For September dove I'm all about 9's or 8 1/2's or 8's .

For the middle and late season birds I think you need a slightly larger size shot , but no larger than 7 1/2 .

I only use 6's for things like pheasents and stuff that has hair .

The 4's are kinda more of an in case while deer hunting with whatever .

I likes to have me plenty of OPTIONS :rotf:

Looking at the season dates for dove here Dove Statewide
Sept. 5–30
Nov. 21–Nov. 29
Dec. 8–Jan. 31.
It will probably be the Dec 8 - Jan 31 dates that I can go on . Our peanut harvest season is about to be here and we run that 7 days a week until sometime November .

Options are always nice , I remember the last time me and my oldest brother were deer hunting all we seen were large squirrels . I remember thinking I wish I had brought a shotgun instead of a 300 WM haha .

Its really tempting for me to buy a Parker 16 gauge , the RST loads arent that expensive for it . But I have a list of about 5 guns I am thinking of buying so im not sure yet If I will pickup another sxs or not .

I have a half dozen Parker 16’s now and there’s still one or two other Parker 16’s I’d like to acquire .

I once owned a short ten LC Smith and handloaded for it, all the way down to one ounce. Never considered trying it on doves. I have so many other sub-gauge doubles that are more suited to dove shooting. My personal preference in shot size is 8s in the first two seasons, then 7 1/2s on the more mature, tough migratory birds. From 7/8 to 1 oz. of shot is all I've ever felt I needed, with enough choke, and I'll admit to liking tight chokes. Pattern density is what kills. One can achieve sufficient density with lighter payloads by going to tighter chokes. I'd never consider 1 1/4 oz. of shot for doves. Way too much overkill.

Milton, you'd love a 16 with one ounce of shot on late season doves. The DHE 16/20 with 32" barrels in both gauges, that I acquired late last year, is a dream come true on doves. I call it my "peanut field gun".

SRH

Ive looked at a few 16 gauges , If I was to get a Parkers I would go with a PH 16 I have been looking at . Ive read only about 209 PH 16s were made but they dont seem too hard to find for sale .

Problem is two very nice 10 gauge doubles just popped up for sale :rotf: I cant stop myself from buying them when I see one that catches my attention .

you gona have to look long and hard to find a bigger 10 ga than you already got...ha charlie

Charlie I seen a 20 gauge a few weeks ago that reminded me of something you would shoot , it was a single barrel 20 gauge that apparently someone had build on a 4 bore action . It was over 25lbs :rotf:

But yes I think the only 10 bigger than a 6 frame would be if someone had a 7 frame 10 gauge .

I wouldnt mind finding a beat up or well used double 8 if one came along .

that's got to be a record for weight for a 20 ga... charlie