back in my youth when Tom Petty's 'Free Fallin'' song would come on, we'd sing along as 'Three! Three Ballin'

But that's not what I mean here.

I have been reading about a dixie gunworks shotgun load called the Tri-Ball, which is 3 balls of what I think is technically 00000 buck, each ball being .6 in diameter and 3/4th of an oz for a total payload of 2.25 oz of lead.  Designed to be used with a full choke and give a palm sized pattern at 40 yards these things look pretty impressive.

Anyone here have any experience with them?

Obviously with just 3 projectiles and a tight pattern, you don't really have any of the 'spread' you'd find, so you don't have the benefit of being a bit off target and still getting pellet hits like you'd find with 00 buck, and with pellets that big you are going to have heck of a lot of penetration through walls

So once you have gone THIS FAR down the path...wouldn't it make just as much sense to finish the trip and fire a single projectile?  Or do 3 different .60 balls give more total carnage than a single .720 slug?

anyways, it would be fun to play with....I might have to order a box or two.

Could be very useful in certain specific applications.  But, remember, pattering in your gun would be absolutely required before loading them up for serious use.  If they pattern well in an 18" rifle sighted barrel on your gun, I'd say keep some around.  I do wonder about the tri-ball with 4 hits though.  What's up with that picture?

2.25 oz at killing velocities sounds like it would hurt to shoot.

eh my shoulders feeling ok today. Send some out here I'll try them out and review it for ya!   

Regarding the 4 holes in the deer, just a guess but my brother hunts from a tree stand with his shotgun and generally ends up shooting almost always straight down on top of the deers back.  Depending on the angle I could see that being the exit hole of of one of the balls there on the bottom of the collar.  Of course its not quite as messy as I'd expect but maybe they pulled the gore away before taking the pic.  Heck if I know. 

I can see the use... and I agree with everyone that the spread increases your chance of putting at least one ball into the target - one ball that will have an effect on the target.
For Defensive or Tactical use, I really don't see the necessity.  I'd rather use a smaller shot with more pellets.  Humans are different and thus do not need shells designed for killing big game.  But if you want - Big Game hunting shells do make a mess of one's adversary.

Winchester's new PDX1 Shells offer 3 00 Buck pellets and 1 One Ounce Slug.  That's interesting.  I would want to test this and the Tri-Ball from a Cylinder Bore shotgun and pattern them every 5 yards to check dispersion. 

I think that deer is the first I've ever seen actually shot with buckshot.

I've shot deer with rifles, bows, crossbows, handguns, shotguns with foster type slugs and the fancy sabot rounds out of a fully rifled barrel.  Oddly enough I've never shot a deer with actual buckshot.  Buckshot isn't even legal for deer in my state of Missouri for some reason and even though Iowa was an all shotgun state when I hunted there you couldn't use buckshot.

Winchester's new PDX1 Shells offer 3 00 Buck pellets and 1 One Ounce Slug.  That's interesting.  I would want to test this and the Tri-Ball from a Cylinder Bore shotgun and pattern them every 5 yards to check dispersion. 

Isn't that what they used to call the "Malay" load as the Brit SAS used it in the jungles during the Malasian "uprising".

Isn't that what they used to call the "Malay" load as the Brit SAS used it in the jungles during the Malasian "uprising".

I believe the Brits used lighter shot, but still mixed heavy and lighter.  Then there is the old buck and ball from the Late Unpleasantness, in a smoothbore .58 caliber musket.  I think that was 2 or 3 buckshot behind a ball.

Geoff
Who notes that was for short range, but all muskets were.

Perhaps I can shed a bit of light on the Dixie Tri-Ball buckshot load.

The company that manufactures this is Dixie Slugs  (Type that into your search engine)

As for the  four pellet hole picture, the first shot at the running deer went low, the shot was taken at approximately 40 yards with a modified choke tube. (This information is available on the Dixie Slugs forum)

The concept of the Tri-Ball round, according to company owner James Gates, is simply to provide a superior buckshot load for heavy cover deer and wild hog hunters and those who hunt in buckshot only areas.  The most interesting thing about this choke friendly load is the pattern centers to the same point of aim as heavy turkey loads.  My 870 Express with a 26" barrel and an extended full choke tube fires the 3-4" ,(yes, 3 to 4 inches), pattern to the point of aim at 40 yards with just the bead and vent rib for sights.  Unlike common buckshot or ordinary rifled slugs, the Tri-Ball pellets are hard cast and will not flatten out. Complete penetration is the norm with Tri-Ball buckshot.

OOB pellets are nominally .33" / 54 grains.
Tri-Ball 12ga. pellets are .60" / 315 grains.

Ah!  Thanks for the information, RMc.  Will not flatten for goo penetration.  That's interesting.  Hog hunting... I see that.  Methinks this makes for some good tactical (small T) applications.  Barrier penetration.  Stopping Dangerous Game. 

Yes, busting through the gristle shield of a big boar hog is what they are made for!  Little buckshot like 000B just doesn't cut it for that task.

For what it's worth, the payload weight and velocity of the Dixie Tri-Ball 3" buckshot round is almost identical to that of the Winchester 3 inch 12 Ga. 24 pellet  #1 Buckshot load.  That is 2 1/4th ounces at just under 1100 fps.  Not something you would want to shoot 25 quick rounds with, but certainly tolerable for the purpose intended. 

Isn't that what they used to call the "Malay" load as the Brit SAS used it in the jungles during the Malasian "uprising".

In Hawaii, hunting larger game with or without dogs: Shotguns loaded with slugs or 00 or larger buckshot are legal.

The "Malay Load" seems to be semi-mythical on the intranets. 

Actually, I had heard off and tried to duplicate the "Malay Load" long before Al Gore invented the intranet or the www. Friend and I played around with different mixed loads (large and small shot, shot and ball, shot over/under slug etc.), waxed bird  shot, and even wired split shot. Just could never get a reliable performance. But was lots of fun.

I think that deer is the first I've ever seen actually shot with buckshot.

I've shot deer with rifles, bows, crossbows, handguns, shotguns with foster type slugs and the fancy sabot rounds out of a fully rifled barrel.  Oddly enough I've never shot a deer with actual buckshot.  Buckshot isn't even legal for deer in my state of Missouri for some reason and even though Iowa was an all shotgun state when I hunted there you couldn't use buckshot.

The first buck I ever killed was on the run about 20 to 25 yards out when it fell to a staggered  burst of 100 rounds!  Yes, I fired all five shells letting fly one hundred of the little .30 caliber "rounds."  If memory serves, the small buck had 87 holes from bow to stern from those Winchester 2 3/4" magnum #1 buckshot loads. It was like just like rabbit hunting, or so I thought, abeit with bigger game. The buckshot patterns were breaking up on hanging vines in the swamp bottom where that buck was taken some 40 years ago.  

That was then. Now I use bigger buckshot!