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36G carts, too much for pigeon?


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Went to my local RFD to buy a couple of slabs of my normal clear pigeon 32g but they were out. He gave me a good deal on a slab of Hull High Pheasant Extreme (pretty much same cost as the clear pigs) but only had 36 gram no. 5 shot. I am looking forward to using them in my old auto-5 reckon they'll cycle her well but wondered if there now too much for pigeon?

 

Most of my shooting is 30-50 yards so doubt I'll be eating any I hit bang on!

 

Any views?

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Pah! It's just a traditional 1¼oz "high brass" load for a 12 gauge (the "low brass" load being 1 1/8oz).

 

Our forebears would have thought nothing of using that quantity of shot all the time, though I grant you, powders have come on and muzzle velocities have increased a little since the development of smokeless powder, making them slightly more uncomfortable to shoot these days.

 

Frankly though, they'd probably look at most of the rest of us using a 12 gauge and shooting with it only 1oz or even ¾oz of shot and ask us what on earth we thought we were doing. :hmm:

 

(In the same vein, ¾oz is the traditional 28 gauge load.)

 

 

 

PS - These days, I don't get my 12 gauge out for anything less than 36g cartridges...

Edited by neutron619
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Went to my local RFD to buy a couple of slabs of my normal clear pigeon 32g but they were out. He gave me a good deal on a slab of Hull High Pheasant Extreme (pretty much same cost as the clear pigs) but only had 36 gram no. 5 shot. I am looking forward to using them in my old auto-5 reckon they'll cycle her well but wondered if there now too much for pigeon?

 

Most of my shooting is 30-50 yards so doubt I'll be eating any I hit bang on!

 

Any views?

hello, i need to try a few heavy loads in my semi to break it in, how much were those hull carts and where did you buy?

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That's a hell of a cartridge! I used 32g Ext High Pheasant in 5 for high bird days last year ( actually 4.5 English shot size) and they were very convincing no need for anything more, infact I used up some eley VIPs on pigeon this year as will be sticking to extreme high pheasant for high birds this season, the VIP were 34g no4 which were a bit much on pigeons over decoys, no 'runners' though..

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Guest cookoff013

Pah! It's just a traditional 1¼oz "high brass" load for a 12 gauge (the "low brass" load being 1 1/8oz).

 

Our forebears would have thought nothing of using that quantity of shot all the time, though I grant you, powders have come on and muzzle velocities have increased a little since the development of smokeless powder, making them slightly more uncomfortable to shoot these days.

 

Frankly though, they'd probably look at most of the rest of us using a 12 gauge and shooting with it only 1oz or even ¾oz of shot and ask us what on earth we thought we were doing. :hmm:

 

(In the same vein, ¾oz is the traditional 28 gauge load.)

 

 

 

PS - These days, I don't get my 12 gauge out for anything less than 36g cartridges...

Here!

Here!

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The biggest percentage of decoyed pigeons are shot within 35 yards. Any 28 gram trap load is plenty.

There are loads more 50 yard cartridges that 50 yard pigeon shooters.

I exclusively used trap loads in lead for about 14 yrs and have changed to 28 and 24 gram no 7s in steel about five yrs ago.

According to my diary there is no difference in my yearly bags.

In fact ive shoot duck flighting to ponds with both 28 and 24 gram steel.(Mallard and Teal).

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will you go back to clear pigeon after you have shot your hulls ! let us now how you get on. if you want.

Probably due to cost, these bad boys are nearly 100 quid for 250 normally. Bit of a result though to try though my old semi it should consume these very nicely!

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Gawd I wish I was young enough to knock me shoulder out every time I went shooting. In all Gods honesty why would anyone want to shoot 100+ 36grm cartridges on a days pigeon shooting.

 

Is this some sort of self flagellation where you have to punish yourself for killing Gods creatures. :oops:

 

Jeeze I like to be able to hold the steering wheel with both hands on the way home. :lol:

 

 

 

G

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That's a hell of a cartridge! I used 32g Ext High Pheasant in 5 for high bird days last year ( actually 4.5 English shot size) and they were very convincing no need for anything more, infact I used up some eley VIPs on pigeon this year as will be sticking to extreme high pheasant for high birds this season, the VIP were 34g no4 which were a bit much on pigeons over decoys, no 'runners' though..

What happened to all of the old Eley charts showing shot size for the game? 34g no4's was a fox load or hares in those Eley charts.

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Using my 1930 A5 tomorrow and it prefers heavier cartridges to cycle reliably. Was out of 32's so thought I would go a couple of notches heavier and try the 36's. The gun will feed 28's but we're out all day tomorrow and i would rather avoid any cycling issues.

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Gawd I wish I was young enough to knock me shoulder out every time I went shooting. In all Gods honesty why would anyone want to shoot 100+ 36grm cartridges on a days pigeon shooting.

 

Is this some sort of self flagellation where you have to punish yourself for killing Gods creatures. :oops:

 

Jeeze I like to be able to hold the steering wheel with both hands on the way home. :lol:

 

 

 

G

 

Well, on the one hand, I sort of see your point - an ill-fitting, lightweight gun with heavy cartridges could conceivably give you a painful shoulder.

 

On the other hand - and I didn't say this to the OP originally because I thought it would be argumentative - 36g is hardly any different to 32g in recoil or performance, both on paper and in my experience.

 

To wit, you're only talking about 10-12% more shot than his usual 32g cartridge. That shot is likely to be propelled somewhat slower to stay within the CIP pressure guidelines, ergo, recoil will be about the same. It might ​feel​ different because the manufacturers used a different powder or wad, etc., but the recoil force involved isn't going to change much in practice.

 

Furthermore, a well-fitting gun and the excitement of shooting seems, for most people, to mitigate the effects of recoil. I'm not saying older folk don't suffer it more - perhaps they do (I'm only middle-aged) - but if I were struggling with recoil in a decent weight 12 gauge and the only thing I'd done was add 1/8oz shot to the load, I'd be asking whether I needed the stock tweaking or the fit changed to better suit me.

 

Finally, to the OP, your birds will not be any more "crunchy" than usual. 4g of #5 shot is about 30 extra pellets in the cartridge. If a 5" circle represents a pigeon and a 30" circle is your standard pattern area, then you're going to have, on average, less than one extra pellet per bird sized circle in the pattern. I don't think one extra pellet strikes over what you usually get with a 32g cartridge is going to be an issue.

 

Good luck, and enjoy them - you're partaking in a bit of historical re-enactment by using them. :)

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Gawd I wish I was young enough to knock me shoulder out every time I went shooting. In all Gods honesty why would anyone want to shoot 100+ 36grm cartridges on a days pigeon shooting.

 

Is this some sort of self flagellation where you have to punish yourself for killing Gods creatures. :oops:

 

Jeeze I like to be able to hold the steering wheel with both hands on the way home. :lol:

 

 

 

G

 

Weedy, girlie types sometimes have issues.

 

Big fat ****ers using man sized guns don't have such difficulties.

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