doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What are you using for field loads?

I have gotten away from reloading for shotshells and am wondering what factory shells you may be using for 2&1/2" field loads? I have used Hull cartridges, 1&1/8 oz in 5s and 6s with great results in the past but I'm just about out. It seems they are no longer imported into the US and I'm having a hard time finding a proper replacement. I tried RST field loads and found them to be VERY light, lighter than I want for wild roosters. So, what are you using?

B&P

Very nice loads but they are dirty

2nd B&P High Pheasant 2 1/2 inch, 1 1/16 oz., 6 & 7 shot, 1280 FPS
and MB Classic 2 3/4 inch, 1 1/8 oz., 5s at 1330.
http://bandpusa.com/hunting/upland.html

I've used b&p target loads in the past and did not care for them....it could be just me. They seemed much hotter than comparable British loads. I'm trying to feed the old gal right.

I'm shooting RST's, in fact the 12's are the ones I got from you when you were last over. The 16's in #5 seem to do a job on Roosters, no complaints....I tried B&P's High Pheasant and thought they were way too hot for my taste...I still have a couple of hundred Joe Wood specials that I loaded off his recipe..But I have also quit loading...

SKB: Have you tried any Gamebore loads? They are pretty nice shells. I've shot RST and I like them but agree they are very soft without much WHOP to them.

I use RST's in both 16 bore and 12 bore, the 1 oz. loads @ 1150 fps. A charge of one ounce of #5 shot going 1150 fps is enough to kill any flying game bird stone dead. I've never really liked the B&P's, too much pressure and they just seem to pattern tighter than other shells. I've used the Noble Sport 2.5" "English" loads too, now those are HOT! 1300 fps and lots of recoil, but they pattern very well and I've killed many birds with them. Just too hot for most vintage guns though. I shot the Noble Sports mainly out of a Darne R-15. Gamebore shells are just as hot, if not hotter than the Noble Sports and the B&P's...and they are expensive.

Lots of wild Nebraska roosters, early, mid and late season birds shot with RST's, never had a issue with their killing power. My favorite load is the 1 oz. #6 @ 1150fps, I uses this load for sharptails, sage grouse, ruff grouse, blue grouse, pheasants, valley quail, bobwhite quail and chukar.

Dustin

Steve,

I'm a creature of habit, I started using RST, and haven't seen a reason to stop. For the last few years I have used almost exclusively the load Dustin mentions (in 16 gauge): 1 oz. # 6 @ 1150 - for ruffs, blues, sharptails, huns and pheasants, early and late season. Of course, I try to swat the roosters down before they get too many miles out.

I killed 112 wild roosters here in Kansas last season and another dozen or so in Nebraska, all with 1 oz #5's RST's. The few I crippled and lost were due to my bad shooting, not the loads. Also killed a gaggle of Grouse and Chickens nad 2 turkeys, same load...Works for me, and I like "soft" and so do my guns..

For roosters RST 5's or 6's in 1 oz work fine in my 16 and I have open chokes at .001 and .011. I have to pick my shots and the combination works well to 30 yards going away and maybe 35 on passing shots. It is actually my ruffed grouse gun that I also use for pheasant hunting and I also use RST for grouse in both 1 oz and 7/8 oz.

I still have a mixed flat of B&P High Pheasant and Gamebore for my 12 but I rarely shoot it. The B&P's are all 30g #6 and the Gamebore are 28g and 30g in 6 or 7's. I liked the Gamebore 28g the best but I have only tried those on ruffed grouse.