Do you have a finicky semi-auto shotgun that is ammo-picky? Oh, it’s not 1982 anymore, and your semi-auto shotgun can eat pretty much anything. Well, dang, the folks at Wincheter will be disappointed. Their new AutoBuck round promised to solve that problem. Well, it might not solve that problem, but does it have potential?
Semi-Auto-Friendly? AutoBuck 12 Gauge Ammo
Winchester either makes fantastic ammo or terrible ammo. There doesn’t seem to be much in between. We get awesome expansion and penetration with the Ranger series, but I also have a 25% failure-to-fire rate with several boxes of white-box .308. With that in mind, their shotgun division is either mad men or they like to drink.
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This was the company that set shotgunners back decades by releasing a defensive birdshot load. They also produced a modern buck-and-ball load with the PDX series.
Sometimes the creativity is impressive. With the Judge being a massive seller, they released a PDX .410 load with three plates that engaged the rifling. Then, for reasons only God and Oliver Winchester know, they put BB load behind it because pellet accountability is overrated.
Now they’ve released the AutoBuck load, which, at the very least, seems interesting.
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What’s AutoBuck
AutoBuck is a 2 ¾ 12 gauge load designed to ‘reliably function in most semi-automatic shotguns, as well as pump action, break action, and others.’ Which again, isn’t a problem with modern semi-auto shotguns. Most quality-made semi-autos will cycle everything from cheap birdshot to heavy 3-inch magnums without a problem.
The round is moving an ounce of lead at 1,325 feet per second. That ounce of lead is 12 Number 1 buckshot pellets. This is interesting to me. Most No. 1 loads throw 16 pellets at about that same speed. Reducing it to 12 pellets keeps it at an ounce of lead, which would be the same weight as an eight-pellet 00 load.
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Moving 12 pellets at 1,325 feet per second will reduce recoil a bit, akin to a standard 12-gauge buckshot load. Those 16 pellet No. 1 shells tend to have heavier recoil because moving more mass at the same speed takes a little more powder, which equals more recoil.
No. 1 buckshot is pretty cool. It’s one of the smallest pellets that reliably penetrates to the 12-inch standard. Twelve pellets rather than eight or 9 gives you additional wound tracts and a better likelihood of hitting something vital or hitting something vital multiple times. I love the No. 1 pellet, but these days, we rarely see anything oriented toward defense with Number 1 buckshot.
I do think the idea of using a 12-pellet No. 1 load is interesting.
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With that in mind, I’m not sure how it’s necessarily optimized for semi-autos. It’s not that different from a standard 00 load in terms of velocity.
So Close
Winchester could have a good load here, but they haven’t told us all that much about it. If I had to bet, it’s probably not going to be all that fancy. Five bucks says it uses the most basic wad, paired with unplated shot, and no buffer material between the shot.
Plated shot and buffer material would help prevent deformation, leading to better, more consistent patterns. A good wad could do wonders, but I don’t expect Winchester to license something like Flitecontrol/Versatite.
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If they did, oh man, shotgun nerds like me would climb over each other to get their hands on it. I really hope I lose that five-dollar bet. I’d love to see the Number 1 load that could be used for serious defensive applications; that’s also a high-performance, low-recoil load.
Optimized How?
It’s a standard plastic hull with a steel base. In the past, finicky semi-autos would be paired with high-brass buckshot. This load isn’t high brass, or to be fair, brass at all. So again, how is it optimized for semi-autos?
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Is it going to work in semi-autos? Most likely. I don’t see why it wouldn’t, unless Winchester does something weird and wrong. With that said, I think we can chalk this one up to marketing speak.
While my hopes aren’t raised, I am going to get my hands on some AutoBuck as soon as I can and do a full review.
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