pretty good drop with the BBB's. Baiscally speaking though at 30 yards, they are really good patterning and those barrel shaped pellets would likely wreak havoc on bird flesh.

As for the 40 yard patterns what I saw was a little surprising. Not only did the percentages stay close, the number of pellets on target did also. The percentages ranged from 73-82 with the 2's again being the best and the more open chokes yeilding the best results. It becomes obvious after just a few shot that this stuff does NOT ilke to be choked. It evidently needs to stay in its shot cup for as long as possible. This also makes me think that the wad stripping chokes would NOT be advisable for the same reason. LET THIS STUFF WORK! The BBB's did not yield very good results (as I feel needed to take large geese) although this could be more directly related to not having the sheer number of pellets. I would not hesitate to shoot the BB's at geese at ranges of 40 and prolly even beyond that although I didn't pattern them any farther. the 2's should be a fantastic big duck load.

Recoil was fairly decent but thats to be expected with an ounce and a half load.

The one thing that remains to be seen is the effect that these pellets will have above and beyond traditional steel pellets. I think its gonna be good. I look at it like this, a flying BB vs a flying hammer head. If they both hit you at the same speed, which is gonna do more damage? SO in theory these shells should be far superior to regular shot. We'll see come Sept. "

[portahunter]

You could probably get away with using the #2's on smaller geese such as snows. We don't get the large Canada's down here so I don't really have to worry about having a ton of penetrating power for larger geese.

From what I've been reading, the pellets with the band around them even in the #2 size are about the size of a BB so they should be able to bring down smaller geese I'd assume.

[Mark Brendemuehl]

The store I was at had 3.5 inch BB's for 30 bucks a box I believe. Don't quote me on it though.
Brad also mentioned that the wad created a shorter shot string, so more BB's should be impacting the target. I will try some at some point I am sure.
He has never pointed me in the wrong direction before.
Mark

[MarshallH]

I bought a box of 3.5" BBs today and will probably pattern them this coming weekend probably with 3 guns Benelli SBE, Winchester X3, and Remington 870 SP super mag. All will be with a modified choke, because under my impression the flite control wad acts like a patternmaster choke tube would. Once again i will try to get out this weekend weather permitting and i will be sure to post the results.

[Kyle Dawson]

i bought a box of 3 1/2 2's and bb's and shot it at a 30 inch circle at various distances and it is extremely effective to 60+ yards due to the wad it cost 1 buck a shell so if your doing a lot of shooting go with kent

[MuskyHunter]

I saw Black Cloud at Gander Mountain last night for $34.49 a box of 10. Not worth it in my book. Kent Fasteel is much better in my book and no where near $3.50 a shell.

[Dwayne Padgett]

Muskyhunter I could'nt agree more !

[JEDJR]

With the rising shot shell prices, Avery had it pegged in advance to share and bring back /re-introduce the wonderful world of outdoor photography. If shot shell prices continue to increase, I will be turning in my 10 gauge auto for a new camera to shoot at Specks!!!! I saw Black Cloud at Gander Mountain last night for $34.49 a box of 10. Not worth it in my book. Kent Fasteel is much better in my book and no where near $3.50 a shell.

[MarshallH]

I saw Black Cloud at Gander Mountain last night for $34.49 a box of 10. Not worth it in my book. Kent Fasteel is much better in my book and no where near $3.50 a shell.

Wow not sure how the prices could be that different from Minnesota to Wi, but i bought mine at a gander mountain in MN and they were $24 for a box of 25. I dont even think they come in boxes of 10.

[steelheadslayer]

Out here I bought a box of 25 for $17.99. I wouldn't even consider buying a box of 10 for $34.99, I don't care if they were guaranteed to never miss.

[Nate Tegtmeier]

I just got home from scheels and they were selling it for 19.99 for a box of 25.

[MuskyHunter]

I picked up Fasteel for $130 a case last year at Cabelas with shipping. 3" #1 1 1/8oz.

[KevinSkalicky]

Everything I have seen so far has been 25 in a box and around $25.