There are few things about this hobby that scream frugal but one thing I like doing is scrounging...I have several dozen ways I keep from spending way more than I have to with the gun stuff.
Somebody had discarded a bunch of 12ga #9 shot loads at the range, must not have liked their results I guess as they had only shot a few out of the box and tossed the rest of the box in the spent hulls bucket (which I scrounge in for specialty hulls as well). I decided I wouldn't try to shoot them (they were clearly factory but I had no need to try #9 shot, instead I would pull them down.
I have a good stash of #12 shot but have always wondered what a mixed load of something smaller than 7's or 7.5"s would do. By volume I mixed 1/2 of each #12 and #9 and loaded up some 38/357 speer capsules, using 38 spl cases and 5.5 of Unique. My pattern was a lot denser with this mix than with just #12 or just #9 shot. I think this will be my new staple payload for this application. I tested loads at 3 and 10 paces and was surprised at the density. I also reaffirmed that longer barrels give poor results, My LCR always patterns the best.
Anybody else tried mixed shot loads?