#8 v. #9 Shot

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by Duffy

Perhaps this question would be better categorized in the shooting games forum, but when shooting skeet, has anyone found a better performance advantage to shooting #9 shot as opposed to #8 shot, given that there are more pellets per shell? I thought I would ask since I will be buying shot to reload soon. I have only ever shot #8.

Thoughts?

I read an article about this some time ago and it said that it takes 3 pellet strikes from 8's to break a target and 2 pellet strikes from 7.5's to break a target. I have no idea how many it takes from 9's.

What 9's will do is allow you to open up your patterns some without experiencing holes in the pattern. For skeet, I use 9's since most of the targets are close and the pellets still retain a lot of energy when they hit the target. I also use the most open chokes I can find.

Skeet, as his screen name shows, is a monster skeet shooter, so even if he was using 5's in the 12 gauge it would not make any difference for him. He shoots consistently in the 90's with the .410. I'm pretty sure he would shoot consistently in the 99's with a 12 gauge and the only target he might miss with the 12 gauge is a mental mistake.

[skeet]

Thanks for blowin my horn. My 12 ga averages were about 9850 to 9900. In the 410 my average has really sucked in the last year or so.only about 93-94. Now as to misses..almost every miss with the 12 ga IS a mental error. 20 and 28 too. the 410 is a horse of another color though. Ya gotta be a very precise gun pointer with them as the core pattern really isn't any larger than about 10 inches. By core pattern I mean the never miss part of the pattern. Chokes sure have gotten better in the last 25-30 yrs. My shootin on the other hand has gone down the pooper.

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by skeet

Thanks for blowin my horn. My 12 ga averages were about 9850 to 9900. In the 410 my average has really sucked in the last year or so.only about 93-94. Now as to misses..almost every miss with the 12 ga IS a mental error. 20 and 28 too. the 410 is a horse of another color though. Ya gotta be a very precise gun pointer with them as the core pattern really isn't any larger than about 10 inches. By core pattern I mean the never miss part of the pattern. Chokes sure have gotten better in the last 25-30 yrs. My shootin on the other hand has gone down the pooper.

Hey, I have no problem giving credit where credit is due. Let me know if you are back in Maryland after tax season and maybe we can get together for some clay shooting. Pintail Point was pretty fun a couple of years ago.