Something different..or not

[Guest keepshooting]

I was wondering if it would be worth mixing two different shot sizes in 12ga home loads? Like the Americans have done.....just a thought!

[rapid12]

cant believe the loaders havent posted yet! as i think this is a good thought ? come on loader boffins i would like to know your thoughts myself.

 

i could see 4s + 5s mixed been a good hare load.

 

5s and 6s for corvids and 6s and 7 1/2s for pigeons. maybe this could catch on?

[Guest keepshooting]

Thanks

[EdSolomons]

You can already get that in certain brands, Cheddite do various mixed sized shells for clays.

[Guest cookoff013]

^{in absolute reality, the pigeon loads are made so cheaply that there are possibly a small percentage of 5s and 7s in there anyway.}

^{what advantage will 10% 5s do compated to 100% #5s? nothing at all.}

^{without being too preechy, i wouldnt even entertain 5s for hare, a good 36g #4 minimum or #2s.}

 

^{if you buy and use the right cartridges for the job, you wouldnt need to be questioning or even considering duplexing loads.}

[Amazed]

5s do very well on hares/rabbits a bit over kill on pigeons tho I think a 5 and 6 load may work quite well for rough shooting

[bicykillgaz]

I thought you tended to use a smaller shot size to fill gaps in larger shot shells. like 3" bb's for fox with the gaps filled with 71/2 i thought it was to aid with pattern which bigger shot suffers with, rather than trying to make a pigeon load into a pigeon/hare load.

 

Might be wrong but that was my understanding

[Guest cookoff013]

I thought you tended to use a smaller shot size to fill gaps in larger shot shells. like 3" bb's for fox with the gaps filled with 71/2 i thought it was to aid with pattern which bigger shot suffers with, rather than trying to make a pigeon load into a pigeon/hare load.

 

Might be wrong but that was my understanding

 

no, you use smaller shot sizes to hit smaller targets. bigger targets use bigger shot. why oh why would you entertain the idea of #7s in with BBs? just because it fits in a shell, doesnt mean it can be used for every thing, so by that logic if i load

1LG

1SSG

1SG

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in a 3" cartridge, i can shoot sporting, rabbits, hares, foxes, pigeon, rats, crows, skeet,trap, double trap and shoot practical, with just one cartridge.

 

its kinda real funny sometimes, "rc" sipe hit harder than any other cartridge, but if you disect it, its just an average cartridge with european, shotsizes, making them bigger. when 5on the side its 4-4.5 in the shell. whats written on the side, isnt in the shell. thats the mystery of english /euro / us shotsizes.

 

if and when you start making your own, you come to realise, a shell is a shell. they are just as good as the data. switching to decent shotsizes, makes all the difference. 6s are only used because they are just good enough for pigeon. the yanks use 5s on pigeon, that equate to an english 4. they use 36g loads on phesent of 4s which are our 3s. they are not shooting driven birds either.

they use 6s on doves. thats our 5s for essentially tiny little birds.

 

"5s do very well on hares/rabbits"

 

i`ve also seen 5s on hare. wont even entertain the idea. awful experience, having to clean up after someones poor cartridge selection. why do some people think that 6s are suitable for everything? 12gauges are extremely versatile, yet in this country some still think 6s are as heavy as you can go, and 5s are classed as magnum and blow holes in the universe.

why are people so cheap as to use 7.5 and 8s on phesents. just because "bigger spread".

[motty]

 

 

no, you use smaller shot sizes to hit smaller targets. bigger targets use bigger shot. why oh why would you entertain the idea of #7s in with BBs? just because it fits in a shell, doesnt mean it can be used for every thing, so by that logic if i load

1LG

1SSG

1SG

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

in a 3" cartridge, i can shoot sporting, rabbits, hares, foxes, pigeon, rats, crows, skeet,trap, double trap and shoot practical, with just one cartridge.

 

its kinda real funny sometimes, "rc" sipe hit harder than any other cartridge, but if you disect it, its just an average cartridge with european, shotsizes, making them bigger. when 5on the side its 4-4.5 in the shell. whats written on the side, isnt in the shell. thats the mystery of english /euro / us shotsizes.

 

if and when you start making your own, you come to realise, a shell is a shell. they are just as good as the data. switching to decent shotsizes, makes all the difference. 6s are only used because they are just good enough for pigeon. the yanks use 5s on pigeon, that equate to an english 4. they use 36g loads on phesent of 4s which are our 3s. they are not shooting driven birds either.

they use 6s on doves. thats our 5s for essentially tiny little birds.

 

"5s do very well on hares/rabbits"

 

i`ve also seen 5s on hare. wont even entertain the idea. awful experience, having to clean up after someones poor cartridge selection. why do some people think that 6s are suitable for everything? 12gauges are extremely versatile, yet in this country some still think 6s are as heavy as you can go, and 5s are classed as magnum and blow holes in the universe.

why are people so cheap as to use 7.5 and 8s on phesents. just because "bigger spread".

While i agree with alot of what you say here, i would say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a well placed no.5 load on a hare. I imagine the reason you were 'cleaning up' was due to a poor shot and not poor shell selection.

[Guest cookoff013]

While i agree with alot of what you say here, i would say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a well placed no.5 load on a hare. I imagine the reason you were 'cleaning up' was due to a poor shot and not poor shell selection.

you are absolutely right, and the fact they tried to shoot them too far out. due to the circumstances the clean up shot (s) couldnt be had straight away, the screaming was the first indication of a balls up, then the follow up shots then the screaming again. then i stepped in. no messing. those were the 2s.

i dont think i`ll ever shoot hare again.

 

12gauge is like a tool, like any other, use it incorrectly, then its useless.

[Amazed]

I don't really see how you could be too far a way for 5s hares are that dumb they willingly walk right up to you any ways they work fine for me but as a rule it's the 22 that will be cleaning up later on in the year. But as for a mixed cart I still would like to see a few 6 in with 7.5s and a few 5s in with 6s be a nice rough cart the last one

[EdSolomons]

I have a few friends in te US who shoot huge quantities of dove with US 8.5s. Small birds like doves and pigeons do not take much stopping.

[Big Mat]

I don't really see how you could be too far a way for 5s hares are that dumb they willingly walk right up to you any ways they work fine for me but as a rule it's the 22 that will be cleaning up later on in the year. But as for a mixed cart I still would like to see a few 6 in with 7.5s and a few 5s in with 6s be a nice rough cart the last one

 

You can quite easily be to far away from a hare, as with any quarry it depends on how you come across it. Not everything is sat a perfect distance away waiting to be shot.

[Amazed]

 

 

You can quite easily be to far away from a hare, as with any quarry it depends on how you come across it. Not everything is sat a perfect distance away waiting to be shot.

 

I don't know about you but I don't just blast away at anything that presents its self. Selecting your target and judging distance should be learnt way before fireing a gun at living quarry.

[bicykillgaz]

cookoff013

 

I wasn't suggesting that the no7 was in the shell to aid with killing, the way id had it explained was it is to help with giving the larger shot in the same shell a better pattern by filling the gaps inside the shell (not gaps in the pattern) giving the larger shot better stability, apparently some shot sizes sit unevenly on the wad and it can cause shot to start spreading unevenly giving a poor pattern, the way it was explained to me was that the smaller shot filled those gaps giving an even pressure on all the shot so it holds pattern better.

 

I'm well aware you use big shot for big stuff smaller shot for smaller stuff and that there is pretty much no point in mixing similar sized shot. The person who explained it to me reloaded for his .410 using this method for fox shells with it been a narrow shell it doesnt lend its self to larger shot so he packed the gaps and apparently it worked for him can't remember the exact combo but it was a very large shot with a very small shot.

 

Also aren't all those American sizes steel so don't hit as hard if they was to use the same sizes as our lead cartridges so they need to go up in size to get the equivelant performance?

 

I've used 5/6's for hare but only close range walking up rows in a beet field shooting over a lab incase of runners, ive also had a screamer which made me switch to no3's instead or preferably just head shots with my .22lr when possible. I personally don't reload I just try and buy the right cartridge for the job.

 

 

[Dekers]

This seems to be getting into a bit of a No5 and Hare situation.

 

Fact is cartridge selection/quarry/distance is all important in any shooting.

 

No 5 is perfectly satisfactory for Hare shots, but as someone else mentioned above I still prefer a rifle on them generally.

 

:yes:

 

With regard the original question, it's something I have not thought about before, it may have some merit but I wait to be convinced!

 

:good:

[anser2]

If mixed shot sizes were effective a major cartridge maker would by now be selling them. Mixing shot sizes results in different pellet sizes moving at different speeds as the mass of a no 5 is more than a no 6 or 7 and carrys more energy further. The overall result will be a long shot string with fewer individual pellets hitting a moving target and at extreme range the energy of some of the smaller pellets will be questionable to say the least. True at close range the pattern may be better , but a shell should do its job at say 30 yards with one shot size so whats the point of mixing sizes.

 

Chose the right shell loaded with the correct pellet size that patterns well in your gun to do the job you need doing. You need a shell that will kill within your capabilities at a reasonable range that produces a clean kill and a bird fit for the table.

 

In my case No 4 for hares , 5s for rabbits , 6s for pheasants and most pigeons and perhaps 7s for decoyed pigeons.

[Guest keepshooting]

Jesus some people need to chill,usual pw bull!

[Amazed]

Jesus some people need to chill,usual pw bull!

 

Ha ha nice

[Floating Chamber]

In the early 1990s, Lyalvale loaded a 'mixed shot' shell for a U.S. company. The ORVIS 'DuoShot' was its name. It was loaded into a 70mm Cheddite clear case. The powder was Neodisc and the shot charge was 1.1/8 oz. it contained 60% 8 shot, 40% 9 shot by weight.. The shot was not mixed. The loading machine had TWO separate shot dispensers, each dispensing the correct weight for the load.

I shot a few hundred of these. They broke the clays they hit!

 

I still have a couple in my collection.