Yes, yes it is. The other products that I know of with flite control supposedly buy the wads from federal.

This is arfcom, get both!

I've been looking at sending a barrel to Vang. How does it shoot with the flite control?

As long as it doesn't degrade performance then that's awesome.

Nothing newer or better.

I'm hoping Federal introduces a FFC #1 load for 20 gauge and makes a lot more 12 gauge #1 FFC.

Vang now has a FFC-specific barrel treatment. I've seen it used in a class and it's pretty impressive.

It was shooting #1 FFC buckshot into a pattern roughly the span of a man's hand at 25 yards. This is significantly smaller than what you'd expect with #1 FFC in a non-Vanged barrel, certainly in any of my guns. (Every shotgun barrel is different, so ceteris paribus and all that)

At 50 yards it kept 27 of 30 pellets from 2 shots inside an FBI bottle target, with 11 of the pellets in the vitals. All pellets stayed on the cardboard silhouette that contained the FBI bottle printed on it. That is considerably better than you would normally expect with FFC.

The downside...if you want to call it that...is that at shorter distances (like typical home defense distances) you are shooting a pattern that is roughly the size of the bore. This will tend to give a greater chance of overpenetration at shorter range with whatever buckshot you are using.

So here's my breakdown:

FFC alone - works splendidly in most shotguns at most realistic engagement distances. In most guns that haven't had barrel work done it is typically going to push pellets off an IDPA silhouette at somewhere between 20-30 yards depending on your barrel.

Standard Vang-ed barrel with non FFC buckshot - Delivers about the same performance as you would see from FFC buckshot in a non-Vanged barrel.

Standard Vang-ed barrel with FFC - Highly variable. In some barrels it makes FFC pattern a little bit tighter a little bit longer. In others it makes FFC pattern considerably worse because it is so tight it strips the wad from the payload earlier.

FFC specific Vang barrel modification with FFC - Produces a gun that will easily keep all your pellets on a typical IDPA silhouette at 40-60 yards.

FFC specific Vang barrel modification with non FFC buckshot - The FFC modification doesn't seem to have much impact on the performance of standard buckshot.

My application suggestions:

If you need to deliver a full payload of buckshot on a relatively small target at extended distances, I'd have Vang perform the FFC barrel mod. An example would be engaging people at more than 30 yards or wanting to put a full payload on hogs, coyotes, or deer with FFC at those distances*

If you are looking to shrink your 25 yard pattern to roughly the size of a B8 bullseye, I'd have Vang perform the FFC barrel mod. An example would be needing to engage people at 15+ yards, or the desire to put the full payload on a deer's vitals at 20-30 yards.

If you are looking to shoot non-FFC buckshot tighter, have Vang do the standard barrel mod.

If you are looking to use the gun for typical home defense distances or really close range hunting, just use FFC.

Hornady's Versatite wad is the exact same as Federal's "Flight Control" wad. The design is patented.

Remington does not use that wad...and I have yet to see a Remington loading that compares favorably to the versatite/FFC in terms of overall size of pattern.

I have a Winchester 1300 Defender that shoots a sub 8" pattern with #1 FFC at 25. It performed so well I had Vang put rifle sights on it so I can use it in class:



Something else worth noting is that Carlson's makes a buckshot specific choke that is supposed to tighten up the patterns of buckshot primarily for hunting. I haven't had the chance to use one but I'm hoping I can do some T&E with one on my Wilson'd 870 this year. If it works, it might be a good way to achieve tighter patterns with conventional buckshot at longer ranges...assuming your barrel is cut for chokes.

It does pretty well in my guns...but it doesn't touch FFC in terms of pattern in any of them.

I had the chance to use some Remington low recoil 8 pellet LE ammo that was issued to USBP a little while back and that stuff had the lowest recoil of any buckshot load I've ever tried AND patterned better than any Remington load I've ever seen in my guns. It had to be USBP spec because I've never been able to find a Remington load that performs like it.

Interesting you mention that -- I've found it patterns better from my IC choked 870P than my cylinder-bored 870 Mag.

The cool thing about shotguns is that every barrel is a unique snowflake.

My best patterning 870's with FFC have IC fixed or screw-in modified chokes.

In general, tighter chokes aren't the intended application for FFC. The wad was originally designed for typical police spec barrels which is usually cylinder bore.

Choke can have the exact opposite effect on buckshot that it does on birdshot...forcing the pellets to make more contact with one another often results in a much wider pattern.

It's really, really difficult to make any definitive statements about it, though, as there's so much variation in barrels that the only conclusion I've been able to come to is "Pattern it in your barrel and see what happens."

There is a certain amount of voodoo to it for sure.