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#341122 10/11/13 11:19 AM
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Tom28ga Offline OP
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I'm going to SD for the pheasant opener. I'm considering taking a 16ga Fox Sterlingworth (Utica) and have some concerns about using heavy pheasants loads. These range between 1-1/8 & 1-1/4oz. of shot and around 1300 fps. velocity. The is a very late (1938-40) production gun with 2-3/4" chambers. Should I be concerned?

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What would worry me the most, is cracking the stock with those loads. There is not a lot of support for old oil soaked end grain, and it will likely end up with cracks, from loads that heavy.

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Why such heavy loads, Tom?

I hunt MT and both Dakotas, never on a pay for play operation and hunt nearly daily from the first opening day in MT to the closing day in SD.

In 55 seasons I have shot most every kind of load, heavy ones when I was young and inexperienced, lighter loads as I grew in experience. They all kill roosters, but heavy ones no deader than light loads.

I will shot season limits in all three states, and then again as birds are consumed and as in years past, about 30 of them now, I will shoot 2.5 inch B&Ps High Pheasants with 1 and 1/16th of an ounce of lead.

Tom, take it from an old pheasant hunter. Most any modern shell will work just find, but you will tear birds up less and kill them dead enough with light loads, particularly if you have the good fortune of a good dog.


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Tom28ga Offline OP
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I have a whole flat of RST 2-1/2" 1 oz. copper plated #6's. However, the first two days will be push & block hunts with birds probably at longer ranges. I don't feel compelled to use bigger loads but am weighing my options especially with second barrel loads.
The gun I'm using is in excellent condition and the wood is not oil soaked in the least. As a matter of fact, it is perfect. I'm more concerned with metal issues.
The last three days will be walk-up hunting with good dogs.
Incidentally, I've killed a lot more roosters in MT than I ever have in SD and usually with a 20 gauge.

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According to Tom Roster and his extensive research, velocity is shed quickly as it leaves the barrel and the differences in velocity become negligible at those "long ranges." Shoot the RST's. As Robert Frost so eloquently put it, "What undid me...was not what I didn't know. It was the things I knew that weren't so."

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Have you checked out the B&P 16 ga 1 1/16 oz loads? I really like them and they aren't super high pressure loads according to B&P.


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Tom28ga Offline OP
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I have a lot of confidence in RST ammunition and will use them extensively.
I also like the Remington 16ga. ammo and have planned on using them in the second barrel. They are not the hottest or biggest load out there but certainly complement the RST's with slightly more shot (1-1/8 vs. 1oz) and a little additional velocity.
At some point, this becomes a hair-splitting activity. It really is about shot placement with the proper amount pattern density.
I don't have any B&P 16ga. ammo but do think highly of them and have a flat of 28ga. shells in inventory and some 12ga. Int'l Trap shells that are great target loads.

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Tom,

Depending on when and where you hunt SD, we might meet up and I have a flat or two of the B&P 16s that I would spare a few boxes from, if you want them.

I will be back from my MT home on the night of the 30th to our Henry SD home and will hunt SD through the 15th of November, when I will go up to our Regent ND property to hunt.

Drop me a pm, if you wish and we will see if it works.


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Tom take it from experience it does not take too much recoil to damage what is perceived to be sound wood. My 1935 vintage Sterlingworth developed an internal crack in the web and I have never use a load of more that 1 1/8th ounce at 1200 fps. Now I use 1 ounce loads for pheasant, Prairie Grouse and Sage Grouse and 7/8th ounce for quail.

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I would shoot 1 1/8 oz. at 1200 fps with no worries. I have a 16 Sterlingworth and that's what I used on the prairie for pheasant. That's what the gun was designed to shoot. If the wood cracks, get it fixed. They are tough guns and prior generations sure didn't baby them.

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