Copper Shot?

[A5 Sweet 16]

I will suggest that most hunters cannot not consistently hit a 50 yard crossing bird with any ammunition.

I'm one that can't. But I take them occasionally if it's a GOOD 50 yd shot. Not at all a straightaway, no nasty cover, etc. And I'll probably miss most of them, but at least I know my shells are sufficient. It'd be nice to have an excuse, but it's strangely comforting knowing I'm the problem & not my gun or shells.

 

[remy3424]

I will suggest that most hunters cannot not consistently hit a 50 yard crossing bird with any ammunition.

I think A5 is the only one with much of a chance on 50 yard crossers, sporting that full choke tube and an autoloader. Maybe if BB were here, he could make that shot and then shoot it again before it is on the deck...just to make sure.
I find pheasants that are much closer to me (than 50 yards) are much easier for me to hit, but I am not using a full choke either. I will guess AT LEAST 80% of the birds I shoot flush within 20 yards of me. Thus the IC tube I use...and having a pointer. Yah, I like the lay-ups. Things vary so much from the habitat, to what type of dog you use, to the shells you use (lead or non-tox), to the ability of the hunter.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

I think A5 is the only one with much of a chance on 50 yard crossers, sporting that full choke tube and an autoloader. Maybe if BB were here, he could make that shot and then shoot it again before it is on the deck...just to make sure.

Me? No. But BB could do what you suggest. Easy.

 

[Bob Peters]

I've heard tales of the old days up on the high Canadian where the crackshots could make a hit many times at that distance. They used old time Sweet 16s. But not those with the inferior Jap barrels, the ones handcrafted in Belgium.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

I've heard tales of the old days up on the high Canadian where the crackshots could make a hit many times at that distance. They used old time Sweet 16s. But not those with the inferior Jap barrels, the ones handcrafted in Belgium.

Exactly! Barrels crafted by some Belgian, sipping (chugging, more likely) a Stella Artois at the lathe, were much straighter, smoother, prettier, & more accurately choked than those produced by Japanese technology, well known to be inferior, especially in the 80s & 90s.

 

[LC Smith]

I shoot full choke. Per my response to another comment in this thread, I take very few 50 yd shots. My 50 yd criteria comes moreso from wanting "great" pellet penetration at 40 yds, not just barely enough, because I take plenty of those (not straight aways). Great penetration at 40 basically bleeds over into "sufficient" penetration at 50 yds, kind of by default. Similarly, when I talk about my 150 pellet rule, that mainly gets me to 40 yds or so, & does tend to thin out at 50. But my shooting ability also comes into play. I'm not nearly as reliable at 50 as I am at 40. But if I don't whiff at 50, I tend to make a good shot, putting enough pellets in the kill zone.

The thing about 35 yds does, in fact, sound like me. Not 100% sure of the context, but I believe I was probably talking about straight away shots.

I obviously enjoy discussing ballistics. I need to remember that when I do, it could be interpreted several different ways, when much of the time I'm mainly talking about achieving pellet penetration, particularly when I discuss different shot sizes & materials.

The ability to put a killing pattern on a bird at some range is so specific to the shooter & his/her particular gun/load/choke combination that I almost don't consider those topics part of "ballistics". In my mind, I tend to apply "ballistics" to ammunition only & the rest to shooting technique & guns/chokes. For right or wrong.

As a fellow 16ga guy, I’d have no issue shooting the Boss copper in #4, out of a Full choke, just past the 40yd mark. The density is not that much lower than bismuth. I’d feel comfortable with that load.