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This is what I've always read and believed. However, I have found that it's actually about 270-275 with the "Magnum" #7 shot I've been reloading.

Can anyone explain?

Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 443

Did you throw the 'ounce' out of a bushing or weigh it?

The answer to #1 is your bushing is too small. For #2 it's the old 'your mileage may vary.'

HTH, sv

Nope, not a bushing. A UCB set to drop 1 ounce.

I've checked this many times and I'm always in that 270-275 range.

I know mileage may vary, but I didn't think it would vary that much.

Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 443

I'll have to double check mine. I'm using the Remington STS Target grade shot in a bushing reamed out to throw exactly an ounce of 7s. Actually, I have three 'one ounce' bushings, one each for 7s, 6s, and 5s. Very Happy

At 270 to the ounce, your shot is just about size 6.5. Perfect if you're shooting a mixed bag of prairie birds. Maybe a bit large is you hunt further east.

sv

I've been using #7 pigeon shot for decades now. It is excellent stuff for the smaller grouse species under any conditions and for young, early season, lightly plummaged pheasant (if you restrict the range to less than 30 yards.) 7/8 ounce of #7 can be easily pushed to over 1300 FPS in a strong 16 ga gun and provides plenty of pattern density for the bigger birds to about as far as I'd use it on them. I've never hunted any of the bigger prairie grouse species, but I'm willing to bet the same guidelines as pheasant apply. However, I'm very practiced with a shot gun, and therefore, fairly quick to mount and shoot accurately. Years of shooting low gun skeet have honed my skills. If I were slower and less accurate (and that may come as I age), I'd not try using #7 shot on pheasant. There is no mystery to it. It is pure physics.

First let me qualify things a bit here. Pheasant can be dumped as dead as can be with #8 shot or even #9's as long as they are hit in the head and neck with a goodly swarm of shot at close range. This means I have to catch them in close and they must be clawing for altitude with their heads and necks stretched out in front with the effort. Sometimes they do just that--especially if they are a young and inexperienced bird. Such birds usually do not last long, nor do they get to produce other dumb birds either. Frankly, I've never been able to get the average adult cock pheasant to cooperate well enough to guarantee me that kind of shot all the time. Most of the time, if they aren't running away, they are flying away as fast as they can and as straight away as they can from danger. They usually present their hind ends to us at the greatest distance they think is safe enough to present it. Being a good sized bird to begin with, a full grown pheasant has a big butt to present as well. That is the reality of the game.

So follow on with me in consideration of the above. Bigger game birds require a harder blow than smaller birds to kill them cleanly. They have bigger bodies and require the pellet to penetrate more tissue to reach the vitals as well. Bigger birds also tend to be faster fliers once they get going, though some are not as quick off the mark than some of the smaller game birds. This means the range they are taken at can increase faster than many of the smaller game birds once the bigger birds reach their typical escape speed. So if a person is not particularly quick enough or lucky enough to get on target very quickly, he will be taking a bigger game bird like a pheasant at a greater range. He should allow for this by using bigger shot and more of it.

As shot gets bigger in diameter, its mass and its ability to retain energy increase exponentially. It has considerably more inertia so it is harder to slow down. It penetrates better, and also has a bigger frontal area which disrupts more nerves and tissue as it penetrates. It transfers it's energy or killing power to the bird more effectively. It is simply more effective on any bird but noticably more effective on bigger birds.

A round pellet or any sphere also does not have a high ballistic coefficient. It looses velocity fairly quickly. However, bigger pellets do not lose their velocity as fast as smaller ones. So they hit harder and do it further out as well. Any added energy acquired from higher velocity is retained better, and deployed on the target better at longer ranges as well.

If you need to extend the range to past 30 yards on going away pheasant, or must restrict pressure and velocity due to the gun you are shooting, I'd advise using bigger shot than #7. A 1 ounce load of hard #6 shot at 1300 FPS is usually plenty for any pheasant to 35 yards or so. #5 shot will either add some range or add more hitting power to lower velocity loads at shorter ranges. #4 shot is the biggest size most strong 16 gauge guns can shoot effectively. It will add both power and range even better than #5 shot. However, a 1-1/8 ounce load of #5 shot doing at least 1250 FPS at the muzzle will usually dump a well hit adult pheasant as far out as is prudent for the average shotgunner to be shooting at them. I resort to #4 shot only when conditions are such that I know I'll need all the hitting power I can get to insure a clean killing blow. That is not often.

However, the effectiveness of a load of #4 shot on big tough late season cock birds has to be seen to be really appreciated. It dumps them with real authority. So if your gun can take the the load without a problem, and if you can reliably put the pattern on target out at the greater ranges, then a 1-1/4 ounce load of #4 shot might just be the insurance you need to kill these big birds dead in the air when things get tough and ranges get long.

This info is what I've learned from my experiences based on my abilities with a shotgun under the hunting conditions I've faced. Each of us must decide for ourselve what we should use. However, I will add that in the case of clean kills, a bit more power than is needed is probably wiser than just enough, and far better than not quite enough. We owe it to the birds we are killing.

I always get a smile on my face when shot size comes up. I had once thought a bag of 7.5 was a bag of 7.5 shot. Then my knowledge was shattered by an artical written about number of shot per ounce and the mfg. tolerances used by the industry. The fact that a bag of shot labeled #6s can vary one full shot size. The tolerance being +/- .5 . I wish I had kept the magazine. If anyone has or remembers this piece speak up. I would love to find it again.
Best,
Ron

Guest

Bought a bag of #7 last summer and used it for the first time on Band Tailed Pigeons to shoot three limits of birds the past two weeks. I can see why it is nicknamed "Pigeon shot", it is deadly on Bandtails. One ounce of 7's seems like a great load to me so far.

Like TB I am loading West Coast shot and my one ounce drops average 300 pellets, just like they should.

Dennis

Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 1460 Location: Eagle, Nebraska

One of my favorites. I use #7 on Ruffed, blue, sharptail and prairie chickens. (at least in first barrel ) It works real well on early season pheasants too.

I then move to #51/2's.

My father used (still uses) #4's for pheasants. He found that the #5's didn't pattern well in his Superposed in 12ga. He never had a dog and killing pheasants dead in the air was essential. He isn't quite as quick as he used to be, so the #4's still work for him. I will agree that a pheasant hit with #4's is in serious trouble.

I am skeptical about shooting pheasants with #9. I kind of like to eat my birds too.

Guest

[quote="Hunter&Hound
No, that's not it. I've weighed and re-weighed what I'm dropping on a digital scale. I've calibrated and re-calibrated. And, I've taken samples from the last 4 bags I've used. I'm definitely dropping an ounce and it's consistently in the range I mentioned earlier.

I believe this is Lawrence brand shot. Gosh...I'll have to check to be sure.

It sounds plausible that is simply could be a matter of acceptable variance in shot size. I pretty much use #7 shot for everything from hunting grouse & woodcock to trap and skeet, so I use quite a bit of it.

It's really not a big deal. The loads I've been using have really been knocking down the grouse (& woodcock) through a skeet choke.

Well, if anyone has any other input, I sure would love to hear it.[/quote]

Measure 10 or 15 pellets with a good micrometer. #7 shot should measure .010 inches in diameter.

Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 190 Location: Washington State

TB, I believe your .010 should read .100 for diameter of 7's

Guest

Yep your right # 7 is .10 inchs in diameter

Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Posts: 44

I don't know how this is possible, other than being within SAAMI specs for a given pellet size, but it sounds like your pellets are actually British #6s. They'll usually drop around 270 or so to the ounce.

Frank

Hootch wrote---I am skeptical about shooting pheasants with #9. I kind of like to eat my birds too.

Hootch, I'd never recommend using anything smaller than #7 shot for pheasant, and then only at fairly close range early in the season. I was using the example of killing birds with #9 with a shot to the head and neck to make a point. I.E., we are never guaranteed that kind of shot. To expect to get that kind of presentation from a fast departing bird is not wise.

Conditions are hardly ever perfect or ideal. I always use a shot size that gives me some reasonable expectation of a clean kill from any angle or presentation at the ranges I expect to be shooting at. In short, I use bigger shot than some folks think is needed, because I do not like to shoot my birds half dead. I like them to be dead in the air.

I do not care to waste time trying to run down a bird that is only fringed because the shot size used is not up to the job. I do it because leaving a wounded bird to a lingering death is something I will not do if I can prevent it. However, even if I am lucky enough to retrieve the bird, it is not a good thing. It is hard on the bird, on the dog, on me, and on my friends whose time I'm wasting. I fringe enough birds during a typical season from ill placed hits with big enough shot. It happens. nobody shoot 100% all the time. Why make it worse, by using a poor choice of ammo.

I've seen pheasant brought down with #8 or #9 shot. I've never seen one brought down from behind with these little pellets though. Every pheasant I've ever seen hit from behind with #8 or #9 shot has flown off to die later. These tiny pellets will not even break the wings or the legs. Even a good dog has a very slim chance of catching a bird hit this way. It is just not a good thing to try. It is not fair to the quarry or anyone else involved.