Win AA 3 3/4, 1 1/4 , 7 1/2 reloads

[Pittypatdugan]

I have been to a lot of Dove shoots where most of the other shooters use the cheapest low brass shells wounding bird after bird and blaming it on the fast Dove. The truth is they are hitting a lot of them but don't have the shell to kill them. They are shooting not killing many, thats why they call the activity Dove shoots.

[Bill Murphy]

The fairly slow 1 1/4 ounce loads are good for anything from long yardage trap, high doves, flyers, pheasants, preserve mallards, you name it. I have loaded the same load in different shot sizes for forty years. AA empties, Winchester Red wads, Herco enough for about 1200 fps or just a tad more for flyers. Before we went to no-tox, I loaded a carload of these things in soft #4 and I'm still sitting on a few. About four or five years ago, I loaded another carload of them in hard 7 1/2 for flyers. My calculations say that, at $8.00 a pigeon, I have my whole 401K taken care of in these shells. I have not spent any time at the pattern board with the 7 1/2 loads, but the #4s were patterned in a long barrel Fox at 50 and 60 yards and the patterns tell me that the duck should be a bit farther out to avoid meat damage. I have shot passing preserve mallards with this load at ranges that surprised even me and the ducks just keep coming down. I think that's legal. For gosh sakes, they were raised in cages.

[Derrick Stewart]

Bill,
I've been thinking about a 1-1/4 oz load for ducks and if I use Nice Shot I should get some simillar patterns.

I've never used Herco before. How bad is the recoil with this load? I would be using my #2 frame DHE F/F chokes and close to 8 lbs.

Thanks for sharring,
Derrick

[Bill Murphy]

The load at 1200 doesn't feel much different than a 3-1 1/8 trap load. Herco is a fairly slow powder that has been used in heavy 12 gauge loads for decades. I'm sure there is a similar powder in Alliant's new line, but I think Herco is still being made. I believe I used Herco in my last batch of pigeon loads until it ran out. For a 1200 PFS load, the slightly faster Unique is probably a better choice. I used 23 grains of Unique and the WWR wad, the red one just because I had some. There is another WW wad that fills the shell better. I had to use a .070 card wad to fill up the shell when using the red wad. The red wad is actually perfect for 1 3/8 or 1 1/2 ounce loads. Unique is a good choice for these 1 1/4 loads because it is what I have used for 20 and 28 gauge loads for a long time. I always have some on hand. I believe I got the 23 grain load out of the Alliant manual.