doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shot size effectiveness

How much effectiveness (distance, pattern, etc.) do you suppose
you give up shooting 9 shot out of a full choke barrel versus say 7 1/2 shot ??

After normal Skeet ranges, the birds aren't very dead with 9's
Up close, all shot to hell.
My breaks are never as strong with 9 's as 7.5's


I routinely shoot low gun 410 skeet with a full choked gun. Avg this mos is 22. Not world class, but I'm seeing a couple hundred breaks a week preparing for an upcoming tourney.

I describe #9 breaks as "erosive" whereas 7.5's as "crushing"

So, in my view, for killing, a 7.5 does a better job, but for scoring at skeet ranges, there are away more 9's in the pattern.

My experience is some what different. I have shot a fair number of Mearns quail and Bobwhites over a pointing dog can attest to the effectiveness of 9 shot. Now Desert birds that flush wildly and further out I use 7 1/2 shot.
Birds shot real close with any size shot are not worth eating. In fact i have witnessed some birds shot with 7 1/2 shot that there was nothing but a wing and a leg left.
The Birds I am hunting coupled with the average distances i shoot at, determine the shells and shot size I use.
Thats just honest feedback from my experience. I shoot very little clay targets so I am not really experienced enough to have first hand knowledge on Skeet shooting.
We must all determine what works best for ourselves, but i find 9 shot to be extremely effective.

I'd say a good way to put it is this: If you're talking about birds, where cylinder choke is most effective (out to 25 yards), 9's are quite effective on smaller and more fragile birds. I've killed ruffed grouse cleanly with 9's, but when hunting only grouse (as opposed to grouse and woodcock, where I usually encounter more of the latter), I'd go with 8's or 7.5's.

You do need to consider the "shot up" thing. I like to use 9's or 8.5's in the 28ga. My 28 of choice has very open chokes (basically skt/skt), and the smaller shot sizes help to fill the pattern. If you're throwing an ounce of 9's with very much choke, you're going to have badly shot up birds inside of 20 yards or so. But it's interesting, reading period literature, to learn that 10's were a pretty popular shot size for woodcock. (Not for me! I've tried them on woodcock with poor results. Birds knocked down but back up and flying, or else a whole lot of very small pellets in them.)

I'd recommend #8 shot for Skeet, and most upland birds smaller than pheasants. They should give you decent density (at reasonable ranges) along with a tad more downrange energy than 9's. I'll generally go to 7.5 or even 6 for late season birds when they often flush farther out.

DAM16SXS. People use the F choke and 9's on Skeet because H1 is mostly an "edge on" target
The effective pattern is less than 18"'s. And, .5oz 7.5 's is smaller yet.

I use the Skeet analog because the distances are measured, and in hunting they are not.
Hunter's are notoriously optimistic about ranges.
9's (unless purposefully fringing on the flush) just ruin birds up close, and generate perforated, but not dead, birds further out.

I loath picking shot from small birds.

If a guy shoots only a few a year, well it's a pain, but overall NBD. More than 50? Well, it's a lot of work, and a lot of waste.

Wondered about this b/c most everything I read suggested #9s were worthless beyond 25 yds on clays. So ran the experiment with 3/4 and 7/8 oz Winchester Magnum #9s through both 0.25" and 0.35" constrictions. About 1275 to 1300 fps. Turned the oscillator off and had a friend note my distance to break once grooved. Then adjusted distance to break walking back from the 16 yd line. It was about like standing on skeet pad #7 and taking low house targets, very easy to groove.

With either payload/constriction was able to consistently hard break-to-smoke outgoing dome-on pitch targets to every bit of 35 yds using #9s. Compared with same brand shot in #8s, same quality/# hits. Beyond 35 yds #8s were better, both # breaks and quality.

I do not use #9s in the field, though.

I believe choke has great affect with #9's as Samuel has shown. When hunting grouse and woodcock in the U.P. I've found that using I/C-Mod with #7's and #5's works like Thor's hammer.
Karl

The real perfect load would work at all ranges. There is no load that works well at distance but does not ruin birds hit too close. For that matter if you hit any bird too close you'll just wish you didn't shoot in the first place. For shot size I pick what has worked well for me over the years. 7 1/2 in 12 and 20's and 8's in smallbores work well for anything I need from 20-35 yards. To me it's what will quickly and properly kill birds. Killed everything from teal, wood ducks, quail, rail, dove you make it. I just never found 9's to be effective at anything past 25 yards on birds and inside 15 it just destroyed them too often.

Big birds require larger shot and late seasons birds are wilder, smarter, bigger and more heavily feathered. It take larger shot to get through the feathers and into vitals.

After a long lifetime of hunting wild quail in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains I have seen far too many birds hit with 9's fly off never to be recovered. I always ask new guests to use nothing smaller than 8's and preferably a little larger. Open for debate but it's my land and I can set my own rules. Me? The only shot I use for quail is 7's.