While deer hunting didn't go well this year, I can say small game hunting has been pretty decent. We have a storm and cold front coming in for the weekend so I decided to head out to a spot where there's normally a fair amount of squirrel and I had my Husqvarna Model 20 12 gauge from 1905 with me. Even though I can use smokeless ammo, the chambers are only 2 5/8" so I handload for it, using light 7/8 ounce loads, using # 7 1/2 shot for small game.
I hadn't been able to get much of a shot all day long, but then I was able to line up a couple of nice size greys later in the afternoon. One of them falling out of the tree and rolling down into a stream that thankfully was only a few inches deep. I don't know how long it's been since this gun was out in the woods, but it's such a nice gun to carry and very light, I plan on taking it out more often.
My handloads again are pretty light, but they've been doing the job, I had trouble for a while keeping the overshot card secured because I don't crimp these, I'm using Cheddite 2 1/2" shells since it's only a 2 5/8" chamber and uncrimped the shells are the right length, so I load the powder, a light charge of Red Dot, close to the minimum, the wad, 7/8 ounce and the overshot card.
I patterned these out to 30 yards so far with these and it does pretty well.