I purchased a used 12-bore MEC 600 Jr. when I was 19 from a disabled vet who lived on his disability stipend and did nothing but hunt; thus beginning my reloading career. When I asked the seller for a load recommendation, he gave me his favorite dove load that consisted of 1 1/8 ounces of #9 shot. That was all I loaded for years and years; and as I'd lay out of work to hunt in those days and spent a lot of time in the field, killed hundreds and hundreds of doves with those #9 hand-loads. In fact, this load was so effective that it wasn't long before all my hunting buds were into reloading too, duplicating this same load; why fix something that ain't broke? Those were definitely the good old days!
I had other memorable experiences with #9 shot and my brother in law, who was built like a gorilla and just about as strong (and still is!), when he came across a Spanish 10-bore ejector double at the local gun shop; purchasing that gun and declaring that he had "finally found a gun that was man enough for someone like himself". He also purchased the dealer's remaining inventory of Western Super-X 3 1/2" mags loaded with 2 1/4 ounces of BB shot. When I asked him what he planned to shoot with his new 10-bore, he said he would be taking the gun on his opening day dove shoot. When I pointed out that, even if he managed to get in front of a bird with his 11 pound cannon; he would still most likely miss the bird, as a dove would be small enough to simply "fly thru" the gaps in his BB shot pattern. This perplexed my BIL greatly, as this was a dilemma he had not contemplated; so he asked what he should do. Well, I had just the idea to solve his problem; so we took his 3 boxes of 3 1/2" mags to my reloading bench and went to work. With a knife he pried open the crimp and dumped those BB shot into a Mason jar. I then took the empty shell, filled it to the brim with #9's, used the head of a 20-penny nail to tamp the crimp back in place; then sealed the deal with a dab of hot wax. I never thought to weigh those "9 loads, and although I thought the finished shells felt a bit heavy; the only important aspect of the project was that we were now ready to go dove shootin!
It was only after the dust had settled on the evening of that hot September opening day when it occurred to me that I had failed to consider the obvious fact that there had been a lot of air space in that column of BB shot; voids that had been virtually eliminated when those long cases were filled with "9's, so my poor ole cocky and trusting BIL was probably shooting 3 ounce magnums that day! At any rate, that gun and those doctored shells beat the livin' hell of out that ole boy that day. Several times, when shooting off balance, he was knocked flat on his butt by the recoil; but to his credit, he hung in there and fired everyone of those big stompers (he had a lot of pride!). When the shoot was finally over I asked him if he had bagged his limit, whereupon he allowed as he had (12 bird limit at the time); even bagged three with one shot out of a flock! But I was looking at his shoulder area as he related his prowess with the big 10 (he had shed his camos for a cooler polo shirt); he had been bruised black, blue, green, yellow, and purple form his elbow to his ear. It was, and still is, the worst case of recoil bruising I have ever seen! He had indeed found a gun that was "man enough"!
