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 ??
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.
