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Joined: 21 May 2024 Posts: 27 Location: Eastern Tennessee

Son’s Jeep broke down tonight so kind of a crummy day. Time to talk some hunting/shooting to cheer me up. I’m curious, no, not what firearms you’re carrying, but chosen loads for different purposes.

Pheasant hunting, maybe you change depending on time of season, doves, sage to mountain grouse, etc.

Maybe even share what you use trap and skeet.

1oz fast stuff? Big shot sizes?

Share please.

1 1/8 oz of bismuth 5's or 4's for ducks.
1 oz 71/2's for doves
7/8 or 1 oz 8's or 71/2's for sporting clays.
All shells in the 1250-1300 fps range

Joined: 21 May 2024 Posts: 27 Location: Eastern Tennessee

To start:

For Pheasants I break it into early and late seasons.
Early - 1 oz #6, 1220ish
Late - 1-1/8 oz #5, 1240ish

For Doves, I’ve moved to:
7/8 oz #7.5/#8 around 1185 to 1200

For Turkeys:
1-1/4 oz #6 buffered around 1140 (patterns really well and covers my ideal range of 35 yards)

Skeet:
7/8 oz #9 around 1165 to 1185

Rabbit:
1 oz #6 around 1165 to 1200

Teal Duck:
7/8 oz steel #3.5/#4 in the 1450 to 1500 range

All speeds 1350-ish unless otherwise stated. All 16 gauge below, I only use FastSteel in the 12 for geese, and rarely at that.

5/8 oz or 3/4 oz #9 magnum lead for skeet practice

7/8 oz #9 magnum for skeet with the Flues or Crescent, 1165 fps, low pressure
7/8 oz #7-1/2 chilled for woodcock/grouse in the Flues or Crescent, 1165 fps, low pressure
7/8 oz #7-1/2 Bismuth for woodcock/grouse/woodies in the Flues or Crescent, 1165, low pressure fps
7/8 oz #5 Bismuth for grouse/ducks in the Flues or Crescent, 1165 fps, low pressure

1oz #9 chilled for skeet matches & sporting clays
1-1/8 oz #8 magnum weatherproofed loads for sub-hurricane weather skeet matches (still have yet to use)
1oz or 1-1/8 oz #8 or 8-1/2 magnum for long shots @ sporting clays
1oz #8 magnum for doves or woodcock

1oz #7-1/2 for quail/early grouse/woodcock
1oz #6 copper plated for grouse in the Sarasquetas
Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #5 for late grouse or the occasional pheasant
532 grain combo #5 NP/#7-1/2 ch for grouse and most anything - my go to load

1oz #5 Bismuth for small to medium ducks
1-1/8oz #2 Bismuth for ducks/geese
Boss #3/5 combo Bismuth load for ducks
Federal Steel #4 or #2 (15/16 oz) for mergs/seaducks

Whatever I have handy that I don't use as often gets used for night trap, especially if I need the hulls Laughing

...typically #4 lead

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 1128

On my western bird hunting trips, I use the following:

Pheasant-Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #5's
Sage, Sharptail Grouse and Prairie Chickens (grouse)- Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #6's
Quail- #7 1/2's at 1200 fps
Huns- whatever I'm carrying for the birds I'm really hunting

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 464 Location: WI

16 gauge: I use 7's or 7.5's for grouse, woodcock, doves, etc. 6's and 5's for pheasants. Mostly factory field loads, I have so many I probably don't need to buy more in my lifetime. I do load my own spreaders now, and I 3D print a Spred-R style insert that works really well.

12 gauge: BB steel for geese in the field, 2's for ducks and geese on the water.

Trap - whatever 12 gauge 1-1/8oz 12 gauge load at 1200 fps I can get for the lowest possible price, or otherwise I reload a AA hull with Win, CCI, or Cheddite primer, Claybuster WAA12 wad, I forget exactly how many grains of Winchester WST, and 1-1/8oz 8.5 or 8 shot.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1454 Location: Denver, Colorado

On older Damascus guns, I try to keep things under 1-ounce & under 1200 fps, (even in the American guns with very substantial tube-sets). In the 12-bores, I'm mostly using 2 1/2-inch RSTs, but with Winchester recently reissuing their "Featherlites" (which they now call "low noise & low-recoil"), I've added those to the lineup here as well (substantially cheaper then the RSTs these days). These Winchesters are 2 3/4-inch of course, but...very soft (and probably fairly slow). For ruffed grouse, the shot sizes are the traditional 7 1/2s, usually followed by 1-oz RST 6's (or even 5s) if needed.

In my lighter 16-gauge gun(s) I've found the combination of American 7s and then 5s to be a bit more effective up here on the Canadian border (in RSTs, of course). I even use them in my early M12 (although it'd been modified to use almost anything before I came across it). Cheap 2 3/4-inch Federals 6s work just fine in it too. I carry it on rainy days (& when I want a change of pace) and I also use it as a "guest" gun on occasion (for those folks who, like me, grew-up with pumps). There is something curiously satisfying about the sound of a slide being racked...

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1908 Location: Central ND

September 1st

Doves - 1 oz. #7's lead @ 1,250 FPS
Early Season Sharptails - 1 oz. #7's lead @ 1,250 FPS
Early Season Huns - 1 oz. #7's lead @ 1,250 FPS
------------------------------------------
The start of pheasant season in early October

Pheasant, Sharptail and Huns - 1 1/8 oz. #6 lead @ 1,260 FPS

WPA Pheasant, Sharptail and the stray duck - 1 1/8 oz. #5 Buffered Bismuth @ 1,260 FPS

------------------------------------------
Late season, mid November until season close early January

Sharptail and Huns - 1 1/8 oz. #6 lead @ 1,260 FPS
1st shot Pheasant - 1 1/8 oz. #6 lead @ 1,260 FPS
2nd shot Pheasant - 1 1/4 oz. #5 Buffered lead @ 1,260 FPS

WPA Pheasant, Sharptail and the stray duck - 1 1/8 oz. #5 Buffered Bismuth @ 1,260 FPS
------------------------------

The reason I use #6 lead for Huns after pheasant season starts is, many times when I am pheasant hunting we wind up finding the Huns too, and there is no point or time to change ammo. If I am strictly after Huns, no matter what time of the season it might be, 1 oz. of #7 lead it is.

Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 371

12ga
old original AA hulls with 5 or 7-1/2 shot using 18 grs of REDDOT,
for upland game and tratp& skeet for the 7-1/2loades

16 Ga.
1956 M12 IC, need to used new shells for feeding from tube, 4 , 5 & 6 shot

for the others, reloads Rem GL, WIN current hulls and Longshoot powder and above noted shot.

for turkey hunting use new WIN loads with 4 shot.

20Ga, WIN AA hulls and 6 & 7-1/2 shot for upland birds. using a Ruger RL with Skt & Skt.

Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 371

12ga
old original AA hulls with 5 or 7-1/2 shot using 18 grs of REDDOT,
for upland game and tratp& skeet for the 7-1/2loades

16 Ga.
1956 M12 IC, need to used new shells for feeding from tube, 4 , 5 & 6 shot

for the others, reloads Rem GL, WIN current hulls and Longshoot powder and above noted shot.

for turkey hunting use new WIN loads with 4 shot.

20Ga, WIN AA hulls and 6 & 7-1/2 shot for upland birds. using a Ruger RL with Skt & Skt.

Have some Bismuth for the waterfowling.

Charlie16,

I do not roll my own any more I use RST 1 oz shells in my Classic American and German Best double guns. I do have a 5 gallon becket of 12 gauge #6 shells I made years ago and still use in my #5 an Pigeon gun, old Unique Powder that shoots low pressure for my L.C. Smith double guns. Also use RST Bismuth when needed.

In my modern 28 gauge guns I use the RST Pigeon Grade shells and the B&P 1 oz 7/8 shells # 7 1/2 or 6's, for Grouse and Woodcock, Pheasant and Quail.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

I shoot mostly Classic Double Guns when bird hunting.

5/8 oz light load

3/4 oz magnum load

#9 shot

First shot #9
Second shot #9

All chokes

All ranges

North of 1400 fps

ALL UPLAND GAMEBIRDS.

ALL WATERFOWL.

Regards , Nick

Joined: 03 May 2023 Posts: 2

My one 16-gauge gun is an English double with cylinder choked right barrel and light mod (.015) left barrel. Chambers are 2.5 inch, proofed for 1 ounce shot. I use it for woodcock and, this year, hopefully for grouse (planning a trip to WI in October). I hand load and roll crimp Cheddite hulls and use 21 grains Longshot with 1 ounce shot, #8.5 in open barrel and either #8 or #7.5 in second barrel. Loads I had tested by Precision Reloading were with 20 and 22 grains Longshot, giving 1160 and 1260 fps respectively, so my 21-grain load should be about 1210 fps. Pressure only 6172 for the heavier load.