Life doesn't have to be this difficult

So I've been trying to get my hands on some 20ga 3/4oz skeet loads. Ordered some NS thinking I ordered 9's, they showed up yesterday and were 8s. I have a mental mind set that I shoot 9s better then 8s. Oh well I'll shoot them anyway, I had also forgot NSs sometimes get stuck in my chamber, the fun begins.

8s are always better.
They'll work.

The difference between the two is minimal. 308 #8 pellets vs 439 #9’s.

I like to shoot 7.5’s and use a full choke to hone my skills for whatever season I’m practicing for. I once shot an entire round of sporting clays with @HankBuck using a TKY choke because I forgot to change it. Results were about the same.

Equipment (shotgun, choke, load…etc) makes up about 5-10% of the score. The rest is the shooter.

Gash632 said:

So I've been trying to get my hands on some 20ga 3/4oz skeet loads. Ordered some NS thinking I ordered 9's, they showed up yesterday and were 8s. I have a mental mind set that I shoot 9s better than 8s. Oh well I'll shoot them anyway, I had also forgot NSs sometimes get stuck in my chamber, the fun begins.

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@Gash632 - you are Corerct #9 shot is what top NSSA competitors shoot for American Skeet competitions and that is for a reason - it is the most effective shot size for that sport. For 20 gauge 7/8s oz loads are the standard skeet loading and also the max amount of lead shot allowed for that gauge in NSSA or NSCA competitions. Winchester AA and Remington Premier all make skeet loadings for 20 ga 7/8oz in #9 shot - but those are expensive compared to other brands and #9 shot con be harder to find in cheaper brands.
Unlike Sporting Clays or Trap - every target thrown in American Skeet is from a known direction and the flight path & angle known, distance known, and All targets usually broken near 21 yrds (distance to Center Field Stake) or closer on “doubles” and much closer on Station 8. The denser pattern of 9s is a very slight advantage especially on station 8. While 8s are legal as are 71/2s they are Not better. American Skeet is a game of “perfection” (as is Trap) and in high level competitions any shooter that does Not run 100 “straight” (to make it to a ‘shoot-off’) —- will Not win that gauge and rarely make the podium. Shooting #9s will Not make you a Top shooter but it is what Top shooters use and might break an extra bird (out of every 100 or so) —-meaningless for practice or a hunter but could be the difference between winning and being an ‘also ran’ in major competitions. For Me, I shoot whats-on-sale and seems 8s easily available but I am NOT a top shooter, just enjoy the sport….and I manage to miss enough regardless of what size pellet I’m shooting

I shoot skeet to play and keep my eye/reflexes in shape for when I'm in the field. So I shoot in skeet what I shoot in the field - 8's in 20, 7.5 in 12. I tried shooting 9's in 12 in a mental game of putting more pellets in the air - my scores didnt show much difference.

cwickgo9 said:

I shoot skeet to play and keep my eye/reflexes in shape for when I'm in the field. So I shoot in skeet what I shoot in the field - 8's in 20, 7.5 in 12. I tried shooting 9's in 12 in a mental game of putting more pellets in the air - my scores didnt show much difference.

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@cwickgo9 - agree, for practice and general shooting —- shoot whatever you want, have, is cheap etc.. when Scores don’t matter shot size doesn’t matter, it’s all good practice and should always just have fun

Any suggestions on “cheap “ 12 gauge shells that pattern well?
I’ve switched from “dove and quail “ loads to Winchester AA loads and had more even patterns
. It’s been many years since I’ve tested and patterned loads.
At the time I bought the AA loads, in the good old days, the marginal price was just minimal.

Any suggestions on today’s market for 12 gauge, used on birds or rabbits?

cajunchefray said:

Any suggestions on “cheap “ 12 gauge shells that pattern well?
I’ve switched from “dove and quail “ loads to Winchester AA loads and had more even patterns
. It’s been many years since I’ve tested and patterned loads.
At the time I bought the AA loads, in the good old days, the marginal price was just minimal.

Any suggestions on today’s market for 12 gauge, used on birds or rabbits?

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I do not like Federal trap loads and have had problems with their field ammo. Serious problems ... as in one hang fire and one dud where the wad didn't clear the barrel. Also Federal ammo seems to burn very dirty. Remington trap ammo works best for me and remarkably clean burning. I've had great luck with reloads. One ounce 7 1/2 shot 12 gauge. I use Claybuster pink 1-1 1/8 oz wads and Hodgon "Perfect Pattern" powder ~17 grains. Used up all the Claybuster wads and had to make do with some old Remington 1 1/4 oz wads for field loads. I drop five kernels of unpopped popcorn in the bottom of wad cup before dropping 1 oz shot. By gawd they shot very well. Last evening of clays this year I shot best single and double round scores (41 and 79) on the course (difficult for anyone to break 40 here). Skeet scores have consistantly been 21-24 which ain't bad for a 73 year-old guy who's legally blind in left eye. Last skeet outing my grandson swore he could smell popcorn when he was shooting his rounds. Not sure if it was his imagination but who cares, we were both shooting well. I formerly used TiteWad powder but it did NOT burn cleanly. Left a lot of unburned powder in my gun. Winchester Super Handicap powder worked well but unavailable. Seems to work about the same as Perfect Pattern. I think the latter is a bit faster.

I have shot #8 Federal 1 oz factory ammo when it was all I could get. Not a fan. The hulls are crap and do not reload consistently. Also seem very slow compared to my reloads (more lead required for longer targets at clays). Formerly I bought bulk ammo from Score out of Manitoba and very happy with them. They're apparently only making hunting ammo since COVID. Remington cheap factory trap ammo shoots very well in my old A5 and their hulls are the best for reloading in my opinion.

Estate 1oz 7 1/2 20ga is what I shoot hand and box bird pigeon so I use the same on sporting clays

Estate 1 1/4 oz 12ga

cajunchefray said:

Any suggestions on “cheap “ 12 gauge shells that pattern well?
I’ve switched from “dove and quail “ loads to Winchester AA loads and had more even patterns
. It’s been many years since I’ve tested and patterned loads.
At the time I bought the AA loads, in the good old days, the marginal price was just minimal.

Any suggestions on today’s market for 12 gauge, used on birds or rabbits?

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@cajunchefray - check with @BeeMaa because he takes testing & patterning shotgun shells to a fine “Art Form”. For birds (rabbits, quail, pen raised pheasant) I’ve found any shell works fine (what’s on sale?)….only for Turkey will I put a little more thought into my shell selection

I have had good success with Fiocchi target loads.

@cajunchefray - I use target loads from federal. Same ones I use for clays and it’s typically 8’s because that’s what’s been on sale for about $100 for 250 shells.

@HankBuck - Appreciate the vote of confidence but it’s been years since I tested target loads. Haven’t patterned them with any of the shotguns I currently own. When I did pattern them, the Federal Top Gun worked well enough for a non-reloader.

375er said:

I have had good success with Fiocchi target loads.

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I used to buy fiocchi 10,000 shells at a time back when my youngest was competing heavily… it was usually $20-$50 a case cheaper than other options, and we never had a problem with it (probably shot 50k+ shells before it was all said and done)… it was reliable, patterned well, shot at a consistent fps, etc..

As an aside, the hangfire was with Federal blue box trap shells and the dud occurred when shooting their very expensive very hot (1500 fps!) special pheasant ammo. Not sure it killed more pheasants but that stuff sure made me punchy even with my heavy A5 magnum twelve. Can't imagine shooting it out of a fixed breech O/U. Ouch!! It was all I could find on the shelf at the time but I've never bought a box since.

In my retirement job of working for a state game agency, we provide nearly a million shotshells each year to schools with shotgun teams.

Nearly everyone uses #8 for skeet, to the point that that's all we buy now.

Just bought a case(250) 28 ga, for$55.00, They were storm exposed. Cleaned and tested but could not be sold as new. They will be used only in sxs or o/u. They were Federals.

BeeMaa said:

The difference between the two is minimal. 308 #8 pellets vs 439 #9’s.

I like to shoot 7.5’s and use a full choke to hone my skills for whatever season I’m practicing for. I once shot an entire round of sporting clays with @HankBuck using a TKY choke because I forgot to change it. Results were about the same.

Equipment (shotgun, choke, load…etc) makes up about 5-10% of the score. The rest is the shooter.

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Makes sense. Significant portion of success, IMO, happens when the gun shoots where the shooter looks and the shooter is “on” that particular day.

One of my best, two day streaks on doves was shooting an older 20 ga F/M O/U Franchi with 3” #6 steel. That was late season with high and fast birds and tail wind. I’ve never shot enough organized clay pigeon games like trap, skeet or clays to form any meaningful opinion about shooting skeet with #8 vs #9. Best streak on wild flushing, late season wild pheasant was with 12 ga BPS full choke with 2 3/4” Mag buffered copper plated lead #5s. Best early season dove percentage over much of a season was with old 16 ga M/IC SxS with cheap, field load #8s. Highest percentage on long range, pass shooting of greater sandhill cranes was with 12 ga BPS full choke with 3” buffered copper plated lead BBs. Any crane straight overhead @ 80 yards or under was in trouble.

No, not complicated, not difficult. And no paint-by-the-numbers magic formulas. Just “do” with positive attitude.

dlmac said:

Just bought a case(250) 28 ga, for$55.00, They were storm exposed. Cleaned and tested but could not be sold as new. They will be used only in sxs or o/u. They were Federals.

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I bought a case of AA from Academy once. I opened the case to clearly water exposed boxes. Water stained, paper boxes "wrinkled" and rust on over half the shells. To say I was "disappointed" was an understatement. You could see the water mark on the outside of the cardboard ( I had noticed until I got into it and then knew what to look for.)

Nobel Sport only makes the Light Recoil 20 gauge ammunition in size 8 shot. I have a flat of it. No 7 1/2 and no 9 is made. This is a niche load and is only available in 8.
Winchester AA 12 gauge low recoil loads are available in Size 9 shot. I don’t know whether they make a 20 gauge low recoil load.

Gash632 said:

So I've been trying to get my hands on some 20ga 3/4oz skeet loads. Ordered some NS thinking I ordered 9's, they showed up yesterday and were 8s. I have a mental mind set that I shoot 9s better then 8s. Oh well I'll shoot them anyway, I had also forgot NSs sometimes get stuck in my chamber, the fun begins.

Click to expand...

The morning of our dove opener this year I went to the local gun shop for shells. I picked up a case of 20 gauge #9’s or so I thought. The box was marked9’s but had been opened and I glanced inside to make sure that all boxes were full and accounted for.
When I got home I took out a box and noticed that all boxes were #6’s, oh well I went with them and by the end of our first split I killed my 90th dove with my 125th shell.
Long way of saying go with what you’ve got!