Well, Stan, since this started out as a 12ga thread I hesitated to chime in because I’m a 16ga guy. But now that it’s spread out, I can give you my reasoning for shooting 3/4 oz loads exclusively. For decades I was a 1 oz fellow - period. But some time pre-COVID reloading components started getting hard to come by and concurrently my cervical spine began to protest even modest 1oz loads. I couldn’t shoot 50 rounds without beginning to experience numbness in my trigger hand. I briefly transitioned through 7/8 oz loads but settled on low pressure, low speed 3/4 oz loads (6200 & 1150) and haven’t looked back. As others have said, when I’m “on”, the targets break or the birds fall. I have not done the math but the average age of the SxS’s in my safe is definitely over 100 years old so starting the lighter loads to slower speeds keeps the gun and the gunner happy longer. I used to be a 1000 round/year shooter but that hasn’t happened since COVID began and probably won’t ever again as powder availability now is the issue with wads not far behind (DR 16’s). I am adjusting and working on alternate loads but climbing costs continue to work against me. Quality of shooting these wonderful old doubles hasn’t gone down but quantity sure has.
Last edited by FallCreekFan; 03/27/24 03:37 PM.
