Lastly, let's try some Federal Tactical 00 Buck with Flight Control Wad.

As you can see, these loads hold a very tight pattern and make almost one hole at 10 yards.

We also noticed that it had some kind of buffering material in the loads that made slight dents on the cardboard.

The Flight Control Wad, combined with the buffer, really makes for some tight patterns.

Here's a blow-up so you can see the dents caused by the buffering material.

I cut open a round of the Federal to see what the Flight Control Wad looked like.

Here's the parts as they come out of the shell.

Notice that the wad does not have "petals" like other wads, that go all the way to the front of the wad, but is made to stay on the shot longer.

It also has a buffering material in the shell to protect the buckshot, which are hardened and plated to keep them as round as possible

The wad has three small petals that I pried open so that you can see how they work.

These petals just open enough to allow the wad to slow down and back off the buckshot as it is in the air.

This results in the very tight patterns we saw.