Hey Guys,
My original post was an attempt at humor after the board had its extended down time but it appears that these types of questions- despite being held in general disdain- do evoke a strong response. Truth be told, I have been shooting 3 inch, 1 oz of buffered 6s and 5s (copper plated Federals or nickel plated Fiocchis) out of my SKB/Weatherby 20 ga, 26 O/U for 20+ years. I initially began using these loads in a quest for magnumitis typical of an unmentored upland newbie. What I found was that I enjoyed a high rate of success shooting these out of a SK/IC combo of chokes at wild west Kansas roosters over my setter who was an absolute pheasant savant. Even with a limit of 4 birds/day, there were never enough trigger pulls in a day to make recoil an issue. My current setter has more modest abilities in pinning pheasants so Ive changed my choke combo to IC/MOD out of the same gun. Im currently on a 9 for 9 streak of 1st barrel (IC) kills. The general consensus has always been that 1 oz is all that is necessary for pheasants and that a 1 oz load throws superior patterns out of a 20 bore. This well may be true but Im sticking with my tried and true loads in keeping with the If it aint broke, dont fix it adage. Out of my new Rizzini Round Body EL, I intend to use the same Federal and Fiocchi shells but in 1 oz loads so I dont subject the gun to the potentially damaging effects of heavy recoil. I do appreciate the variety of responses to my whimsical inquiry.
ratt
