Note that there is no one definitive pigeon load. Flyer shooters choose what they like best and what their gun likes best. Many shot, and shoot, 3 3/4 - 1 1/4 loads, which run at 1330, or thereabouts. RST's 3 3/4 load is favored by a few top guns. It is labeled as 1350 and has plated shot. I have always favored the 3 3/4 - 1 1/4 load, but now that I have my own patterning plate I intend to scrutinize the difference in it and the 3 1/4 - 1 1/4 load more closely. Less recoil may pay off on how quickly that second shot is taken, and the slower load may pattern better in some guns..
Pigeon shooting, as we know it, began with muzzleloaders and black powder. Club rules back then allowed up to 4 drams, with a few clubs allowing as high as 5 drams, according to C. Adam's book. This was drams, of course, not dram equivalents, as they were using black, but the velocity for a 3 3/4 - 1 1/4 load with black was the same as a current 3 3/4 - 1 1/4 load with smokeless.
SRH
