Since I been shooting sxs for game about 50yr I don't think I've ever put more than an ounce of shot through a 12/16/20 ga. My go-to for waterfowl is an ounce of bismuth 5s and 7/8 oz of ITX 6s. Pheasants and.grouse.1oz B&P High Pheasant 6s or my waterfowl loads on lead restricted areas. Dove and quail get my 7/8oz claybird load of 8s that I use for SC, trap and skeet. When I was shooting for hunt test was my heaviest load as the club supplied RM or Win trap 7.5s.
Never feel under gunned and never left very many cripples in the field. I hunt mainly Wa, MT SD WI and MN while I was hunting a lot, now it is different ves, quail and waterfowl in NM and AZ
