I posted this prior to last year's opener and am re posting it in the event someone new to the forum would be interested. With Pheasant season just around the corner I thought that some of you who reload might be interested in hearing this recipe. In the American Rifleman in June of 1987 an article was published written by Ron Forsyth called "The Low Velocity Principle". Since I read it way back in 87 I have been using the following load as my go to Pheasant load with great success:
2 3/4" Wichester AA hull
Winchester 209 Primer
Winchester has discontinued the WAA12F114 wad, so, substitute the Claybuster Shotshell Wad 12 Gauge CB1114-12
20 grs. of Alliant Green Dot Powder
1 3/8 oz. of #5 shot
This load generates 9800 psi and screams along at 1075 fps. Yes, I said 1075 fps and absolutely crushes Pheasants. It is a dream to shoot and is so comfortable to shoot I have never reached for high velocity loads for Pheasant again. The bad news is that this load is only to be used with lead shot.
This low velocity principle is based upon pushing larger size shot and shot weights through air resistance more slowly thus loosing less inertia less quickly to arrive at our target at 40 yds without giving up much energy over higher velocity loads. This might be hard for some of you to believe, but, it works. If you are really interested contact the American Rifleman editor for a copy of the article and read it. They have this as well as all of their articles archived.
2 3/4" Wichester AA hull
Winchester 209 Primer
Winchester has discontinued the WAA12F114 wad, so, substitute the Claybuster Shotshell Wad 12 Gauge CB1114-12
20 grs. of Alliant Green Dot Powder
1 3/8 oz. of #5 shot
This load generates 9800 psi and screams along at 1075 fps. Yes, I said 1075 fps and absolutely crushes Pheasants. It is a dream to shoot and is so comfortable to shoot I have never reached for high velocity loads for Pheasant again. The bad news is that this load is only to be used with lead shot.
This low velocity principle is based upon pushing larger size shot and shot weights through air resistance more slowly thus loosing less inertia less quickly to arrive at our target at 40 yds without giving up much energy over higher velocity loads. This might be hard for some of you to believe, but, it works. If you are really interested contact the American Rifleman editor for a copy of the article and read it. They have this as well as all of their articles archived.
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