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Mixed cartridges day.


motty
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My first few rape stubble harvest bags this year have been ok, but I always chase big bags at this time. I had yet to shoot a ton so far this harvest, but I have been looking, looking and looking.

Gerard was invited to shoot with me on Saturday, provided I could find a worthwhile destination. He had taken a day off work a couple of days before, to join me on a rape stubble that I was sure would produce a pretty big bag. We shot 42....       I was determined to provide him with a better day.

Driving around I found a rape field that had only been cut the day before. There was a good flightline to it and several lifted as I drove a lap around the field. This looked quite promising.

If you are wondering where Jules was, he had just got permission to shoot on another farm, so he shot on some rape stubble there. He could have fitted in somewhere on my field, but thought it better to try pastures new.

So I set up my hide in the middle of this sizeable field, and stuck out some flocked shells on the rape stalks. A magnet was put to my right. Later another magnet found its way to my left.

I had a steady trickle of birds before my guest decided to arrive. I had shot a box of cartridges for my first 20 birds. This was in stark contrast to my shooting of late, which had left a little to be desired.

So, to the title of this post. I don't know how many different cartridges we used during the day, but it was several. Gerard had a bag of odds and ****, which contained lead, steel, tin and bismuth loads. They were all used and were all effective. The thing I found most surprising, was how well we were killing pigeons with the ounce of 9s that we used a box of. We both use extra full chokes, and these little pellet loads were killing them stone dead at a comfortable 40 yards. We killed a few others that were a bit further than that (with other shells) and these were extremely satisfying. It made such a change, as I was taking on distance birds with confidence, and connecting with several.

The main flightline was steady, and several doddlers were presented to us. Very few made it back out of the decoys, as Gerard was also shooting well.

Eventually the fun ceased, as the main line now stopped short onto the wheat stubble in front of us. We picked up a very welcome 122 pigeons. Jules, on his field, picked exactly half that, so we all had some fun.

 

 

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motty just loved that story :lol:

i have in the past used a collection of ammo...some rusty :w00t:...and some i hadnt a clue what it was...........and have always thrown the pellet size aguement out of the window.......

9's with a reasonable choke are a wicked cartridge..........

great day boys

 

ditch

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Now now Wayne you can't go posting about killing Pigeons at 40yrds with 9 shot  cartridges and other various non effect cartridges you'll have the  " Ballistic and Technically minded members " turning cartwheels an pulling their hair out 🤣🤣 

Well done mate to you and Gerard . Keep knocking em down 👍

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Just now, 6.5x55SE said:

Now now Wayne you can't go posting about killing Pigeons at 40yrds with 9 shot  cartridges and other various non effect cartridges you'll have the  " Ballistic and Technically minded members " turning cartwheels an pulling their hair out 🤣🤣 

Well done mate to you and Gerard . Keep knocking em down 👍

I agree. It's not possible to kill pigeons at that distance with such small shot. Nor for that matter with tin, steel or bismuth. 

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A great report and well done for your ton, JDog was talking of extreme range shots. I was given a whole slab of nine shot cartridges left over from a corporate clay shoot which I used on a day they were hovering over the decoys. We had some birds land in a tree sixty odd yards away, I agreed to put a shot up and spook them , I aimed about a foot above one of the birds and stoned it, we checked another shell in my pocket and the shot did not rattle and we think the shot had balled up, I was using a half choke. We continued to use the slab up with no problems.

Again well done with the ton and perhaps your lucky charm , Jules will give you some more mega bags in the near future if you invite him??

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Good report and a very respectable bag , I have shot more than enough pigeons lately with small shot to know how effective they are , at the moment I am using Gamebore White Gold clay loads and they certainly do the business , the last lot were Velocity and they were also a good shell , to keep the cost down I bought 1200 assorted cartridges from the last sporting auction at Acle , these worked out at around £40 a slab plus buyers premium , the next one is next month . I also done a deal with Smoker smith ( Steve ) from up your way with some different shells I hadn't used before and to be honest , if you can hit them at a sensible range the cartridges were more than good enough to kill a pigeon .

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15 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Good report and a very respectable bag , I have shot more than enough pigeons lately with small shot to know how effective they are , at the moment I am using Gamebore White Gold clay loads and they certainly do the business , the last lot were Velocity and they were also a good shell , to keep the cost down I bought 1200 assorted cartridges from the last sporting auction at Acle , these worked out at around £40 a slab plus buyers premium , the next one is next month . I also done a deal with Smoker smith ( Steve ) from up your way with some different shells I hadn't used before and to be honest , if you can hit them at a sensible range the cartridges were more than good enough to kill a pigeon .

I have always believed in small shot for pigeons. Underneath that mass of feathers is an unusually small body. Archie Coats all those years back  said sevens and his word is good enough for me  

Edited by Vince Green
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good report, I have never shot 9s at anything other than clays, but if you think about it what you lack in weight and penetration you make up for in pattern density very small gaps in it, so more shot on target more chance of hitting the vitals  just a thought, ill stick to 6s though in lead, mind you  I have been  shooting  pigeon with steel for the last 12 months   :good:

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26 minutes ago, JDog said:

And another thing, you will never get pigeons to decoy anywhere near a hide like that in the middle of a field.

Bloody know all...............and wot the **** do you know about pigeon shooting.......youve been on this site for 5 mins and advising us how to do things...you come out with all this carp youve read somewhere....

bloody silver surfers, get stuck in my craw.........:mad:

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