Number 5 or 6? Pattern Pics Included.

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BritLab79

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I finally found a shell my gun likes. Kent fast lead 12 gauge number 5 and 6. Both are giving me excellent patterns at 30 yards with a modified choke. I hunt over a flusher and most of my shots are around 20-35 yards on stocked birds. Which one would you choose? The paper is 36"x32".pattern 5.jpgpattern 6.jpg
 
I like your displays. For me, I would be happy with either shell I loaded. I shoot mainly #6 lead from my 12b and 16b guns, but am looking to switch to #5 Boss. To answer your question, I would be inclined to go with the #5. The pattern on paper seems more consistent and focused. If you had a 35-40yd shot, I would feel more comfortable with the pattern density and pellet energy of the #5‘s.

To add to my comments, I am not a believer in the Speed Kills mentality. My shells are only 1oz or 1 1/8oz loads that run 1175-1200fps. In one gun I am shooting a 1oz 2 1/2” load And hammer pheasant at 40+ without concern from a #6 load.
 

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Pen raised birds, I think 6s are more than adequate. I've killed a bunch of those birds with AA #7 1/2 trap loads.

Wild birds, I like quality 5s. Shots tend to be farther out and wild birds have an incredible will to escape/live. I think the 5s break bones a lot more effectively than 6s. All the above IMO.

YMMV.
 
LC Smith said:
I’d get confused with what sheLoL to grab from what vest pocket. 😂
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I wear a shell belt with closed loops. Since 6's are the primary load the primers are blackened with a magic marker making ID easy. Not sure why shell belts aren't mentioned on this website more often. Only weight in the vest should be a bird.
 
Wind River said:
I wear a shell belt with closed loops. Since 6's are the primary load the primers are blackened with a magic marker making ID easy. Not sure why shell belts aren't mentioned on this website more often. Only weight in the vest should be a bird.
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My scuba gear is set up without a belt, it’s all integrated, as is my upland rig. I hate wearing an exterior belt. My vest has a great shoulder padding and waste suspension system and it works well. It has a pocket the pertly holds a shell box, one on each side if I choose. I guess I’ll stick with shooting a single load in my double barrels. 😉
 
Whether 5’s or 6’s, not much difference, just playing mind games or because you just have them. While hunting pheasants and quail in Kansas, I swear it was impossible to shoot a quail with 6’s on a straight away shot, 8’s were the equalizer. Nice to have choices. My shell belt also carries my leatherman and keeps the weight on my waist. Has worked for over forty years and will be passed down to my grandson.
 
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Wind River said:
Whether 5’s or 6’s, not much difference, just playing mind games or because you just have them. While hunting pheasants and quail in Kansas, I swear it was impossible to shoot a quail with 6’s on a straight away shot, 8’s were the equalizer. Nice to have choices. My shell belt also carries my leatherman and keeps the weight on my waist. Has worked for over forty years and will be passed down to my grandson.
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Now, when I am in Kansas and know I am in quail country, I keep a handful of 7 1/2’s in a pocket.
 
Seems like I’m always looking to by 5s, but last year I killed a bunch with a 16 ga and 6s. Hard to go wrong either way. At this point, I say buy which ever one is cheaper and go get some birds.
 
BritLab79 said:
I finally found a shell my gun likes. Kent fast lead 12 gauge number 5 and 6. Both are giving me excellent patterns at 30 yards with a modified choke. I hunt over a flusher and most of my shots are around 20-35 yards on stocked birds. Which one would you choose? The paper is 36"x32".View attachment 5386View attachment 5387
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At that range either shto size is fine, especially on stocked birds. I hunt springer spaniels as well and my typical shot is at about 30 yards. i also hunt quite a few released birds where nontoxic is required. For that I prefer #5 or #4 and yes Kent Fasteel is great there too. When hunting wild upland, and using lead, I like fiocchi golden pheasant #5 nickel plated lead. kent fast lead #5 is also in my bag when I can’t find the Fiocchi.
a buddy once told me, it doesn’t matter so much what you shoot when your hunting near home but when you take trips like I do to North Dakota yearly he said that a good shell is ok but a great shell is worth a few Pennie’s more, especially as you are driving a couple thousand miles round trip. I listened to that and have done well with quality ammo and a good shotgun.
 
BritLab79 said:
I finally found a shell my gun likes. Kent fast lead 12 gauge number 5 and 6. Both are giving me excellent patterns at 30 yards with a modified choke. I hunt over a flusher and most of my shots are around 20-35 yards on stocked birds. Which one would you choose? The paper is 36"x32".
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Neither you nor the bird will know the difference between those loads in your scenario, if you can put the pattern on them!

I would be using a 12ga 2 3/4" 1 1/8 oz #6 lead at 1200-1250 fps at those ranges. Here's the load I often use for my first shot on wild birds.

Good luck!

Patterning results from a 12-gauge Browning Citori with 28" Invector-plus barrels using Briley flush chokes (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

12 GA 2 3/4" RELOAD (GREEN DOT)
1 1/8 oz #6 lead (267 pellets) @ 1225 fps
30 YARDS – CYL / pattern 147 (55%)
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 171 (64%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 211 (79%)
40 YARDS – LM / pattern 173 (65%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 182 (68%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 195 (73%)
 
BritLab79 said:
I finally found a shell my gun likes. Kent fast lead 12 gauge number 5 and 6. Both are giving me excellent patterns at 30 yards with a modified choke. I hunt over a flusher and most of my shots are around 20-35 yards on stocked birds. Which one would you choose? The paper is 36"x32".
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So those would be the 1-3/8 oz loads? That's pretty stout, but obviously nothing wrong with it. I know there's a difference between pen-reared birds & wild ones. I know MOST of your shots are close-ish. And I know everyone has a comfort level when it comes to range.

But I prefer to be prepared to kill a rooster at 50+ yards at any time (not straight-away shots). So I shoot #5 lead or #4 bismuth (& would shoot #2 steel if I shot steel). Those shot sizes also really help on straight-away shots in the 30-35 yd vicinity, where 6's struggle to penetrate sufficiently. Nothing wrong with extra pellet energy on the closer shots either. As remy mentioned above, more pellets will blow right through, leaving fewer feathers & stuff to remove.

FYI, bumping muzzle velocity (keeping shot size the same) from 1200 to 1500 only gains you about 10 yds effective range, while increasing recoil about 50%.
 
I like both of the patterns, but the 5's speak to me. Like some say either will do. But I think your overthinking it for the pen raised birds. I shoot 30 or so a year and see about that many shot by my grandsons. I shoot them with some good brand of 1 oz of 6's or even 7.5's from a 20 gauge. Both my grandsons shoot 16's. Pen raised birds are about three times easier to get down and seldom run far. Most are DOA but if they aren't I figure it's very good tracking practice for the dogs and doesn't make me near as sick if I do loose one.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
So those would be the 1-3/8 oz loads? That's pretty stout, but obviously nothing wrong with it. I know there's a difference between pen-reared birds & wild ones. I know MOST of your shots are close-ish. And I know everyone has a comfort level when it comes to range.

But I prefer to be prepared to kill a rooster at 50+ yards at any time (not straight-away shots). So I shoot #5 lead or #4 bismuth (& would shoot #2 steel if I shot steel). Those shot sizes also really help on straight-away shots in the 30-35 yd vicinity, where 6's struggle to penetrate sufficiently. Nothing wrong with extra pellet energy on the closer shots either. As remy mentioned above, more pellets will blow right through, leaving fewer feathers & stuff to remove.

FYI, bumping muzzle velocity (keeping shot size the same) from 1200 to 1500 only gains you about 10 yds effective range, while increasing recoil about 50%.
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They are definitely stout loads but unfortunately I patterned around 5 different loads with this gun and these are the only ones that gave me a good pattern. The 1200-1330fps load patterns were awful.
 
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