An old Dog and new tricks.

[kitchrat]

On 20/02/2020 at 17:39, JDog said:

Fuddy Duddies like me do not like change.

I am not a Luddite for nothing and when Clodhopper suggested to me that I try 28 gram 71/2 cartridges rather than the no.6 I have used for Donkey's years the suggestion was almost as radical as if he had asked to spend a night with my wife. He had had some success with them and more importantly had increased confidence in his own shooting so I thought I would give them a try. One box was quite enough I thought for this experiment.

This morning I had a long stay in bed and didn't feel too bad this afternoon so I snuck out without my wife seeing me and drove to a roosting wood. I only took the one box of cartridges, a game bag and Jasper. I was in place by 4:15 and by 5:00 I had used every cartridge and was on my way home. I picked ten pigeons, all as dead as dead could be and all full of rape. 

Given that a shotgun is a fairly powerful weapon, it doesn't REALLY matter (usually) what ammo you are using, it's all in the head that matters.

Once, many moons ago, a few of us were shooting suicidal pigeons over drilled beans and were running out of ammo, so one guy was sent to the local hardware shop. All they had in stock was skeet stuff, 1oz of number 9 shot. He had to buy it and we noticed no difference because the birds were suicidal - at 25 yards anything will do.

That said, I wouldn't dream of taking No 9 shot out normally, especially in these days of magnet aware birds. Usually I plump for 30oz No 6 if they are playing the game, changing to 32 gm No 5 if they are not. Makes no real difference except inside my head.

Tonight I will be "roosting" in a wood with 40yd-high trees and will start with 34gm 5's (extreme pigeon) but may change to 36gm No4 if they are high above the tops. I know it's totally unnecessary but if my head is happy I shoot well.

The same can be said about choke, when decoying I usually use Improved cylinder and 1/4 chokes, when roosting 1/4 and 1/2. I have the unusual tool of a multi -choke, double trigger o/u Beretta, so with the heavier load in the tighter barrel  I can kid myself into believing I have the right choke and ammo for almost any situation, at the flick of a finger. (I can't get on with the selector switch on a Browning for example, too much going on, I forget which is which and it won't change with the safety switch in the fire position, which is where it would be as the incoming bird swirls away at 45 yards)