Cartridge choice for pigeons

[51/50]

Well i tried one box of the 6's on corvids recently & when they hit they do exactly what they say on the box,1/4 choke,not chancing any shots at silly ranges,i'm happy with them,i reverted back onto the 5's though,i'll keep the 6's for pigeons as originally intended.

[enfieldspares]

On 19/05/2020 at 10:49, wymberley said:

Well posted.

Pigeons remain pigeons and shot hasn't changed either. What your post does is not so much explain the benefit of some choke as it does to highlight the old and true saying that "pattern kills".

Yes and apart from duck when it was legal I'd never choose 32 grams (the old 1 1/8 ounce load) of English #6 for anything. For any nominal advantage that the extra TWENTY pellets give over a 30 grams (the old English 1 1/16 ounce load) the extra cost in money isn't worth it. A 28 gram (the old 1 ounce load) of English #6 1/2 or English #7 would be better and yet cheaper in price. Some that have great success and good bags use a English #7 1/2 Trap Load with excellent results.

Edited June 4, 2020 by enfieldspares

[London Best]

38 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

Yes and apart from duck when it was legal I'd never choose 32 grams (the old 1 1/8 ounce load) of English #6 for anything. For any nominal advantage that the extra TWENTY pellets give over a 30 grams (the old English 1 1/16 ounce load) the extra cost in money isn't worth it. A 28 gram (the old 1 ounce load) of English #6 1/2 or English #7 would be better and yet cheaper in price. Some that have great success and good bags use a English #7 1/2 Trap Load with excellent results.

Very true, Sir.

Some on this forum don’t seem to think that any shot smaller than 5 will kill anything, particularly a crow.

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, enfieldspares said:

Yes and apart from duck when it was legal I'd never choose 32 grams (the old 1 1/8 ounce load) of English #6 for anything. For any nominal advantage that the extra TWENTY pellets give over a 30 grams (the old English 1 1/16 ounce load) the extra cost in money isn't worth it. A 28 gram (the old 1 ounce load) of English #6 1/2 or English #7 would be better and yet cheaper in price. Some that have great success and good bags use a English #7 1/2 Trap Load with excellent results.

And that almost twenty pellets is before you pull the trigger. Having done so and assuming, say, 1/2 choke and 40 yards, then the figure is halved. With the odd exception by maker or by choosing Continental 7s, the UK has largely done away with 6&1/2s. The 7s are marginally more available but not to the extent as was previously the case. It makes one wonder if the loaders consider that there are insufficient pigeon shooters about to warrant making them any longer and/or that all game is shot in excess of a 50 yard range. That said, perhaps it's not their fault as as you say for less dosh you can have success at a slightly reduced range with the English 7&1/2s. For some time now I've considered this last point to be somewhat unfortunate.

[enfieldspares]

Yes. Hull still do a #6 1/2 English in the Grouse and new 70mm "Partridge Cartridge" and the "classic" Winchester GB red plastic cartridge back in the 1980s was a English #6 1/2 being, as WYMBERLEY says, a European #7. I used to shoot with a man who used 1 1/16 ounce of English #7. We shot eight guns over a thousand acres but bag size was usually seventy to eighty head of game. He was a seriously good shot but you made sure if you could that you didn't take home the pheasants that he'd shot if you could identify your own birds (as you often could with small bags you'd put a extra knot in the string at the end of the drive as you braced up the birds).

Edited June 4, 2020 by enfieldspares

[London Best]

That brings memories!

I used a LOT of those Winchester GB’s in ‘No.7 shot’ or whatever was in them. They were a very good cartridge. 
Perhaps your friend used more choke than me as I don’t  find my birds peppered using 7’s through my open bored guns. (Or maybe he centred his shots better than me!)

[wymberley]

32 minutes ago, London Best said:

That brings memories!

I used a LOT of those Winchester GB’s in ‘No.7 shot’ or whatever was in them. They were a very good cartridge. 
Perhaps your friend used more choke than me as I don’t  find my birds peppered using 7’s through my open bored guns. (Or maybe he centred his shots better than me!)

Aircraft are supposed to stay on the concrete but occasionally the odd one would divert on to the grass for whatever reason. Recovery was never easy or straight-forward and particularly if a mainwheel had found a rabbit burrow which due to a sudden halt usually caused more damage than the problem which caused it to be there in the first place. Obviously control was necessary. This meant a visit to the armoury on a Friday afternoon when looking for "something for the weekend, please, Sir" as the armoury boss authorised a couple of hundred Eley Grand Prix 6s at my favourite price.

[Stonepark]

On 19/05/2020 at 10:16, Robertt said:

Was decoying a while back using 28g 7's using True Cylinder and had 80 ish in the bag.

Ran out of 7's and went on to 30g 6's and immediately noticed a dramatic change with some iffy hits, which upset my dog as it was a very hot day.

Changed to 1/4 Choke and it was straight back to business as usual with a total of 142.

It brought home the practical difference that a change of choke / can make.

Since then I will not use True Cylinder with anything bigger than 7's.

But I'm only an occasional pigeon shooter and there are some real big hitters on this forum who can give the benefit of thier experience.

 

You started with 134 pellets in 30 inch circle at 40 yards Cyl 28g No7 down to 114 pellets 30g No6 and by tightening the choke came back up to 156 pellets ( 30g No 6 1/4 choke).

You would have needed 36g No6 to match the 28g No7 pattern wise staying with the Cyl.

Pattern wise, I have found best value to be Imp Cyl for pigeon and 28g No 7 (167 pellets) for up to 40 yards to be sufficent, with 3/8 Light Mod  for longer shot out to 45 yards (162 pellets) on a second barrel, if available.

[db135]

30g 6 fibre wad whatever make they have in that thru 1/2 choke