Dove hunting with number six shot?

[Barry54]

I had a gunsmith tell me he used 1-1/4 ounce #6 for dove hunting to get more range. A buddy said he and his grandfather tried #6 one year for doves and they did terrible.

Do you like #6 for dove hunting?

[skeettx]

I use 7 1/2 and smaller for doves and 4s and 6s for pigeons.
Mike

[Bigslug]

Seems a bit like using a .454 Casull to hunt chipmunks to me. The body of a dove is basically a golf ball. There's going to come a point in your patterning with #6 shot where there are a lot of gaps bigger than a golf ball. The ounce and a quarter charge ain't a bad idea, but better to divvie it up between a higher count of smaller pellets - i.e. 7.5's.

[high standard 40]

Lethality on birds like a dove does not depend on individual pellet energy. It is more dependent on multiple pellet hits. Number 6 shot will have more energy at longer distances than a smaller shot size, but pattern density suffers. I use 1 1/4 oz 7 1/2 shot loads for longer distance capability. It those don't do the job, you are taking shots beyond an ethical range.........in my opinion.

[Electrod47]

Even when I lived in Arizona hunting the high desert using high base/heavy load 12 gauge for Dove it was 7 1/2...no need to wreck a delicacy.
Today in Texas I prefer a .410 w/#8 or if they are high up, a 20 gauge I/C 7 1/2 or #8.....Long ago hunting a stock tank in Golden Valley AZ a pal joined us one evening with the only shells he had...#4.....shredded the dove and even managed to get some lead into some dude in the next arroyo, whom was none to pleased.

[Barry54]

According to my Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook, 7/8 ounces of 7-1/2 shot is 302 pellets.
It takes 1-3/8 ounces of #6 to get 305 pellets.

[Plate plinker]

7.5's or 8s depends what is on the floor of Ramguys truck.

[MOshooter]

Dad was a huge wing shooter, we hunted quail every weekend. We also Dove hunted every season as well, Dove season was practice for quail season Both of these birds we always loaded 7 1/2 shot.
Pheasant we hunted with 6 or 4 shot, depending how wild they were. Dad's dogs were great though, they would honor each other and could really hold the birds.

[Iron369]

Be a man. Use slugs. lol

[redhawk0]

I've only ever used #8s....I need as many pellets as possible....hahaha

redhawk

[buckwheatpaul]

I had a gunsmith tell me he used 1-1/4 ounce #6 for dove hunting to get more range. A buddy said he and his grandfather tried #6 one year for doves and they did terrible.

Do you like #6 for dove hunting?

I have always used AA's with 7-1/2 or 8 shot....does a great job!

[Texas by God]

Double A’s with 7-1/2 or 8 shot no matter if using .410, 20 or 12 gauge at the old O’Brian/Knox City hunts of my youth.

[HWooldridge]

Sometimes the larger shot helps when they are flying high on the first norther of the year. #6 also usually punches through so you’re not chewing on lead pellets.

[CBH]

Lead 6’s are good for everything, small game wise in Kali. 7.5 for dove is ok. Steel 6’s are good, too.

[SSGOldfart]

7 1/2 unless 6 is all I can find at the time....:redneck:

[challenger_i]

#6 shot? Never saw a dove I was that mad at...

And TBG: I played football against O'Brian in High School!

[Mk42gunner]

Dad taught me to use 7 1/2 for dove and quail (Bobwhite), some times #9 if they were close. He did not like #8 for some reason. #6 for rabbits and squirrels, #4 for ducks.

I found out that #5 shot works very well for squirrels by buying some very old Winchester ranger loads when I was a kid. From the looks of the boxes and shells they were from the 60's.

12 gauge field loads of 3 1/4/ 1 /4oz/#6 also works fine for early season decoyed ducks.

I never got that deep into waterfowl to buy a steel shot capable gun when the law changed to require it everywhere, so I haven't hunted ducks in almost half a century.

Robert

[Digital Dan]

7-1/2 or 8, end of story.

OTOH, I rediscovered something about 25 years ago. Having an interest in saving money for clays shooting I started loading the 12 ga with 7/8 oz #9 shot. It worked far better than I expected and oddly enough, shot tighter patterns from an IC choke than normal loads through a FC. Did a little research and discovered such things were well known many decades ago. Closer to square shot charge (diameter/length) the tighter the pattern.

[Texas by God]

#6 shot? Never saw a dove I was that mad at...

And TBG: I played football against O'Brian in High School!

6 man or 8 man football; I don’t recall.
My friend grew up there!


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[35 Rem]

I shot a LOT of blackbirds for years since we had a year round roost right across the road from our house so I got to do a lot of load testing. My load for a long time was 18 grains Red Dot and 1 1/8 ounces of shot. Pretty much duplicated the common factory "Field Load". I tried a bag or two of #9 shot but unless the bird was real close I got lots of cripples that had to be chased and shot again. It was easier to hit but without a clean kill I decided against #9 as a general-purpose wing shooting load. I tried many bags of #7 1/2 and #8 and can't really tell a difference. They both do the job very well. When you go to #6 you start losing pellet count and since #7 1/2's work so well I don't see value with going larger at the expense of getting too many holes in your pattern. One positive that I stumbled on with all the bird shooting was when I decided to try 1 ounce loads and dropping my powder charge down to 16 grains Red Dot for the sake of economy. Practically speaking these "weaker" loads gave up nothing as far as performance goes. It sometimes felt as if they might add some range. I think part of it may have been due to less pellet deformation which led to straighter flight. I found all this applied equally well in the dove field.

I did do some shooting with heavier loads which duplicated the old "Duck and Pheasant" factory loads, which used 24 grains of Unique and 1 1/4 ounces of shot. I usually reserved these loads for shot sizes from #4 up to #6 and every now and then #7 1/2. I really couldn't tell any difference in performance on birds but admittedly that isn't as scientific as shooting a large number of pattern boards and quantifying the results. Surely there has to be some gain in going up to 1 1/4 ounces shot.

[challenger_i]

6-man. Playing Benjamin was a killer, as they should have been in an 11-man class. All they had to do was wear us out!


6 man or 8 man football; I don’t recall.
My friend grew up there!


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[skeettx]

This was a SLOW dove shooting year
7 1/2 shot or smaller used

01 Sept 23 11 Doves, Daly 410 3” 7 ½ reloads
02 Sept 23 13 Doves, Daly 20 gauge
04 Sept 23 15 Doves, Browning Superposed Chisled 20 IC/Mod
05 Sept 23 01 doves, L.C.Smith Q3 (1893) with Briley 20 ga tubes
06 Sept 23 11 Doves, Rem 3200 with 20 gauge barrels
NO HUNT HOT 105 degrees
09 Sept 23 15 doves, Browning Superposed 20 ga IC/Mod LTRK
11 Sept 23 15 doves, Remington 1100 16 gauge with cut barrel no vent
12 Sept 23 03 doves, Superposed 20 4 digit, farmer plowing field
No hunt for three days, wet roads
18 Sept 23 15 doves, Citori 16 gauge
19 Sept 23 8 doves, Zamacola 12 gauge, short hunt,
23 Sept 23 15 doves, Remington 3200 with special barrels
25 Sept 23 10 doves, Bernardelli Gamecock Premier 12 ga, use light ammo
30 Sept 23 10 doves, Rottweil Olympia 12 ga
02 Oct 23 10 doves, GECO 16 gauge WINDY and Cold
03 Oct 23 05 doves, Daly Superior, 20 ga, VERY WINDY
09 Oct 23 06 doves, Amercan Arms Brittany 20 gauge, FEW DOVES
15 Oct 23 00 doves, Liege a Feu 16 gauge, was 32 degrees yesterday
24 Oct 23 00 doves, Citori 12 gauge, NO DOVES, SEASON OVER
163 DOVES

[pertnear]

I use #7-1/2 shot in my 12 ga but don't use it much anymore for doves. I prefer to hunt doves with my 1100 .410 with 3" shells & 1/2oz or 5/8oz of #6 shot. I find that I get a lot less cripples to chase down. If one or two #6 pellets hit, they usually drop like a rock! JIMHO...

[Elpatoloco]

Teal season Runs concurent with dove season here in the second half of September. I used 1oz of steel 6's for teal and dove on a hunt years ago. Soon after It became my go to dove load. Lots of pellets in an ounce of STEEL 6s.

[rbuck351]

8s or 9s for me. My press shot die said 1 1/4 oz but only held 1 3/16 oz. I used 6s for ducks and pheasants. I haven't hunted much of anything except grouse with a shotgun in quite a while. For grouse its 9s or a 22lr from a Savage 24 in 22/410.
410

[Rapier]

Shoot Sporting Clays a couple times a week, mostly sub gauge, 20,28, 410, Quail and doves in FL, AL, TX, OK, SD , ND, Argentina a dozen times, Chile, Paraguay, 10 day trips, South Africa pigeon shooting 14 day trip. A load 7 1/2 shot will break a flying clay at 75 yards and a #9 out to 50. I alway specify 20ga #8s for my trips, and is what ai shoot at the range and on hunting trips for quail and doves. In Dakota in late November, one time, had to go to #4s on the fully filled out winter coat, ditch chickens. Like armor plate, go big or stay home, on late in the season pheasants.
Early on Doves, I shoot my Browning 28ga. Best to have a dog if you use a 28.
In South Africa the day after we got our guns in, I shot 1,750 Rock piegeons in one day with the 32" Ultra XS 20ga. It took three 65 Gal nylon bags to pinck them all up. PH said it looked like a pigeon war had happened on my stand. Gun got so hot you could not tuch the metal, fore arm, was smoking. Millions of pigeons come in to the sunflower harvest in April. We went with Grassland Safaris, a wing and plains game outfit, in Orange State, RSA.

[Charlie Horse]

Teal season Runs concurent with dove season here in the second half of September. I used 1oz of steel 6's for teal and dove on a hunt years ago. Soon after It became my go to dove load. Lots of pellets in an ounce of STEEL 6s.

Same here. Steel 6's will go right through a dove. I don't like biting down on shot. Steel 6's have become my preferred dove load. For squirrel I like an ounce of #4 steel in a 20 gauge.

[RedneckRob]

When I was young, decades ago, I used a 20 gauge pump with a modified choke. The location I hunted was a huge field that could only be hunted one one side. The dove would feed across the field from us. By the time they flew over/by us the would be out of range of 12 gauge high brass 8’s. Having just one box of 8’s low brass I wouldn’t shoot. My older brother took me to the store with him during the first season one year and bought me a box of 20 gauge high brass duck and pheasant 6’s. Immediately I started hitting what I was shooting at. I never looked back. Ducks and dove but not quail. Number 9’s.

[T-Bird]

16 ga 7/8 oz#8. handloads smokes'em. shoot where they're goin', not where they've been!

[rockrat]

When I hunted doves, it was 6's, quail, I used 7.5's, crows , I used magnum #2's and squirrels were #4's out of a 410.

[mnewcomb59]

I prefer 7.5 for doves out to about 40 yards. Really hard to find, and the best for 50 yard dove killin', is #7 shot. I picked up a case a few years ago of some Winchester 1 1/4 oz 3 1/4 dram (so 1220 fps, not 1330 fps) #7 called White Wing or High Wing or something.

I think hunting doves over decoys is super boring and borderline unbearable in the peak of mosquito season. I like to pass shoot them. I like to use dove season as practice for other game birds. There is no satisfaction like putting a 7 foot lead on a 40 yard bird and watching it fold a split second later. Or taking a poke at a 50 yard bird with a 15 foot lead and watching the bird crumple a quarter second later.

With all that said, I got like 5 or 6 cases of Herters #6 for the 16 gauge a few years ago on clearance at Cabelas. I killed a few doves with them this year because there was zero chance I was gonna pay $15 per box for low brass 16 7.5s. Okay I lied - I bought a few boxes and regretted it when they were gone in 2 days because I have lots of paid for ammo at $5.20 a box. The 6s worked fine in my old 311A which is choked tight and tighter.

[ttd444]

this was years ago, but i used 12, 16 and 20ga and 7 1/2 was used, but i use #6 if the 7 1/2 were gone. i would not be handicapped with #6s. they are good for dove, woodcocks, quail, grouse, pheasant, rabbit, squirrels, groundhog, foxes, coyotes, crows and turkey. #6s are "everyman's" shot choice.