doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Excessive loads for doves

I still dove hunt with a 12 gauge SxS and I sometimes use 1.25 oz loads, especially in the later season. That's nothing new; my dad used to load almost nothing but 1.25 oz shells back in the 60s. They ran around 1200 fps and they were great dove shells. And the best thing was that they were free to me as a teenager as long as I loaded them myself, and I was happy to do that.

I don't get to go on many dove hunts now, and the ones that I do make usually don't have many doves and require longer shots if you want to kill any. I usually keep a 1 oz load and ic choke in the right barrel and a tighter choke and heavier load in the left.

Speed only kills if you can hit the target. Most shooters need to improve on their range estimation more than anything else. Running a load at 1400 fps does not do you any good if you don’t know the difference between 35 yards and 45 yards or 50 yards.

We were pass shooting sporting clays and my partner was unable to hit the clays eight times in a row. I was three for four on the same
Birds. I asked him how far did he think the crows were and what his lead. He thought they were 35 yards when they were 50 yards. No wonder he was shooting so badly. He was using half the lead he needed and even hyper loads would not have fixed that. Had
Him double his lead and he broke two out of four of my birds. Point is if you can’t estimate range you just can’t shoot respectably.

I watch my father kill 15 dove with 23 shells with a borrowed 16 gauge Fox when he was 90. If I get to do that at 80 with twice the shells and my grandkids watching I’ll be a happy man. My kids still remember that a decade after he passed away. The man could shoot, even when he lost vision in one eye. He marked his range in a semi circle around his spot and waited until birds were within what he knew was his range. Six cut weeds made him an excellent shot even when he was very limited. Maximize your odds whenever you can. Learn your gun, your loads and your range. More important than calling to me.