doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com # 9 shot.......usefulness?

Absolutly perfect for starlings with the 28 gauge.

C.

I think nines have a place. Close in they do good work on everything from skeet to snipe to doves to wood ducks. A wounded woodie with 4 shot close in is a lost bird whereas when you pop him with 9 shot the cumulative effect of the many hits is a stone dead floater...Geo

I have very few rules for guests quail hunting with me on our ranch. One is only two cartridges in a gun and the other is no #9 shot. I've just seen way too many birds shot with it that are lost. Not many of us are capable of consistently centering a bird in the pattern and accurately judging range. My favorite is 1 ounce of #7 hard and I appreciate the way it will drive into vitals from any angle. On skeet and 16 yard trap I use #8 and don't feel a disadvantage on either.

I purchased a used 12-bore MEC 600 Jr. when I was 19 from a disabled vet who lived on his disability stipend and did nothing but hunt; thus beginning my reloading career. When I asked the seller for a load recommendation, he gave me his favorite dove load that consisted of 1 1/8 ounces of #9 shot. That was all I loaded for years and years; and as I'd lay out of work to hunt in those days and spent a lot of time in the field, killed hundreds and hundreds of doves with those #9 hand-loads. In fact, this load was so effective that it wasn't long before all my hunting buds were into reloading too, duplicating this same load; why fix something that ain't broke? Those were definitely the good old days!
I had other memorable experiences with #9 shot and my brother in law, who was built like a gorilla and just about as strong (and still is!), when he came across a Spanish 10-bore ejector double at the local gun shop; purchasing that gun and declaring that he had "finally found a gun that was man enough for someone like himself". He also purchased the dealer's remaining inventory of Western Super-X 3 1/2" mags loaded with 2 1/4 ounces of BB shot. When I asked him what he planned to shoot with his new 10-bore, he said he would be taking the gun on his opening day dove shoot. When I pointed out that, even if he managed to get in front of a bird with his 11 pound cannon; he would still most likely miss the bird, as a dove would be small enough to simply "fly thru" the gaps in his BB shot pattern. This perplexed my BIL greatly, as this was a dilemma he had not contemplated; so he asked what he should do. Well, I had just the idea to solve his problem; so we took his 3 boxes of 3 1/2" mags to my reloading bench and went to work. With a knife he pried open the crimp and dumped those BB shot into a Mason jar. I then took the empty shell, filled it to the brim with #9's, used the head of a 20-penny nail to tamp the crimp back in place; then sealed the deal with a dab of hot wax. I never thought to weigh those "9 loads, and although I thought the finished shells felt a bit heavy; the only important aspect of the project was that we were now ready to go dove shootin!
It was only after the dust had settled on the evening of that hot September opening day when it occurred to me that I had failed to consider the obvious fact that there had been a lot of air space in that column of BB shot; voids that had been virtually eliminated when those long cases were filled with "9's, so my poor ole cocky and trusting BIL was probably shooting 3 ounce magnums that day! At any rate, that gun and those doctored shells beat the livin' hell of out that ole boy that day. Several times, when shooting off balance, he was knocked flat on his butt by the recoil; but to his credit, he hung in there and fired everyone of those big stompers (he had a lot of pride!). When the shoot was finally over I asked him if he had bagged his limit, whereupon he allowed as he had (12 bird limit at the time); even bagged three with one shot out of a flock! But I was looking at his shoulder area as he related his prowess with the big 10 (he had shed his camos for a cooler polo shirt); he had been bruised black, blue, green, yellow, and purple form his elbow to his ear. It was, and still is, the worst case of recoil bruising I have ever seen! He had indeed found a gun that was "man enough"!

I use about 1 bag of shot about every two weeks.

For my 28 and 410 loads #9 is great for skeet.
Works great also in the larger gauges, but can also get
by with shot up to 7.5.
Use it up or send it to me

For hunting, I feel #9 is a bit small and can wound.
7 or 7.5 or even 8s are better for that.

Happy Thanksgiving
Mike

Excellent replies, all. Thanks, fellas.

I won't be using any of the little 1/2 oz. loads this year on feathers except maybe trying some on early released quail next door to me. Do plan to use them on sporting clays, though. I will test the limits of the little shot out of mod. and full chokes.

Thanks for the reloading tips, too. Thought maybe I was crazy tapping on the side of my rammer tube while reloading. I won't be loading any more 7 1/2s in the .410s though. Would like to try some 8 1/2s. They might be the perfect compromise between loading easily and breaking clays.

SRH

I recall using a box of #8, 1/2 oz, .410 on trap to try the little Lefever .410 from the 16 yd line. I shot some astounding score like 23 or 24. Later that day I took the same gun out and shot the same game with #9 shot. I could see the paint on the birds get dusted, but not break birds for the most part. I shot something like a 3 or 4.

I won't use anything smaller than 7 1/2 shot for quail and dove. I used #9 in a 20 ga in Yuma for a dove hunt because that's what I had and brought. Lots of wounded and lost birds. I switched to my .410 that I had 7 1/2 shot in 3" shells and started hammering them.

How 'bout this idea? My buddy has an Extrude-Hone machine in his shop. He uses it to deburr the inside of his choke tubes he manufactures. If it's not too much trouble to make a fixture to hold the rammer tube off the MEC, I may ask him to polish the inside of it with that. It'll only take a minute or two. Making the fixture may be the killer, though.

He may not see the importance as much as I do.

It just might make a significant difference in the bridging problem.

SRH

Sora Rails...but #10 or #12 shot is even better

Hey- I liked the story about the reloaded 3.5" 10 Roman candles- about the time I bought my first M12 3" Mag- 25 years ago- I had a goose hunting pal named "Early Up Eddie" he'd call me a 0300 hrs and say- "Gear Up, Jarhead' the Geese are movin' he bought a Spanish AYA 10 bore double 32" barrels with a single trigger- We set out some field dekes and waited- 4 came over above the tree-tops- "Too far" I said to him- "B.S." he replied, swung that freakin' cannon a mile to mexico, hit the trigger- Ka-Boom-- and a big goose dropped and bounced hard on the frozen picked cornfield-- Wow-I thought-

After we retrived the bird and poured some coffee- another group went by and circled- Ed opened his gun, then closed it and handed it to me and said- "Shoot a real man's gun, buddy" so I gave him over my M12, tried to balance that telephone pole escopeta, swung about 5 bird spans ahead of the leading bird, hit the trigger- Boom- I went back about three steps, the last bird in the line dropped stone cold dead- When I recovered, I opened the gun, and saw that only the right tube had a shell in its chamber- the left one was empty-

So I asked Ed- he said" Yeah- if I load both barrels, about every third time it doubles and lets off both at once- What could I say- but "Thanks, amigo"-- Whatta cannon-