Best shot size for small payloads?

[HammsBeer]

I casually shoot clays with a pair of vintage 12ga. I don't reload so I use low pressure RST shells to minimize wear and tear.

The Fox Sterlingworth uses 2.5" - 3/4oz @ 1125.
The Model 12 uses 2.75" - 7/8oz @ 1200.

I'm shooting at ranges of 20 to 50 yards with these smaller payloads. What shot size would give me a good balance of # of pellets vs retained energy?

 

[rcmodel]

#8 or # 7 1/2.

But you would just need to try then in each gun on a pattern board to see which one gives you the best patterns.

Going smaller will not have enough retained energy to break clays at long range.
Going larger will not have enough pattern density to hit them except by accident.

But, 50 yards is stretching it a long ways with small charges of any size shot..

You might be a little too optimistic / hopeful there on that range.

rc

 

[PapaG]

After spinal surgery and a subsequent spinal infection I found myself getting too beaten up with the 1200 f/s 1 1/8 oz trap loads. I had been a 97 to 98 per cent shooter and had fallen to 94 or less. I also believed in 7 1/2 shot or nothing. Even used a semi- auto.
This past spring I tried 1 oz of 8s at 1150 f/s. Patterned great in both my TB and my Superposed. Average was the best this year of any of the past 20. 10 25 straights, three 50s, two "top gun" hats in summer league and I don't feel sore after an event. 97.5 average. I even use that load back to 24 yards.
71 and enjoying it again.
As RC says so well, check the patterns and match the shot size to the distance.

 

[oneounceload]

i use 3/4oz reloads in 12 for practice and running at 1275 or so (over a chrony) the 8.5s I use will break any target on the 5 stand or FITASC. You'd be surprised just how far those pellets will break a clay target - might not smokeball them, but an X is an X. 7/8 of 8s will also break anything you're likely to find at about any distance, especially if it a Bunker load.

 

[243winxb]

#8 shot

 

[PapaG]

Forgot to mention that the 1 oz of eights seems to break the targets just as decisively as the 1 1/8 of 7 1/2s. Smoke at 16 yards, good solid smashes at 20 to 23.

 

[HammsBeer]

Thanks. I actually have several boxes of #7.5 and #8 and was surprised to see recommendations for both, and in my informal shooting I can't seem to tell which is better. My skills certainly are not the best (I hit maybe 2/3), but I get quite a few that are just nicked instead of busted or dusted, so I wondered if pellet size vs pellet count played a significant role.

I'll recheck the patterns with both and see what each gun prefers.

 

[Steve C]

I always chose shot size by target distance. 8's for skeet and will work OK for 16yd trap but used 7-1/2 for handicap, doubles, international, and long range fun-n-games.

For hunting it was larger shot for lager birds. 7-1/2 for quail, dove and pigeon, 6 or 4's for pheasant.

 

[oneounceload]

Thanks. I actually have several boxes of #7.5 and #8 and was surprised to see recommendations for both, and in my informal shooting I can't seem to tell which is better. My skills certainly are not the best (I hit maybe 2/3), but I get quite a few that are just nicked instead of busted or dusted, so I wondered if pellet size vs pellet count played a significant role.

If you open up a shell and mic the shot, you'll find shot is +/- a half size either way - especially with the really cheap stuff. As to just nicking and smokeballing - that has nothing to do with the shot size and everything to do with the shooter....
Head on the stock, eye on the rock..............and keep the gun moving.

 

[243winxb]

#8 shot @ 1200 fps will break clays at the trap range, from the longest handicap yardage. But it takes 1 1/8 oz for a good patters in a 12 ga.

 

[oneounceload]

Yet, in the Olympics when they dropped from 28 to 24 grams (1 oz to 7/8 approx), their scores went UP............
And remember, their targets are made physically harder because they are launched at a speed 50% faster than US targets.

 

[243winxb]

Then we should all do better with a .410

 

[oneounceload]

If you can run a load about 1350 to 1400, you bet!