Thanks, Drew. I find humorous the oft posted concept of developing loads for guns with tight chokes to open their patterns, while nothing is ever mentioned 'bout developing loads to tighten the patterns of guns with open chokes.

Hey, the "virginity" is gone from those guns, why would we work on developing anything for them?

Hilarious.

"Developing loads" would tend to indicate guys using a reloading bench, at home. I was assured, several times, by a transplanted Brit gunsmith that if it weren't for Americans with a reloading press, and a good double gun of some sort, that they fed the results of their efforts with the reloading press to, he would be a far poorer man.

The same gunsmith also told me all he ever used for "pheasant hunting" were Winchester "Feather Lites", in size 7 1/2. I then asked him about the pheasant hunting he did, and it seems he only pheasant hunted on an estate that featured driven birds, just like home. He never took a shot at birds already past, and the estate didn't have particularly high, or, wild birds. He did quite well shooting like this.

But, my birds never come like that. Mine are flying 30mph away from me, not 40mph at me, which changes the impact of ammunition on said birds, I suspect. It seems we differed somewhat on opinion for pheasant loads. 1 1/4 5s and 6s have been my friends for a long time, for the pheasant I get to hunt.

Was he right? Yup. Was I right? Yup.

Happy pheasant season, Drew.

Best,
Ted