I purchased my first MEC loader, a used 600 Jr. as I recall, in 1969 from an avid quail and dove hunter; a guy named Bobby, a Viet Nam vet who'd lost part of his right hand in the war and who was upgrading his loading equipment. I knew nothing about reloading at the time and asked for "directions"; Bobby assured me that 1 1/8 oz. of #9 shot over a charge of 700X from a AA hull would be the perfect dove medicine. When I commented that I thought #9 shot might be a little light, his comment was that my 12-bore pattern would be so thick with shot that invariably I'd break a wing on virtually every bird hit; and although I'd probably be ringing more than my share of necks, recovery would be a very simple task. I found thru actual experience that his assessment was spot on; and as I gave most of my birds away anyway, I didn't care about imbedded shot. So I used #9 exclusively when dove shooting for several years before switching to mostly #8, and then to #7.5 for many of the reasons expressed herein (most of my shooting was confined to N. GA millet and wheat fields); but I've also killed wild quail, a few bunnies, and one old crow with #9 so #9 shot can be, and is effective when used in the right circumstances. Over the years I've experimented with a variety of shot sizes in 12-bore guns on dove, and whenever I'm serious about obtaining shot-free meat; I use #6 and even #4 shot, but #6 is my preference as the patterns are better. Either of those pellet sizes will penetrate a dove body thru and thru, and all it takes is one pellet strike. As to #7.5 and #8 shot pellets, I've lost count of the doves I've killed that had been wounded by those shot sizes; you start to clean the bird and discover a gangrenous area caused by a #7.5 or #8 shot pellet that failed to penetrate to the vitals and was imbedded and festering in breast muscle. I've often wondered how many birds are wounded in such manner each year that fly off and die from the resulting infections? I suspect very few recover well enough to resume flying. Based on my experience I doubt #9 shot wounds any more dove and quail that #7.5 and #8; and since a #9 is smaller, I suspect the recovery rate of birds wounded by #9 shot is higher than those birds wounded with the two larger shot sizes.
In my early un-informed and innocent reloading days, my arrogant B-I-L who was built like and seemingly as strong as a gorilla, called one day to inform me that he'd finally found a gun "man enough for him" and that he'd purchased all the shells the dealer had in stock. That gun was a 10-bore Spanish auto-ejector double gun with 3.5" chambers and 32" barrels; the shells consisted of 2 boxes (25 count) of paper hulled 3.5" magnums loaded with BB shot and 1 box of 2.875" magnum 4's. So I said great, now what are you going hunt with the gun (we didn't have geese in N. GA in those days); and he said he was taking the gun dove shooting as opening day was just around the corner. To which I responded, you're crazy; you can have the lead perfect but your pattern will be so full of holes the dove will fly thru unscathed. He hadn't thought about that little detail and asked if I had any suggestions. Being much more intelligent I said sure; meet me in at the shop (my reloading stuff was in the "shop"), so he did. Upon examining his Winchester shells, I declared a simple solution; all we had to do was pry open those star crimps, dump out the BB's, fill those hulls with #9, and reset the crimp. That's what we did, and with the hulls now filled to the brim with #9's we found the head of a 20 penny nail was the perfect tool to flatten the crimp; so using that nail and a hammer we tamped down and reset the crimps perfectly, then sealed same with dab of candle wax. He was now ready to take his prize gun dove shooting, but before doing so we felt it imperative that we test our reloading effort first. My B-I-L lived on a dirt road, so we stepped off approximately 100 yards; propped up a 55 gallon steel drum lid with a stick, and fired. Even at that distance the impact was sufficient to send the lid spinning. He commented on the recoil afterwards, but this was his new "man-sized" gun; so clearly additional recoil was to be expected, and was nothing a "real man" couldn't handle! Unfortunately we shot separate fields on opening day, but I saw my B-I-L afterwards and it was evident he had indeed found his "man-enough" gun. He was black, blue, green, and purple from his right elbow to the ear; I was able to restrain myself, but it was all I could do to keep from rolling in the dirt with laughter. He said that was the "kickinest" gun he'd ever fired, he'd actually been knocked on his butt several times; and even over the top of terrace row on one occasion. But by golly he'd bagged his limit! But give him credit for at least being stout enough to take the beating, as I learned he'd fired everyone of those doctored-up 3.5" shells; a normal intelligent man would have quit after the first shot.
I thought about that event afterwards and realized there's significant air space surrounding a 2 ounce stack of BB shot and virtually zero air space in a stack of #9's. I then recalled that our "reloaded" shells did feel quite heavy, so there could have been 3 ounces or more of shot in each one of those 3.5" mags; we never once considered that we should weigh the load. It's a wonder but the gun survived with zero damage, my B-I-L's bruises disappeared in a couple of weeks; and in the end his gun was proven "man enough". My father used to say that sometimes God Himself looks out for fools; He certainly did in that instance and we haven't tried that stunt again.
I also haven't hunted with or loaded #9 in years and years; but were I still shooting skeet, #9 remains my choice for 20-bore and smaller guns. Physical issues don't allow opportunities to shoot much anymore, but there's still a place for #9 shot in my opinion.
