doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com would larger shot do better?

Hello, I have a 1913 12 gauge Fox Sterlingworth and decide to use it for pheasant this past season. I loaded a low pressure load for it that pushes a 1 ounce load to 1125fps by the data. I used #6 shot. I had a couple of hit birds run and, wanting to keep using the same load, I'm wondering if I go to 5s or even 4s that will improve things, or do I just need more velocity? Each bird was hit using modified choke normal ranges, stocked birds. My previous hunting was with a 20ga 1 oz #6 load at 1220 fps which was fine. Thanks for any helpful advice.

If you are shooting stocked birds at normal distances and they are running off, it’s not the pellets.

An ounce of sixes is plenty of pellets for density, and plenty of energy for penetration.

You can pump the pellets up to 1200 if you like, and see if there’s a difference.

I would probably investigate via necropsy, skin a bird, and see where I hit it.

If the holes in the bird make no sense, you might pattern that load/shotgun combination. It might not be hitting where you’re looking.

I tried 1 1/8 oz. #4 when I hunted pheasant with a 16 gauge and didn't think it had enough pellets in the pattern. Birds were flying away, missed or wounded. #6 killed but left pellets in the breast. In my limited experience, #5 penetrates well and is more effective on pheasant than #4 or #6.

These were wild Nebraska cornfield birds, not stocked.

Thank you ClapperZapper and Carl46. My desire to hunt this old gun got me to the load, but the two birds I shot with it hinted that it was not enough, so I went back to the twenty gauge. I will heed the advice each of you gave me, do some poi, patterning, and pattern #5s too. Unfortunately, neither bird was recovered.

I’m not really a good enough shot to use number four’s

Undoubtedly, if I am carrying some, the birds are all close and they are pulped.

If I am blocking, I might load a four into the tight barrel.

An ounce of sixes at 1200 will kill about anything, dead as a hammer, out to 40 yards.

I’m thinking your pattern is skeetily open, or not much is on the bird.

Time to test.

It is possible and even likely that you're slow velocities may have resulted in simply shooting too far back. If you hit them in the rear end, they're going to be a challenge to bring to bag, regardless of the load that you are using. That's said I always recommend and use Number 5

I would wager that 95% of the birds that are lost are shot too far back and wounded in the rear.Is that long tail drives your eyeAnd results in a rear end shot.

I like #5s, they work well and break bones
This is for 12 gauge stuff

Mike

I killed hundreds of ducks with one ounce of 5’s in my 28 as a youth. Even killed a few geese with 5’s but my father did not appreciate my doing it and I lost a whole week of hunting as punishment. I’d either go to 5’s or stick with 6’s and bump the speed up to 1200 or better yet go to 5’s at 1200. Those old Winchester 28/1 ounce were about 1150 not todays 1300 fps hot rod shells.

I have difficulty believing that 6's don't have enough punch on stocked birds. Years ago, I had a writing assignment that sent me to a preserve in KS that had good released birds. (Ringneck Ranch.) I had a chance to shoot a lot of them. At that time, I had a Parker Repro 28ga choked IC/M. I loaded up a bunch of 3/4 oz 7's--essentially the same pellet count as an ounce of 6's. After missing the very first bird I shot at, I bagged the next 27. A couple did require the 2nd barrel, and good dog work saved a couple that came down with 2 good legs. But I also scored 2 true doubles.

I'm not inclined to recommend that load on wild ringnecks unless you're very picky with your shots. But I was surprised at how well it worked on released birds.

Going through my memory of the events of that day, I retraced my steps from where I shot at the second bird to where I determined it was hit and it was just about 30 yards. I was trying to get the dog on the trail. The bird flushed out in front of me because the cover was running out and flew back past me at that range. We trialed that bird for about 300 yards before running into another hunter with a lab and a shorthair who said he'd find it. He didn't. The first bird was closer and flushed in an identical way but was hit closer. I think I'm going to have to POI the gun based on CZ's reply because I may be shooting too high and thus leaving the legs? It is either that or the 1125fps? The load pressure is 6700psi by the data. I like about a 60/40 pattern because over the years I've shot more trap than anything else and I like to see the bird but I can't say I'm in good practice. Thank you to all for your helpful information!