As I have mentioned here before, on other threads, we shoot a lot of crows here in the pecan orchards and peanut fields this time of year. I started out using 7 1/2s many, many years ago, back when you called them with a mouth call or a Johnny Stewart record player. They did fine on close shots.
When we went to shooting guns with screw in chokes for crows we went to tighter chokes and larger shot, with MUCH greater success. Less cripples and much extended range. At the same time.
I now use nothing larger than 4s and nothing smaller than 6s. I can't honestly tell much difference in the performance between them in lethality. Tight chokes are the order of the day. We normally shoot XXX-Full Comp-N-Chokes. Seventy and eighty yard dishrag-dead crows are nothing unusual. We do not allow a cripple to escape. There is no reason for one to get away in a pecan orchard as the ground is mowed as close as a lawn underneath, and peanut fields are open, too. Cripples are non-productive to killing high numbers if he hops off away from your kill zone.
I strongly disagree with Popowski about 9s. Only thing I will use them for is clay birds with a .410, as they go down the drop tube on my reloader so much nicer. If I HAD to use 9s on crows it would be at close range only, and you'd miss out on a lot of crow kills like that.
SRH
