x101airborne
09-12-2012, 09:44 AM
Well, I have settled down from my recent trips dove hunting across Texas and since I got so much help from the folks here, I thought yall would like to hear how a noob went from never loading a shotshell to having some experience (as little as it may be).
With the advice and mentorship of TonyJones, I was able to come up with some really good components and a lot of good reading. And with the advice and opinions of other members who were kindly willing to share their experience, I kinda felt like I may have a chance to make this a spectacular dove season.
Two weeks ago, I hunted La Feria, Texas seven miles from the Mexican border. La Feria is right.... it was HOT!!! And windy! There were some doves flying, but not many. All the whitewings were high and moving fast. Long shots were the norm, not the exception. Thank God I took my over/under with my extra chokes. I wound up installing the full and modified chokes and using the nickle plated shot. 1 oz loads of #8 nickle shot over 1330 fps of 700X and a Winchester WAA12SL wad. This was a great load and patterned well without being overly hard in recoil. Now I can say this is my EXPERIENCE with nickle shot on everything from close in darters to long shot high flyers and even a couple rock pigeons. That nickle plated shot is AWESOME!!!! That load of #8s killed better, patterned better, and carried further than any #6 load I have tried. Pattern density was terrific with almost no holes floating around in my patterns. I was killing high flyers and rock pigeons at 50 yards EASILY. There were almost no runners and I have to say, the cost of the nickle shot was well worth it.
Well, the wife was jealous that I shot birds and she didn't, so I loaded the Fam up and headed to the hill country to shoot north zone whitewings. This time I carried my Dad's old Mossberg 500 with fixed improved choke and my wife carried my Charles Daly auto with a modified screw in choke. This is my wifes first season shooting on the fly, so I wasn't expecting her to hit much but I was excited she wanted to try. Tyler, my oldest, took his bolt action 410 for swatting flyers and landers to see if he likes bird hunting enough to buy him a Rem 1100. I actually think the wife outshot me. All of us got our limits of doves two days straight and had a great time as a family. Even Tyler was able to swat a limit around the Mojo decoys. And guys, if yall haven't yet tried the Mojo Dove decoys, yall are missing out.
I ran out of nickle loads and had a couple boxes of Winchester Heavy Game #6's to try and compare to my nickle loads. Geeze, those things suck. I mean, I just really dont know that I will even shoot these up or not. My mossberg blew the patterns every time. The Charles Daly shot them ok, but not spectacular. And the range was very poor. Runners were common and I had to use a lot of 357 ratshot to swat em. The only factory round I tried last weekend that even came close is the Rio Texas Dove Load in #6. But it had a lot of recoil and I was soon sore from shooting them. So, this weekend I will be loading the last of my nickle loads and cleaning guns getting ready for opening of regular season locally. I just wanted to thank everyone for giving me advice and say that I was listening when yall talked.
I especially will be loading that nickle shot in my kiddo's 410. That stuff is LETHAL!!
With the advice and mentorship of TonyJones, I was able to come up with some really good components and a lot of good reading. And with the advice and opinions of other members who were kindly willing to share their experience, I kinda felt like I may have a chance to make this a spectacular dove season.
Two weeks ago, I hunted La Feria, Texas seven miles from the Mexican border. La Feria is right.... it was HOT!!! And windy! There were some doves flying, but not many. All the whitewings were high and moving fast. Long shots were the norm, not the exception. Thank God I took my over/under with my extra chokes. I wound up installing the full and modified chokes and using the nickle plated shot. 1 oz loads of #8 nickle shot over 1330 fps of 700X and a Winchester WAA12SL wad. This was a great load and patterned well without being overly hard in recoil. Now I can say this is my EXPERIENCE with nickle shot on everything from close in darters to long shot high flyers and even a couple rock pigeons. That nickle plated shot is AWESOME!!!! That load of #8s killed better, patterned better, and carried further than any #6 load I have tried. Pattern density was terrific with almost no holes floating around in my patterns. I was killing high flyers and rock pigeons at 50 yards EASILY. There were almost no runners and I have to say, the cost of the nickle shot was well worth it.
Well, the wife was jealous that I shot birds and she didn't, so I loaded the Fam up and headed to the hill country to shoot north zone whitewings. This time I carried my Dad's old Mossberg 500 with fixed improved choke and my wife carried my Charles Daly auto with a modified screw in choke. This is my wifes first season shooting on the fly, so I wasn't expecting her to hit much but I was excited she wanted to try. Tyler, my oldest, took his bolt action 410 for swatting flyers and landers to see if he likes bird hunting enough to buy him a Rem 1100. I actually think the wife outshot me. All of us got our limits of doves two days straight and had a great time as a family. Even Tyler was able to swat a limit around the Mojo decoys. And guys, if yall haven't yet tried the Mojo Dove decoys, yall are missing out.
I ran out of nickle loads and had a couple boxes of Winchester Heavy Game #6's to try and compare to my nickle loads. Geeze, those things suck. I mean, I just really dont know that I will even shoot these up or not. My mossberg blew the patterns every time. The Charles Daly shot them ok, but not spectacular. And the range was very poor. Runners were common and I had to use a lot of 357 ratshot to swat em. The only factory round I tried last weekend that even came close is the Rio Texas Dove Load in #6. But it had a lot of recoil and I was soon sore from shooting them. So, this weekend I will be loading the last of my nickle loads and cleaning guns getting ready for opening of regular season locally. I just wanted to thank everyone for giving me advice and say that I was listening when yall talked.
I especially will be loading that nickle shot in my kiddo's 410. That stuff is LETHAL!!