how far?

[fieldwanderer]

How far away do you shoot pigeons usually? And what choke do you preffer for that range?

 

I'm not looking for someone to say "this is how you should do it" but if say 10 people replied and out of those 8 use a half choke at arround 40yds it stands to reason it's probably a good idea to follow suit, or give it a go at least.

 

another question, I know it's very difficult to explain how much lead to give a bird but;

 

I think it would be fair to say most pigeons, unless they're going like a jet fighter or coming to land, are going roughly the same speed. And, with about 2' of shot pattern, most crossing pigeons would be hit with roughly the same amount of lead 'leed'. So, say the answer to the previous question is most people look to take a shot at arround 40yds, how much lead roughly would that need?

 

The whole idea of asking the latter question is simply to get a rough idea as I think I give too much lead so don't worry too much about every bird being different, just a rough idea will be fine

[Paul in North Lincs.]

depending on the shot I'm using on he norm.....40-50yards would be about max

 

Never really gone into the technicalities of it all but normally I shoot and they drop....and with that I'm happy!!

[Cranfield]

I use 1/4 choke for almost all my shooting, including high driven pheasant.

What I do vary is shot size and load.

For pigeons I use 30gms of No6 shot.

My decoy layouts try to put the birds in a killing area of 25-35 yards.

 

Lead is a very difficult thing to quantify, it varies due to so many factors.

I do swing through and usually fire after the head disappears.

Always remember to fire below dropping birds, you may be surprised how many people don't do that.

[Popgun]

I have a mate who is a shooting instructor he says the bigest faults are to much choke and to large shot size

[fieldwanderer]

All good so far, and fair comment about lead (thought that would be the case but was hoping there'd be a "roughly 2-3' " or something.

 

I tend to use a 1/4 choke (imp cyl now) but I shot a dead silver birch the other day to see what the spread's like and (at 20yds), although it was beutifuly evenly spread, it must have been 2.5' accross!! I couldn't help but think it must contribute to the high number of "runners" I get (the fact that I don't get many shot into the bird because it's spread out so much) so I've swapped for a half choke but haven't had much chance to try it yet.

 

As for sweeping through the bird and firing when the head dissapears, I guess that depends how fast your reactions are but I will try it. You gave me that tip in another thread recently but I've not had much chance to try it yet - most birds are flying straight at me lately (had to run from a falling dead 'un the other day ) My gun shoots below where I'm aiming so I take it I need to come from behind (under) the bird and fire when the muzzle covers it completely??

 

Thanks for your help so far guys, I'm off out with my new toy for a bit! I'll check back later

[Cranfield]

If you want to try patterns, then use a large piece of plain paper/card, or a pattern plate.

Dead silver birches will tell you very little.

Also try different loads and shot sizes, you may be surprised at the difference.

 

On a bird flying straight at me, I would come up behind it and want to see some sky between the barrel and head before I pulled the trigger.

How much sky depends on how fast it is flying.

[dusk2dawn]

If you want to try patterns, then use a large piece of plain paper/card, or a pattern plate.

Dead silver birches will tell you very little.

Also try different loads and shot sizes, you may be surprised at the difference.

 

On a bird flying straight at me, I would come up behind it and want to see some sky between the barrel and head before I pulled the trigger.

How much sky depends on how fast it is flying.

 

 

If you get a crossing bird try saying "bum belly beak bang" as you swing through the birds tail feathers(bum) giving a lead and pull when you have said bang, its not as daft as it sounds.

 

D2D

[cloudwalker]

My Auto is choked at 1/2, any tighter and I found I was missing more than I was hitting

 

I tend to aim for the birds to come into my pattern at about 25- 30 yards.

 

This means birds that only skirt my pattern are at about 40 yards. I wouldn't shoot at any further than 50 yards max.

 

As far as how much lead, at the further ranges up to 3ft. The nearer the bird the less lead.

 

It really is hard to say, it becomes automatic!

[fieldwanderer]

Thankyou very much every one, for some reason unknown to me I seem to be getting somewhere

 

5 pigeon

 

2 Rabbits

 

a crow

 

and a magpie

 

ok so that little lot took arround 20 cartridges but it's a lot better than I have been doing!

 

Cranfield; you've given me some really good advise so far but I just wanted to explain that I wasn't trying to pattern my gun - it was just for a rough idea. Having changed to a 1/2 choke however, I am making much cleaner kills.

 

A couple of things I've found that may help others:

 

I noticed that a shot from my gun goes low after shooting rabbits and seeing the mud kick up just in front of them - now that I'm considering this and "aiming" a little above as well as leading pigeons I can hit more.

 

With my gun shooting below where I think it's pointing, I've found that with birds coming towards me I simply need to start behind (under) the bird and sweep through the bird (upwards) until it just disappears under the rib, a little more if it's going fast.

 

I stopped trying to guess lead with my old gun because I found I hit more when I didn't think about it but the opposite seems to be true now. I can "guess" lead fairly well with this gun, or for some other reason and I found yesterday that I hit a lot more this way.

 

Anyway, Whatever it was that someone suggested, thankyou very much. I'll see how I get on and, no doubt, I'll be back shortly with some more questions

[tommy trucker]

I noticed that a shot from my gun goes low after shooting rabbits and seeing the mud kick up just in front of them - now that I'm considering this and "aiming" a little above as well as leading pigeons I can hit more.

 

 

if you fit a comb raiser to your gun this will rectify this problem

[fieldwanderer]

Nice one TT, my mate's just bought one and when he's given it a go he says I can try his before I buy one

[magman]

I use 1/4 choke for almost all my shooting, including high driven pheasant.

What I do vary is shot size and load.

For pigeons I use 30gms of No6 shot.

My decoy layouts try to put the birds in a killing area of 25-35 yards.

 

Lead is a very difficult thing to quantify, it varies due to so many factors.

I do swing through and usually fire after the head disappears.

Always remember to fire below dropping birds, you may be surprised how many people don't do that.

 

 

best advice you will find

[njc110381]

Lead doesn't look the same to everyone. It's hard to put a distance on it. When I shoot my reactions are pretty slow I think and I need to see 3 feet in front. Other people say a few inches. It depends on your view of it. What I have learned is that missing in front is hard. If you miss behind with the beginning of the shot string, you've missed. If you miss in front with the beginning of the shot string, the back enders will still hit unless you're miles in front. Try aiming in front more, I was really surprised that when my coach told me to double my lead and miss in front I smoked the clay! Same applies to birds. I use 1/4 and 1/2 choke in the field, as that's what most people will recommend in my experience. I hope you improve soon, good luck with it. I'm new to this myself, so I know how hard it can be to start hitting birds

[Mungler]

I like to use a .177 with open sights at about 80 yards. Full choke mind you.

[peter-peter]

How far away do you shoot pigeons usually? And what choke do you preffer for that range?

 

I'm not looking for someone to say "this is how you should do it" but if say 10 people replied and out of those 8 use a half choke at arround 40yds it stands to reason it's probably a good idea to follow suit, or give it a go at least.

 

another question, I know it's very difficult to explain how much lead to give a bird but;

 

I think it would be fair to say most pigeons, unless they're going like a jet fighter or coming to land, are going roughly the same speed. And, with about 2' of shot pattern, most crossing pigeons would be hit with roughly the same amount of lead 'leed'. So, say the answer to the previous question is most people look to take a shot at arround 40yds, how much lead roughly would that need?

 

The whole idea of asking the latter question is simply to get a rough idea as I think I give too much lead so don't worry too much about every bird being different, just a rough idea will be fine

no 6's 1/4 choke. you don't want to be eating lead

[Ferret Master]

I like to use a .177 with open sights at about 80 yards. Full choke mind you.

Is that with pointed pellets or domed? Can I get my B2 to get similar groupings but still have sufficient energy to take down a muntjac?

 

[peter-peter]

How far away do you shoot pigeons usually? And what choke do you preffer for that range?

 

I'm not looking for someone to say "this is how you should do it" but if say 10 people replied and out of those 8 use a half choke at arround 40yds it stands to reason it's probably a good idea to follow suit, or give it a go at least.

 

another question, I know it's very difficult to explain how much lead to give a bird but;

 

I think it would be fair to say most pigeons, unless they're going like a jet fighter or coming to land, are going roughly the same speed. And, with about 2' of shot pattern, most crossing pigeons would be hit with roughly the same amount of lead 'leed'. So, say the answer to the previous question is most people look to take a shot at arround 40yds, how much lead roughly would that need?

 

The whole idea of asking the latter question is simply to get a rough idea as I think I give too much lead so don't worry too much about every bird being different, just a rough idea will be fine

if they are landing shoot at their feet. if taking off blot em out and keep the gun moving . if they are crossing at any distance, mount the gun come from behind when passing the bird shoot and keep the gun moving

get the hang of this and you won't miss many. dont think too much about lead think more about swinging the gun fron your waist

[motty]

How far away do you shoot pigeons usually? And what choke do you preffer for that range?

 

I'm not looking for someone to say "this is how you should do it" but if say 10 people replied and out of those 8 use a half choke at arround 40yds it stands to reason it's probably a good idea to follow suit, or give it a go at least.

 

another question, I know it's very difficult to explain how much lead to give a bird but;

 

I think it would be fair to say most pigeons, unless they're going like a jet fighter or coming to land, are going roughly the same speed. And, with about 2' of shot pattern, most crossing pigeons would be hit with roughly the same amount of lead 'leed'. So, say the answer to the previous question is most people look to take a shot at arround 40yds, how much lead roughly would that need?

 

The whole idea of asking the latter question is simply to get a rough idea as I think I give too much lead so don't worry too much about every bird being different, just a rough idea will be fine

 

The best advice i could give is to get down to your local clay ground and practise at skeet and dtl. You'll soon start to get used to leading targets and build up a load of mental sight pictures. If you can hit 80% or more on those two disciplines you should be able to kill woodies consistently. Also, getting a competent shot to shoot with would help.

[njc110381]

I like to use a .177 with open sights at about 80 yards. Full choke mind you.

Is that with pointed pellets or domed? Can I get my B2 to get similar groupings but still have sufficient energy to take down a muntjac?

 

 

 

I'm sure at 80 yards your B2 would take down a Red stag, and group at under 1/2". Done it myself! How does this help with the lead question though