Full chokes and #4 shot
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mnmthunting
Banned
I've shot a rooster or two with a pump, full choke, #4 lead.
MTtailchaser
Member
I have an old 870 with a fixed full choke barrel and shoot #4 lead most of the time.
birdshooter
Well-known member
There's no question that Full and #4 is a deadly combo and usually results in very few cripples. However, you MUST be able to use some self control on close flushes and let the birds get out a ways or you will turn them into instant hamburger.
mnmthunting
Banned
Yeah, with my Labs I seldom have a wild rooster to close. If they are it takes me a couple seconds to get the bead anyway.
I Think a close up shot with any choke or shot size would result in a mess.
I Think a close up shot with any choke or shot size would result in a mess.
shorthairs4life
New member
In my trips to SD, I used #4 but I used a modified choke. This seemed to be plenty of reach.
Florida Man
New member
Down in Kansas the full choke with #4 shot is what the old timers were brought up on and that is what they pass on to the younger folks. Every now and then you will find a bird with a few # 2s in it at cleaning time.
mustistuff
Banned
# 4's
i think it is really dumb, for one, pheasants are not that hard to kill and with a full choke you won't hit many of them period. that combination is for fifty yard shooting and all the studies show that at most only a couple of percent of hunters can it anything at that range, these same studies also show that the average pheasant is dead on the ground at 30 yds. sometime when you are out in the field pace off 50 yards and see what it looks like. i have killed several thousand pheasant in my life and i hunt the entire season and find very little difference in the distance i kill birds at whether it is the beginning of the season or the last day. mostly it is a myth. birds flush wild cause you spook them not cause it is later in the year. my own studies indicate that nearly 80% of my birds are taken with imp. cly. the balance with a mod. and nearly all of them have been taken with 7.5 shot in a 20 ga. or 28 ga. my choice but you don't need a canon to hunt with or buck shot either for that matter
cheers
i think it is really dumb, for one, pheasants are not that hard to kill and with a full choke you won't hit many of them period. that combination is for fifty yard shooting and all the studies show that at most only a couple of percent of hunters can it anything at that range, these same studies also show that the average pheasant is dead on the ground at 30 yds. sometime when you are out in the field pace off 50 yards and see what it looks like. i have killed several thousand pheasant in my life and i hunt the entire season and find very little difference in the distance i kill birds at whether it is the beginning of the season or the last day. mostly it is a myth. birds flush wild cause you spook them not cause it is later in the year. my own studies indicate that nearly 80% of my birds are taken with imp. cly. the balance with a mod. and nearly all of them have been taken with 7.5 shot in a 20 ga. or 28 ga. my choice but you don't need a canon to hunt with or buck shot either for that matter
cheers
My thoughts exactly.
goldenboy
Well-known member
I hunt from the beginning of the season till the end with an O/U the first barrel is improved cylinder and the second is modified. Correct me if I am wrong but I have read somewhere that the center core of any pattern is about 20 inches. That 20 inch core stays roughly together throughout the killing zone of a shot. So if you shoot I/C or Mod. or Full they all have a center core of about 20 inches that hold enough bb's to do the job whatever the choke you use and whatever the range until you use speed and power?
Well I guess I will sell my model 12 16 gauge for scrap iron. Apparently the birds that i have been shooting for the last fifty years are alot closer than I think. I don't know how I could have beeen so "dumb" all those years. Fortunately I have been shown the light for the last couple of years. I think I will get a pilgrim style blunder bust and use that from now on.
mustistuff
Banned
pattern
i think you are miss informed on the pattern, as the shot leaves the barrel, it tends to spread, depending on the choke, how much it spreads, but spread it does so that eventually the center has few to no pellets, think turkey patterns. with my 14 ga. true, it is a muzzle loader, shooting at a standard turkey target, head and neck, at 20 yards, i murder it, at 25 there are about 25 pellets in the kill zone, at 30 yards, i average 11, at 35 yds, about 5 and at 40 yards i can't hit it. all chokes act the same at what ever distance they are designed for.
cheers
i think you are miss informed on the pattern, as the shot leaves the barrel, it tends to spread, depending on the choke, how much it spreads, but spread it does so that eventually the center has few to no pellets, think turkey patterns. with my 14 ga. true, it is a muzzle loader, shooting at a standard turkey target, head and neck, at 20 yards, i murder it, at 25 there are about 25 pellets in the kill zone, at 30 yards, i average 11, at 35 yds, about 5 and at 40 yards i can't hit it. all chokes act the same at what ever distance they are designed for.
cheers
mustistuff
Banned
being dumb
don't think you are or have been dumb but if the next time you go pheasant hunting, check the distances that the bird falls, even considering they sail maybe 5 yds. after being hit, you will be amazed at how close they really are and there are a million studies out there that back this up, enjoy the hunt, whatever the distance and if you are having fun, don't quit. just get a good gsp to go with you
cheers
don't think you are or have been dumb but if the next time you go pheasant hunting, check the distances that the bird falls, even considering they sail maybe 5 yds. after being hit, you will be amazed at how close they really are and there are a million studies out there that back this up, enjoy the hunt, whatever the distance and if you are having fun, don't quit. just get a good gsp to go with you
cheers
LOL roll on floor laugh out loud. Bull$h!t You either can't shoot or don't hunt in the wind. Now one is talking about 50 yard shots. Haymaker is right.
1pheas4
Moderator
Mustistuff, this may very well be the case in an area where wild ring-neck pheasants aren't pushed all too much within a season
. But, when it comes to wild birds that have experienced hunting pressure, there's absolutely no doubt that they flush further out than early season birds.
carptom1
Well-known member
Mustistuff, this may very well be the case in an area where wild ring-neck pheasants aren't pushed all too much within a season
But, when it comes to wild birds that have experienced hunting pressure, there's absolutely no doubt that they flush further out than early season birds.
Your right. I think musti is hunting tame pheasants
Wind makes a difference. Birds get up and away fast. If I don't get them as they come up, or when they level out in 10yards, look out! That is a salute, not a shot. When we talk about 50 yard shots, for me it's simple I don't shoot! There very well could be other birds holding tight between me and them, ones that the dogs will find, and I get an easy shot, but not if I unleash a hailstorm of lead at a rapidly departing bird, who I might kill, but more actually wound or miss, leaving me unsatisfied. There are lots of reasons to miss a normal flush, For heavens sake, I have done it. Shot size on thin skinned game at normal range is meaningless. 7 1/2 -4 doesn't matter. I think we are missing the fact that the actual shot, like most hunting is the consequence of the game. It's the dog work, the strategy mastered to get a great shot, a shot you might not make, granted. That in essence is the sport. Those birds are crafty, who are smarter, will be the next generation progenators. If you hunt alone, without a dog, 4 shot, especially in steel could make a difference I suppose, in dead birds easily retreived, if you are driving and blocking, 4 shot in 3", makes me concerned, in any case, I would still keep the range the same. I would point out, that except Elmer Keith, all reputable shotgunners and shotgun coaches advise open chokes, short barrels, knowing that the opposite results in less success. I have said before The british shells are 1 1/8 ounce of high velocity loads of high antimony lead in #7's. They shoot pheasants at spectacular distance with those, "high pheasant" shells. We don't shoot at "fixed" station, we have to adjust to terrain, footing, obstacles in the flight path, cold, rain, sun,and or heat and persperation in the eyes. I guess an edge is acceptable, if you find it in a particular shell, so be it.