A little bit ago I helped the local Gold and House Finch nesting pairs
There was a hundred or more Cow Birds in the barn yard feeding on some spilled cattle feed
As Cow Birds do not raise their own young
But lay their eggs in other birds nests and their young kill or push the nesting birds eggs and young out of the nest
I decided to reduce the Cow Bird population a bit
I loaded the Remington 1187 , 28" vent rib barrel with a Lite Mod extended choke tube with 5 shells
As I stepped out from behind the shed
The Cow Birds took off in a tight flock at about 30 yards
Well 3 shots later I let my lab fetch as many of the dead and flopping cow birds as he could find
2 3/4-in. Fiocchi Plastic hulls
Claybuster version of the Federal 12 S 4 wad
CCI 209 primer
1 1/4 oz of homemade shot , a mix of #8 and #7
27 gr of Unique powder
I believe the manual says 1300 FPS
Well my lab Buck Shot spent over 20 min fetching
He was dropping them into a 5 gallon bucket I put out for him to drop the birds into
The 5 gallon bucket was over 1/2 full when I told him to stop and come in
But I know a few made it to the arborvitae wind break
So the barn cats will have extra free food , besides the bunch I put in the cat food bowels
I didn't count what was in the bucket before I dumped the remainder next to the woods
Might get a coyote in the snares I have set close to where I dumped the bucket
John