20 Gauge Federal heavyweight #7 question

I ordered some federal hw 7s for my two sons 20 gauges this season from an online gun store. Today I wanted to see which of the 870s held a better pattern at 40 yards. Last year both guns held a dense pattern at this range, so I was very surprised when the first shot yielded poor results. There was 27 shot on the entire paper! Thinking my aim may have been terribly off, I decided to try another round in the other gun and got about the same results. I had an unopen box from last season, so I compared the two shells. The shells I purchased this season feel quite a bit lighter and also rattle like baby rattle when shaken. I then decided to check the other box of shells I ordered this year and found they were lighter and rattle. Has anyone else had a similar experience with this shell?

Look on the inside flap of both boxes and report what the lot number is for each. I'm betting one is 5V37VK315 and the other is 5V-10UM009.

Let us know which one has the better pattern and also which choke and barrel length.

I'm seeing some mixed results myself with various lot numbers. Maybe reach out to Federal and see what they say.

I have ran into some VERY odd patterns this year.

The lot number is 5V37VK315, the guns are both youth model 870s, and they are both fitted with trueglow turkey chokes. I purchased one of these guns two years ago and it patterned great with the heavyweight 7s at 40 yards. Since my sons have reached an age that I feel comfortable taking both at the same time, I purchased another youth 870 and set it up to match the other gun. I went out Friday and let my boys practice target shooting at 25 yards with a cheaper turkey load. Afterwards, I planned to check the 40 yard pattern with the new gun to make sure it patterned the same as the older one. I was shocked to see how little shot made it on target. I only counted 22 shot on a 15" by 15" turkey target. Thinking it may be the gun, I tried the load in the other gun and got the same results. I then tried one of the shells from the year before and put 119 shot on target.

had some 5v 20ga same thing call federal and went around wound up sending them back for replacement or refund guy wanted to get smart until I told him I had been reloading for 50 yrs and had weighed and cut one open and shot count didn,t weigh out right it was light

Hate to hear that on Federal cause I've been shooting them over 40 years and never had that. That's the reason I won't spend a dollar on Remington shot shells, but that was like 30
Years ago. Some were like shooting black pepper at the birds. No lie.