shot size

[walt53]

HI gents I was wondering what your opinions would be on the average or best shot size in both a 28 and 20 gauge that would give good groups and work well on say grouse and rabbits. And also loads you use or would use in this case. thanks Walt

[rich pierce]

Rabbits and grouse are both easy to kill so I’d got with 6s or 7 and a half’s.

[bob in the woods]

Pattern your gun and see what it likes .  I Used to load 6's , and 7 1/2's etc for different game, but have long ago standardized on # 4's for shot loads.  They just seem to shoot the best in my gun.

[Hungry Horse]

 My old buddy Tall Pine has killed more upland game with his smoothbore than anybody I know. He swears by a mixture he calls 4for8’s which is just what it sounds like, a mixture of shot sizes. He says he discovered it by accident, and has been using it ever since.

  Hungry Horse

[skullcap]

I have test and retested shot from several 20 gauge Fowler’s     I have settled on the duplex shot load of 4sx6s.  50/50 mix  works great from turkey to squirrels.  What I hunt for the most part.    And flying birds as the opportunity comes up.    4s penetrate  the hide of squirrels    And carry further out.   4sx6s. Give a fuller shot pattern.  On turkey heads or rabbits running

[tddeangelo]

How far a shot is doable with shot on squirrels, from a penetration/clean kill perspective?

Granted, smaller shot will have shorter range.... I’m considering either 4’s or 5’s for squirrels. Maybe 6’s.

[skullcap]

30 yards.  On good penetration. Squirrels   With a good clear shot path    One thing I found out  right off is.  Black powder shot load get stopped by just the lights of leaves or small branches.   So to me unlike shooting in a bit of brush like with modern shot gun. It best to wait for the open shot. Going up a tree or out on the open limb. Just as important as shot size or distance

[tddeangelo]

Thank you.

I have a property I hunt for deer that we have lots of ladder stands up.

I will go hunt squirrels form the ladder stands, which gives me a good perspective on the little buggers. I stay till activity is dampened by my presence/shooting, give it a few minutes to be sure, and then take a slow walk to another stand.

30 yards should be plenty and should get me tons of shooting.

[Sparkitoff]

My doublegun is a 19 gauge.  The barrels are choked IC/MOD.  I took the time to pattern it at 25, 35 and 45 yards. 45 yards is too far to reliably kill something as small as a quail or dove. For the 25 and 35 yard patterns I tried #8, #7.5, #6 and #4. The #8 patterned best overall from both barrels for 25 and 35 yards. The Modified choke barrel has a strong preference for the #6 for some reason, but again overall for both barrels #8 was best. I use #8 for dove, quail, woodcock and rabbits. I experimented a lot with shot size and load components because I wanted to hunt turkey. Through a long day of trying different combinations, one really stood out. This combo is #6 with just 7 copper coated lead BB's dropped on top. I use this for squirrels, pheasants and turkey and would use it for something larger like a raccoon if that was something I hunted. Interestingly to me, I did the same load components with different shot size and the pattern was significantly different. I have two "loads" that work for me and I'm sticking to them but in the end the real conclusion was that the load components seem to make more of a difference than just changing the shot size with the same components.

[newtire]

I've killed a bunch of squirrels and rabbits with #6 shot.  Lately I've discovered #7 (available from Sportsmans Warehouse.  We have an influx of the ring necked doves here and they seem to take a bit more killing than the mourning doves.  #7 seems to bring them down a little more frequently.  Haven't tried it on rabbits or squirrels though. Squirrels do have a tough hide. My only gripe with #4 is because they seemed to drag hair into the meat but they kill things dead for sure.

My dad was a big fan of #5's.  He shot many many ducks with that stuff and I've killed a couple of ducks with it-good size shot.  don't know why I don't use more of it.

If your muzzleloader has a choke, the bigger shot works better than in a small bore with open choke.  Pattern test and see which works best for you.  Like some have already said, squirrels are a little thicker of hide than a rabbit.  Maybe bigger shot for them or a #5 compromise for both?

[JPK]

For just squirrels I like #2 shot. It sound weird but it kills clean and with less pellets it doesn’t tear them up like #6s did.