Perry,
What Keith said. I'm not a reloader, but, I'm not above buying a flat of 1960s vintage Federal 1oz 16 gauge loads of number 8 shot, and using them up at the trap range-come to think of it, I just did that. Lady wanted $10 for the whole box. Seemed like an OK deal to me.
Those rounds got fed to an Ithaca model 37, and all of them went off without a hiccup. But, had they been 12 gauge, I'd have bought the box and fed them to one of the shooters. It's nice to own a gun or three that you don't worry about pressure, or, whatever.
Contrary to the experience of others here, I wouldn't use the WInchester low noise stuff on wild pheasants that have seen some pressure (almost all of them in my world). They only go up to 7 1/2 shot, and they aren't all that speedy. I like 5s and 6s for wild birds, I've been to some game farms where you could kill the pheasants with a handful of pebbles thrown at them, but, the wild birds need a bit more than that.
The low noise stuff is OK for grouse or woodcock.
Best,
Ted
