I'm glad you have seen the light Tom. Now we just have to work on that #9 stuff for grouse.
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Nice try Daryl but that one is going to be a lot tougher to break. My perspective on small shot on grouse came originally from my grandfather and grouse hunters he knew, some of whom I talked to about the subject in their later years. They used 10's including one who shot for the NY market when it was still legal. It worked well for me and I have taken a very large numbers of grouse over the years with #9's. It made sense to me in tight cover to throw 7/8 oz. of shot with 506 #9 pellets vs. 302 #7 1/2. Plus none of the great books by Spiller, Foster, Schaldach and others recommended 7 1/2 for grouse. In fact they all spoke against it.
I will probably go to my grave touting the advantages of #9 for grouse. We all have to decide for ourselves what we think best but this is one area that you and I are going to have to disagree on Daryl.