If you want/need to buy factory shells for hunting then the RST shells will do the job no problem. As you said you don't shoot as many shells in a season.

IMHO you don't need 1 1/8oz of 7 1/2 shot to kill a Grouse. I hunt mainly with small bores using 7/8 or 3/4 oz loads and do just fine with these and #8 shot.

In addition I really don't care what Parker advertised as a serviceable load when their gun left the factory 100 years ago. You gun and it's stock are pushing 100 years old, treat them with respect. When you were a toddler you ate baby food, I would assume you don't eat that any more. Unless your gun has been restocked then give it the respect it deserves and hopefully someone else will still be shooting it in another 100 years.

I think you might want to come up with a different analogy, a lot of people who live to be 100 end up eating baby food again :rotf:

AS I have gotten older I don't like the recoil and I assume the gun is at least as tolerant as I am. Both of us agreed to use as light a load as will get the job done. I rarely go over a 1oz load in any gauge and 1200fps is about my max except in modern 20s and 28s. 7/8oz is perfectly acceptable in any gauge and I regularly shoot one from RST in my vintage British guns. I have found the Rios are very good in my Parkers on the trap field and the recoil is acceptable. I have never used Herters (at least not since 1959) but I will try and find some.

I started out with 1 1/8 ounce loads in a 12 gauge......am now shooting 1 ounce maximum, and really like 7/8 ouncers in a 12.
I started out with 1 ounce in a 16 gauge. Then, tried 7/8 ounce.....couldn't tell any difference, so tried 3/4 ounce using Downrange wads & PB.
I am just astounded at how well "light" loads work in shotguns. They pattern beautifully,
kill birds, & shatter targets.
Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE

I shoot Fiocchi 1 oz ammo in my 16 ga and it is great for short chambers. The fired case is only 2 5/8 inches and the pressures are mild.

I did some pattern work with my 30 inch VH this week. 7/8 oz and 3/4 oz. 7 1/2 shot. Seems to me reason light shot target loads work well are Parker tight chokes. Plenty of pellets to break clay targets at long ranges.

Games harder to kill than clay Birds. Game 7/8 is probably too light. Am working up 1oz no 6 loads for crows.

William

William if you can find it true #7s are absolute poison on grouse, close flushing pheasant and not too big for quail. I have even taken all of my Sage grouse which are pretty big birds with my 16 gauge using 1 ounce loads of #7.

Steve, I have had a bag of #7's laying around for a couple of years. I recently loaded up a hundred or so 2 1/2" hulls with 7/8 oz #7's for grouse and also a couple boxes of 1 oz loads. They should be great on grouse this fall--should cut down on cripples.

Yes I use 7's in a 7/8ths oz load for our "wild" stocked pheasant., and it does work great in my DH 1 frame 12 ga.

For well over a century "an ounce of 7s" has been the standard upland game load in England. With astounding efficiency. And today, #6 works as well if you can't find 7s in the US. Waterfowl require a bit larger shot however...