I like #8's in an O/U choked Modified and Improved.

You know, get both......

Seriously, I think most folks  are too tightly choked.

If shooting a single barrel gun, I would start with IC and switch to a MC if I seemed to be missing too much and see if that helped.

Dove hunting means different things to different people.  No way one choke and load will cover every situation.

you don't say what gun you are shooting.

I am going to assume pump or semi.



I would go with IC or MC depending on which your gun has.



I personally used a Remington 870  12 Gauge with MC.

I now use a Remington 1100 20 Gauge with MC.

I prefer #8s or #8 1/2s.



As for missing, well that is why they call it hunting.

Know your gun, your shot capability, and your limitations.



Most of all ENJOY yourself!!!

#7's - #9's, IC/Mod, and keep your shots inside of 35 yards.  Keep your head down on the stock with a firm cheek weld.  For birds passing left and right, start behind the bird, swing through the target and press the trigger when the bead pulls just in front of the head.  For birds coming head on, start below the bird, swing through the target and press the trigger as soon as the barrel obscures the bird.  For birds going straight away, swing down through the target and press the trigger when the bead pulls just in front of the bird.  ALWAYS KEEP SWINGING UNTIL THE BIRD FOLDS.

BTW, Academy is selling Winchester Dove Loads for $39.90 per case of 250, limit 2 cases.  I've seen you shoot...  I suggest you use up at least a case practicing on some clay birds.

I've been using my skeet choke in my Stoeger 2000 auto the last couple of years. It tends to group tight with all the chokes so the little bit of extra spread can help. It might have something to do with the long barrel.

Prefered load has been the federal bulk packs from wally 3dram 7 1\2''  1 1\8''oz

You got  to remember you'll fold the bastard even if only a couple pellets hit'm. \her!

From previous stuff I have read, it seems that buying the extra high velocity stuff is not good––-light loads w/ a heavy dose of lead is the way to go.

Myh besty dove gun is a Wingmaster, 28" barrel, Full choke.  I prefer 7.5 shot, but will use 8's.

My top shot was 75 yds on the wing, with about an 8 foot lead.

Not kidding.

I like full chokes.  I get better range, and a denser pattern at a distance.  

inside 35yds?  Geez, at that range, it is time to fix bayonets.  

TRG

If your clay pigeons were shaped/painted to look like this, I bet you would not miss any.  














Pic removed. -Feral


TRG

I use to hunt dove a lot and usually limited out. A good 20 gauge is fine, but I prefer a 12. I like Improved Cylinder/Modified O/U best, but an IC pump or auto is fine.

I experimented heavily with different loads. I found it worth the money to buy Winchester or other quality 3 dram, 1-1/8 oz 7-1/2 shot Trap Loads with hard, high antimony shot. Quail are shot at only 20-25 yards usually, so an ounce of cheap, soft, promotional load #8 or #9 works fine. For dove you need an even pattern at 35-40 yards.

At these ranges 8 is OK for if they are flying perpendicular to you or coming at you, But if they fly over from behind you and you have to take a "Texas heart shot" #8 won't reliably penetrate far enough to take them down. You'll blow off half their tail feathers and they'll keep on going to die over the next hill.

With #6 the pattern is too spares for such a small target at 35-40 yards. From any angle 6 will knock them down with just a few pellets because one #6 will break a wing. But often you'll end up with a runner on the ground that you have to chase down if you don't loose it in the brush.

1-1/8 oz of #7-1/2 is perfect. Heavy enough to penetrate from any angle and dense enough to drop 'em dead so you don't have to chase runners.

Pic removed. -Feral

I use a full choke alot for Doves.  Whatever shotshells are cheapest and give a decent pattern in your gun.

Doves don't take a lot of killing.  8s or even 9s are plenty form the vast majority of birds out to 40 yards.  Most shooters will do well to have Skeet or I / C chokes in place.  

Regardless of gauge, load, or choke the most important thing to remember is to put your shot where the bird is otherwise you will miss.  

I *smoked* a pair of pigeons out of a flock this Sunday with a spectacular double.  I had two witnesses, but it was the kind of shooting that made me wish there was a camera rolling.  

Where the bird is? Or where the bird is going?

I lead mine.

TRG

Put the shot where the bird is.  Shot has to hit the bird to kill it.  Of course, this may require you to lead it and shoot where it is going to be, thereby putting the shot where the bird is.

I shot five stand tonight and one of the guys on the line was frustrated with his lack of success.  I shot a 24/25, so he felt I was somehow qualified to give advice.  I told him he was missing because he was not putting his shot on the target.  He just kinda looked at me....I went on to advise that none of the targets are particularly hard to hit, however every one of them was really easy to miss.  I think he was ready to hit me at that point.  

Pic removed after 1GR's complaint. -Feral

TRG

Overquoting ®

LOL!

TRG

I totally agree.  Yoda freaks me the fuck out.

It should be moved to GD immediately.

Stay on topic, or I am gonna report you next.

TRG

Wally world has the 100 rd bulk packs of the Remington 1 1/8 oz #8's for $21.99 each, comes out a little cheaper than 6 bucks (hey every little bit counts)

Why does the little anti-christ Yoda pic get to stay?

I shot my limit tonight with a modifed choke shooting 1 oz #7 1/2 shot @ 1290 ft/sec (Federal game load-$4.97/box). In my opinion as long as you have a decent shell you're ok; its really the shooter that counts.

I think I am going to stick with the modified choke. Some birds were shot up pretty bad, but I was also able to get clean kills on birds 35-50 (estimate?) yards out. Give and take I guess......

I tried, but you whined to Feral and got it deleted.

TRG

Can't wait until saturday when our season opens, but I wish it opened on a weekday so I get out in the woods after class while everyone else is at work. I hunt on public land and its definitely a challenge....

Yes, he does.  Yoda is an avid woodsman...




TRG

I am not looking forward to the traffic jam at the dove fields here either ...

The real question is ...



What is the best 20ga load when you hunt with 8 other people with 12ga and shoot like their in a firefight?



I'm thinking tall-brass #6.

The right answer is go somewhere else. It's like the people at one end of the field keep seeing dove fall to their shots. At the other end, you have someone with an over eager short haired pointer going "I have not fired a shot, but have my limit of dove, and don't know who to give them to."

ETA: grammer (sic)

Beggars can't be choosers. I'm the invitee. Know what I mean, Vern?

Dont'cha know, eh? I'd run run-of-the-mill dove loads - if wally world's loads had the same specs (weight, fps, pellets) I'd probably use those instead.

Kind of a random post, but earlier today I went out and patterned a few 12 gauge loads. I was using a modified choke when dove hunting so that's what I used here. I selected 30 yards as a typical shot distance made on dove. Yes, many shots I made this year were closer but some were further so I think 30 is a good average.

The rounds I tested were as follows:

Winchester Universal #7 1/2, 1 1/8 oz, 1200 fps
Federal Game Load #7 1/2, 1 oz, 1290 fps
Federal Bulk Pack #8, 1 1/8 oz, 1200 fps
Remington Nitro Sporting #7 1/2, 1 1/8 oz, 1300 fps
Winchester Super Speed #7 1/2, 1 oz, 1350 fps

Nothing spectacular to report as they all patterned relatively similar. If you made a hypothetical dove sized circle in the middle of the pattern paper I would say that most loads would have put about 10 pellets into the dove breast area. Now, I only shot each load one time so my results are hardly anything set in stone. The super speed load was probably the worst (relatively speaking as it really wasn't that bad). This is also the fastest load so it really makes sense that it's the worst. It also had noticeably more recoil and noise when shooting off the bench.

You may be able to make the argument that I could switch to an improved choke and I probably would if I was shooting a 1 1/8 oz load or #8 shot, but I had a very high clean kill ratio the other day and I kinda like that. i just have to be sure not to shoot a bird that is too close.

I guess if I learned anything today, I learned that the cheap Federal and Winchester 100 round bulk pack ammo patterns pretty well. The expensive Remington Nitro load patterned well too, but I don't I could justify shooting this load at dove because you don't need to spend $9/box; the cheap loads grouped just as well. This year I have been hunting with the federal Game load and have done very well. This load grouped well and is only $4.97/box at walmart making it cheaper then the bulk pack ammo. Unfortunately, I had to buy a case of the super speed stuff because that's all they had. For dove I would prefer the bulk stuff or the Federal game load.    

I also emptied a hull of each and plan to run the shot on our camsizer (just a particle analyzer) at work. It will give the number of pellets and mean size of each respective load, along with what called the uniformity index which basically tells you how closely sized the particles are to each other. It will be interesting to see the difference in physical characteristics of the shot for the different loads.

Obviously the size of the patterns were a trait of my gun and choke, but I wonder if everyone would see the same "general" results........

Most of the cheap dove loads are made with soft shot so they don't respond to the choke uniformly, hence the IC/Mod recommendation.  This soft shot also "balls up" feathers, limiting penetration, something to consider if the shots are long.  



Now Winchester has come up with steel loads for dove, this is partially due to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department study on steel for dove.  I am trying two boxes of these this year but will have my standards on hand in case of frustration.  These loads are 1 ounce 7-1/2 at a 3-1/2 dram equivalent but with the much harder shot and an equivalent pellet count of a 1-7/16 ounce load, they might be effective at closer distance with the IC choke.

See my post on the previous page. A short magnum 20ga load is 1-1/8 oz, just like my favored 12 ga trap load. Go with a load with hard, high antimony 7-1/2 shot. #6 knocks them down, but due to its sparse pattern at 35-40 yards I've had more wounded runners with it than any other shot size.

Dove is totally different than hunting quail due to the average range.  For quail I go for the cheapest 1oz, #8 promotional load I can find.

I was getting good shots at 50+yds on dove using 7 1/2 loads from Wal-mart.

Wingmaster, 12, 28" Full choke.

TRG

What load do you recommend for barb wire?

I found 7.5s to be very effective.  Dpeacher did not.

TRG

what loads, and choke tube are you using?

sounds like shooter error..just sayin

+1.  Barrel length, choke?

35-40 yards would still get most doves with a number 6.

TRG

You should *always* shoot a new to you gun against a patterning board to verify point of impact and barrel convergence.  



You will be amazed at how few shotguns shoot to point of aim, even when they seem to fit you.  Screw in chokes are the usual suspects.  



O/Us and the new crop of bargain SxSs rarely....and I mean almost never... shoot both barrels to the same POI.  Browning Citori and Beretta 68x series included.  Mass production is a bitch...

I'm a big believer in 1-1/8oz Remington Heavy Dove Loads in 7-1/2.

This out of my 1100, most often with IC, sometimes LM.

Many a bird have ended up BBQ'd because of this combo.

- AG

In general, field guns are sighted in so that you "black out" the target. In contrast, true trap shotguns generally shoot high as the pigeon is rising and going away from the shooter. At stations 3, 4 and 5 were you placing the bead on your barrel at the same level as the crossers?

I happen to have a field gun that shoots high. Always important to pattern your gun.

I like my bird guns to shoot high. IMO

I was in South Texas for a dove hunt on Tue, Wed, and Thurs. Simply put, we flat murdered a mess of birds ( limited out on two hunts in less then two hours).





A few observations:



We were using 12 ga 1 oz #7.5 and 1 1/8 oz #8. I was shooting a O/U with IM and Full chokes. My closest kill was 5 yards (headless and the breast was utterly destroyed), and my longest kill was about 60 yards, but with the tail wind the bird landed 126 long paces from where I pulled the trigger.



1. 7.5's and 8's worked like a charm on the mourning doves. Even the high fliers with a strong tail wind were folded up nicely out to 50+ yards (and a good 6 foot lead).



2. The white wing doves were like flying tanks compared to the mourning doves. I can't begin to recall the number of times where a WW would take 2 or more SOLID (knocked off enough feathers to make a nice pillow) hits with 7.5's and 8's, and keep flying with the flock, and very few of them that did fall were dead when we picked them up unless they were shot within 30 yards or a pellet managed to connect with the brain housing group.



Lesson learned: I'll be packing some 1 1/8 oz 6 shot the next time I'm in white wing country, and will petition my congress critter to stop exporting kevlar to the white wing dove countries.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=4&t=628565&page=1

Could be you.

TRG