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Pheasant shotshells


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I would hesitate to give you a specific Weight and shot size as it will provoke all sorts of pointless argument. :whistling:

 

My advice would be to try a variety of cartridges from 28g to 32g and from shot size 5 to 7.

 

My own personal choice for everything winged is 28g No.7

 

You just need to find the cartridge that a) kills well for you, b)is comfortable to shoot all day, c) and which gives you the best pattern and performance from your gun and choke combination.

 

I use 3/8 and 1/2 for Pheasant but 1/4 and 1/2 is the most popular and it will deal with anything.

 

Regards

SS :thumbs:

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I prefer 12 gauge 1 1/4 of 5 or 6 shot with the heaviest dram of powder. However I always like a fast load over a heavy load. If you will be doing lots of walking behind dogs nothing beats a 20 gauge with 3" inch loads of 1 1/8 oz of #6 shot. If you walking a lot I always say go with as light as gun as possible that way you will be quicker when the time comes to pull the trigger.

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I use diana 28g 7's and find them excellent for woodcock, and pheasant, with a good killing range, and pattern, and i use 1/2 choke for these birds.

but it's down to personal choice, if it's a very breezey day i drop down to 5's or 6's. :gunsmilie:

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I think (as hinted above) it all depends what sort of pheasant shooting you intend to do.

 

If it is what we call 'walk up shooting' - walking in a line with dogs in front flushing birds, then generally these birds are at fairly close range, flying away from the guns (that is if the dog(s) works close to the gun) I would therefore suggest something like 28gr of 6 shot for a 12 bore.

 

If you refer to 'driven' - birds are flushed to guns by beaters (generally flying towards the guns) the choice of shot is primarily dictated by the terrain you are shooting over - high birds (40 yarders) will need anything from 30 to 34 grains, however this is open to much debate and can come down to the choke of the gun and the skill of the shooter.

 

In my neck of the woods where the terrain is ruggedly high in places, I know that the most common recipe for the commercial shoots I load on (and rarely join a line - at £45 per bird :icon_eek: ) where the good birds are flying around the 30 - 35 yard mark, the most popular cartridges are 32g of No 5's .

 

Having said that, I have loaded for old boys shooting this 28g of 6's bring bird after bird down by placing the shot well up the front each time.

 

Choice of cartridge - weight, shot size, plastic/felt wad is far from an exacting science

 

Peter

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FJ, I would say a lot of your decision will be taken care of by the weight of gun you use. If you use a ligweight 12g (say 61/2lb) you would not want to use much more than 11/6oz (30grammes) of shot which will limit you to 6's & 7's. A heavier gun will allow you to push a bigger load without suffering from the adverse effects of excessive recoil. In my 71/2lb Beretta I can comfortably use up to 42g (11/2oz) of shot. This allows me to put enough large pellets (3's in my case) to adequately deal with geese, by having enough pellets to produce an effective pattern.

 

General shooting for pheasants, on the shoots I know where most people use over& unders, is done mainly with 30gx6's. Some folks like 28gx7's (mainly in in side by sides and twenty bores), 32gx5's and on high bird shoots you will regularly see people use 36gx4's. Doing a fair amount of picking up, I can tell you that the people using smaller shot than 6's prick an awful lot of birds when shooting at longer ranges. Conversely at medium ranges 7's produce much denser and therfore effective patterns.

 

I patterned my shotgun with many different types of shells, tried all sorts of multi-chokes and all sorts of shot sizes. After taking a cold shower and calming down I now use (CHEAP) 30gx6's for just about everything (pheasants, pigeons, rooks, crows etc.) apart from on a couple of real high bird shoots I am invited to where I use 36gx4's.

 

I suggest you read "Shotguns & Cartridges" by Gough Thomas, it will give you more information than any sane man will ever need :blink:

 

ft

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If you are talking conventional shoots and birds flying at you then I can certainly see and agree with 6 or 7 but most of mine are taken in the rough, often on the ground and at all angles, ..I favour 5 through 1/2 choke, those feathers can be tough and 7 are a bit light for rough shooting them in my experience!

:thumbs:

Edited by Deker
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If you are talking conventional shoots and birds flying at you then I can certainly see and agree with 6 or 7 but most of mine are taken in the rough, often on the ground and at all angles, ..I favour 5 through 1/2 choke, those feathers can be tough and 7 are a bit light for rough shooting them in my experience!

:thumbs:

Shooting pheasants on the ground, good god man the colonel will have a heart attack :icon_eek: Mind you, you sound qualified to be one of our syndicate :icon_redface:

 

ft

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FJ, and on high bird shoots you will regularly see people use 36gx4's. Doing a fair amount of picking up, I can tell you that the people using smaller shot than 6's prick an awful lot of birds when shooting at longer ranges.

 

ft

 

Not sure how many high bird shoots you have in Worcester if you were referring to Worcester, however, I doubt if you can compare that county with Devon/Somerset for high birds. I have been loading for over 15 years on three of the top Exmoor commercial shoots doing an average of 65 days a year and during that time have never loaded anything heavier into a shotgun than 34 grams and I could count them on two hands

 

As for pricked birds, I think you will find that it is not the size of shot that causes birds to be pricked but the placement of the shot - if the bird was shot nearer the beak than the bum most lead at say 35 yards will bring them down immediately

 

Peter

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FJ, and on high bird shoots you will regularly see people use 36gx4's. Doing a fair amount of picking up, I can tell you that the people using smaller shot than 6's prick an awful lot of birds when shooting at longer ranges.

 

ft

 

Not sure how many high bird shoots you have in Worcester if you were referring to Worcester, however, I doubt if you can compare that county with Devon/Somerset for high birds. I have been loading for over 15 years on three of the top Exmoor commercial shoots doing an average of 65 days a year and during that time have never loaded anything heavier into a shotgun than 34 grams and I could count them on two hands

 

As for pricked birds, I think you will find that it is not the size of shot that causes birds to be pricked but the placement of the shot - if the bird was shot nearer the beak than the bum most lead at say 35 yards will bring them down immediately

 

Peter

No sir, two in Shropshire (near Wigmore) and one in Gloucestershire (on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment). And yes they do produce some birds that are out of range, being a walking gun/beater can be an education. Convesely our little shoot near Pershore does not, we have to be selective for the opposite reason!

 

Don't go there about shot sizes and pricked birds, if you want a discussion on the ft/lb's of energy needed to kill pheasants at range better men than you and I (Gough Thomas, Burrard, Payne-Galway etc) have long discussed it

and reached a set of conclusions I am prepared to live with, even if you are not. A good sportsman should always do his best to ensure a clean kill.

 

I agree that shot placement is imperative, and having been honoured (as a young lad on Lord Swintons Masham estate) to see the late great Sir Joseph Nickerson shoot with his 28 bore Woodwards, and that it is possible to pull very high birds down with small loads of shot. BUT us mere mortals find it hard. I can only tell you what the people I know use on the high bird shoots i go to, 36gx4's Express fibre wads for most ('cos we buy in bulk), a few use Victory 35g/4's and some Hull 34gx5's. We always run a "bag of shame" which the empty shells are collected in so we can check the kill to cartridge average so it is easy to see what folks are using.

 

ft

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