I found some interesting shot on sale at BPI. Nickle plated 5 1/2's. I've never seen that before. I got a bag. I think I'll try it in the smaller gauges like 20 gauge. A little larger pellets than 6's and more pattern density than 5's. The pheasants probably won't notice the difference, but its off season and I have to find something to keep me interested.
5 1/2 shot
- Thread starter sneem
- Start date
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
lol. I counted pellets in various shells a while back.....steel was fairly accurate. Golden pheasant 6's where closer to 7's
remington, federals were +8% , winchesters almost dead on. Not that it matters though.
I'd buy 51/2's in a heart beatInteresting I have never heard of it Before. Let us know what you find out about IT.
It arrived. They look good. According to their chart they should provide 201 pellets per ounce. That's about half way between 232 for 6's and 172 for 5's. I'm more intriqued than ever. I'll haave to load some up and see how they pattern.
wisturkeyhunter
New member
Half way between 2 proven shot sizes would be a good place to be.
Rooster Roaster
Banned
I have succumbed to my curiosity and ordered 5 1/2 NP from BPI. Seems like the perfect size for pheasants and perfect for squeezing a few more "big" pellets into a 16 or 20 ga. pattern. My only criticism of the shot is that it's butter soft. At least the bag I received a few years ago. I have since on a tip ordered my NP shot from Precision Reloading. It is MUCH harder and it's easy to confirm this by squeezing both with pliers.
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Dakotazeb
Well-known member
Geez, you guys are really splitting hairs on this one. 5, 5.5 or 6 shot in the big picture isn't going to make much of a difference. You center up a pheasant with any of the 3 and it's going down. Don't think the bird will know the difference. But, if you are more comfortable and more confident with one size over the other by all means go for it. It's all a matter of what works for YOU.
Rooster Roaster
Banned
Fine tuning loads is just part of the hobby. Fun to try a few things.
You are right, of course. My brother and I go up to SD every year. He flies out here and we drive up. I load all our ammo. Several years back when the shot prices exploded, I decided to cut back. We usually shot 1 1/4 oz #5's. But I loaded 1 1/8 oz 6's. I didn't tell him and we killed as well as ever and he never knew the difference.
But that's too rational for me. I just like to experiment and try new loads and such. These 5 1/2's just add something to play with until November and I'm already looking forward to see how they work. But, then again, I'm easily entertained.
mustistuff
Banned
lol. I counted pellets in various shells a while back.....steel was fairly accurate. Golden pheasant 6's where closer to 7's
Not that it matters though.
recently I took apart 50 golden pheasant nickel shot shell in 28 ga. and weighed all 50 on my digital scale and it was calibrated, the loads listed at 7/8 oz. or 382 gr. not one shell weighed 382 gr. the average was 360 gr. which means they cheated me 15 pellets per shell. the point isn't that I came up missing a few pellets but if you read much, they talk about how accurate their reloading equipment is. theirs cost in the millions, mine a couple of hundred and mine throws a more accurate load, but then maybe it was planned this way. didn't weigh the powder, the wad used however was very high grade. was really starting out to find energy difference between the 5's and 5.5's but blanked on that. while I shoot a smaller gauge than the 20, I would have opted for the 6.5 or 7 just in case a quail showed up. anyway, If you are to reload, ya might as well have fun at it.
cheers
uplandrules
Banned
Be careful about hunting Federal land without a NON-tox shell