Joe, you're absolutely right about a woodcock not being able to get through a pattern of 7 1/2s at 15-20 yards and, it's just my personal preference but, I'd rather have a tad more "meat damage" than bite a pellet. I get on a quail pretty quick occasionally, and you would think I'd center one in the pattern eventually. I've never had to throw a quail away from meat damage, shot with 8s out of a skeet choke. Not in years and years.


Size is the reason larger shot are more likely to pass through, Michael. Increased size means increased mass and amounts to increased momentum. Increased momentum means a higher likelihood of a shot passing through, all else being equal.

May God bless America and those who defend her.