After trying 4s, 5s, and 6 shot over the years; my hunting buddy and I have settle on shooting 7 1/2 shot at pheasant, wild or pen raised. What we have found is that 7 1/2 shot seems to penetrate better collecting less feather. I mostly hunt pheasant with an English 12 gauge box lock and my favorite load is B&Ps Competition One 1 oz. load of 7 1/2s. They patterns very well in my gun (choked IC & M) and kills pheasant very dead. Even on late season wild pheasant I've found 7 1/2s work very well. Late in the season when hunting wild birds I switch to either my Parker GH or a Belgian Guild gun both with tighter chokes ( at least in one barrel the Belgian gun is choked cylinder and full) but the shot size used is still 7 1/2.

We do hunt over very good pointing dogs and we don't take that many 45 plus yard. Even in that 40 to 50 yards range 7 1/2s seem to kill well.

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I agree with Mr. Bates on 7 1/2's. I work very hard to be the best shot I can be with a shotgun. We owe that to these birds. I treat a flying bird much the same I do with hunting deer. If I don't have a good , clean shot I won't take it. I don't count on large shot (4's or 5's) to punch through to to vitals. Head shots are the only way (for me) to cleanly kill a rooster. With practice on focusing on the head it can be done. I use tight chokes in my 28's, 20's and 16's and rarely use more than 1oz. of shot. I don't like picking large shot out of the breast and cutting out damaged portions of breast meat. That being said, a good dog or two is essential.

To everyone, have a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Would the effectiveness of 7 1/2 shot have anything to do with a higher antimony content of the shot often used in the smaller shot sizes? It would be harder and penetrate better? Also pattern better with the harder shot?

My PERSONAL opinion is that softer shot is a more effective killer, once it is on game. Harder shot will pattern better, but I think there is a phenomenon called the "Splat Factor", which means that the energy is transferred better to the game, and the shot, if it stays in the game, transfers all it's energy to the target. In my experience, I rarely find steel shot in my ducks - the pellets went through the bird, and came out the other side - therefore not transferring all their energy to the bird. The concept with highly alloyed lead shot would not be as dramatic as with steel, but I think the concept is valid

This is a great post. Thanks for sharing your experiences, guns, etc. Keep enjoying, sharing and have a great New Year!

What Bill Bates said on Christmas Eve. By far, the most important factor is to be able to hit where you are pointing. If you can do that, you can't go far wrong. Point at the bird's head.