doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Best load for pheasants?

Just wanted to be the first in with this.

ratt

Lead pellets?
Just to be first with a silly answer!

Glad the site is back up.

I like to coal-clock 'em right betwixt the eyes with a 3/4 oz. charge of nickle-plated 6's travelling at 1350 fps out of a 28-ga. choked IC/M...I limit my shots to something under turty-tchree paces.

Damn that didn't take long.

Best for who? ...the bird or the shooter?

In South Dakota I use No. 5's on wild birds. Some days are really windy and anything smaller is a wasted bird in my book. I use 6's and even 71/2's on pen raised here in the South! Since I shoot a 1913 Parker 12 with 2.5 inch chambers, I use low pressure RST's.

Use #5's and don't confuse yourself about whether the birds are close or far, crossing or going away.
Nickel plated if you can get them, but don't bother with copper plated.

I use 1 oz. of #6 nickel plated shot in my IC barrel at approximately 1328 fps and 1 1/8 oz. of # 5 1/2 nickel plated shot in my Mod barrel at approximately 1325 fps. Per Tom Armbruster, the pressures are 7440 psi. and 9620 psi. Velocities vary a little, but the above is close to an average. The #5 1/2 shot provides a little more down range energy with approximately the same shot count as the #6's. My pattern board indicates that the two different loads in two different chokes overlap each other and provide good pattern coverage from 25 to 43 yards. Also, these two loads use card and fiber instead of 1-piece plastic wads and are shot out of all brass hulls.

any 12 gauge factory shell loaded with 6's should do the trick. choke is most important. a 16 or 20 gauge with mod or tighter choke will work. using anything less than that will wound as many cock birds as it will kill. shame to cause a beautiful bird to suffer because some ego freak thinks it cool to shoot at them with a puny little 28 or .410.

Alas Ed you are quite wrong again I have seen many "factory loaded shells" With number 6 that didn't pattern worth a darn. Pattern density is the key to cleanly harvesting any type of winged creature, pheasents included. I hunt over some excellent English Setters, and most shot are close, to answer the question, I would say I need more info. Are you chasing them alone on foot, with a pointing dog, perhaps a flusher? All situations tend to differ slightly but to give a general answer for a general question, I would pick a HIGH QUALITY shell stoked with good magnum grade (nickel is a plus) shot of 5, 6, or even 7.5 with an average velocity range of 1250. Shoot a 1/4 choke and take smart shots. 50 yard wild flushes are not high percentage shots, while completing one is impressive, wounding/crippling 5 birds for every one you kill is simply not sound sportsmanship. I like personally for my situation, a home rolled concoction that chronographs right around 1200 FPS, 1 1/16 oz. of english 6's (12 ga.) for the 16 it's the same only shot charge is 15/16 oz. I have had exceptional success in my hunting situations with these loads.