Low velocity, "long range" loads are also an option when "lead equivalent" weight shot is used. I don't have Gough Thomas's data in front of me but I do remember, for example, that he recommended 3 drams of black powder for 1 1/2 ounces of shot. From what I can tell, such loads generate about 1000 f.p.s., give or take. Thomas also recommended British #4s but Don Zutz made a bit more sense to me when he recommended a minimum of Americam #4s for long-range ducks and #3s and #2s for geese. In guns that are compatible with them these loads, using lead shot, were real killers and I suspect that they could be the same with "heavy" non-toxic shot.
Thomas wrote that these loads were originally intended to enable shooters of "game guns" to shoot waterfowl. Some of the older examples of these loads went as slowly as 800- to 850 f.p.s. .
