8 1/2 shot
 

Just opened a flat of .410 shells which had been sitting in my basement for a couple of years. Was surprised to find that they are Sporting Clays load with 8 1/2 size shot. Have never seen that size shot in a modern shell. Others?

Whoops - sorry about the rotation

Quite a few of the guys I know that shoot 410s use 8.5 shot for clays.

I’ve never heard of 8 1/2 shot before this. Must have been some kind of gimmick. Why when we have #8 and #9 shot sizes, would we ever need 8 1/2 ???





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I have seen this loading in the past. That shot size has been available for reloading for quite some time. It only makes a difference in the users head and with my shooting not much there either.

Bingo!





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I use it for early season doves in small gauges with open chokes. It gives more pellets than 8s when only shooting 3/4 oz. in 28 and 1/2 ounce in .410. As the birds get wiser, faster, and bigger I stop using it. But I loaded it in 16 and used it this season and noticed almost every dove I brought down with it was still living. So I quit using it this year for doves in 16. Went to 8s and 7 1/2s.

I’ve used it when nothing else was available. I works fine.

I've loaded my 410 skeet loads with it and it works fine on quail.

I shot 8 1/2’s almost exclusively in my 410 and 28 back when I loaded my own, and shot targets more, although i used the same load for dove and quail. I got hooked on it from using a Federal sporting clays load back then that used 8 1/2’s in those gauges. I know that it is splitting hairs, but they always did well at least “in my head”!!

I’m sure 8 1/2 shot works fine for those who use it - heck, why wouldn’t it if sizes 8 and 9 work well.
I bet the first shotshell company that offered 8 1/2 shot only did so to gain a leg-up on the other companys - to offer something nobody else did... not because there was a need for it.

What I’d really like to see some shotshell company come out with is 9 3/4 for woodcock. I’d like something finer than 9’s but 10’s just seem too ‘faddish’ to me...






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Middle of the road for a little more shot than 8, a little more power than 9.

1/2 ounce

8 = 205
8.5 = 245
9 = 292

3/4 ounce

8 = 307
8.5 = 373
9 = 439

HMMM Dean....Do you shoot much 7 1/2? That is a pretty popular size. funny though, it seems to stop there. I do not recall ever seeing 1/2 size shot larger than 7 1/2...….maybe 00 1/2 will make a big play for the home defense crowd! They seem enamored with flechette, rubber pellets, tracers and bolo rounds!

This though all reminds me of the old saying that fishing plug designers design fishing plugs to catch fishermen, not fish!!!

Used commonly for the first shot in trap doubles.

Mark, I shoot #8 or #7 normally. Rarely, if ever, #9 or 7 1/2.

For my upland hunting I generally shoot #8 in both tubes in early season and #8 in the right tube with #7 in the left tube for later in the season. I shoot #8 exclusively on clays.





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For my trap league at the 16 yard line I shoot 1 oz. of 8.5 shot. Less recoil and more pellets (497) in a 1 oz load than 8's (461) and 7 1/2 (394) in a 1 1/8 shell.

8.5's are a great too for 7/8 oz spreader loads for pattern density.

I always wondered if the shot manufacturers produce a lot of "off-spec" shot and the 1/2 sizes were a way to sell it rather than have to reprocess it.

That makes good sense.





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Back around 1995, Federal offered a 1 ounce 8 1/2 paper handicap load.
Used them at The Grand American and other Trap shoots that year. Might even have a box tucked away. Wish they were still available.

Trap3

That's how it works. Shot doesn't drop all the exact same size, and has to be graded.
My buddy, Chuck, who helped me with the #10 article, measures every batch of shot, and sorts them by size. As an example: some number 7 1/2 Shot might be actually 7 1/4s. Some 8s might actually be 8 1/4 size. Right in the middle is 8 1/2s. More pellets in the pattern than 8s, more energy than 9s.
I don't let the shot size get in my head. See the bird, shoot the bird.

Back in the late 60's Remington used to claim that their shotmaking process was the highest volume precision manufacturing operation in the US

I recall years ago that a few shot shell manufacturers promoted their dual density loads by having two different shot sizes. I think it was mostly designed for waterfowl hunters. For instance it used to be about 30% of #2 combined with 70% of #4 shot. I remember shooting it and it killed ducks but did not shoot enough to say it was inferior or superior to a so called homogeneous load. Remembered the ads for it saying best of both worlds with larger shot giving more knockdown power at further ranges plus having pattern density for moderate ranges. It sounded good in theory but not certain it really performed the best. Plus the premium they were charging for each box guaranteeing superior performance than normal loads did not really jive where we were hunting at the time in beaver ponds.

We all know shotguns were not designed as precision guns and obviously a slight variation in shot size I don't think makes that much difference, or does it. We also know that deformed shot can cause flyers and shot stringing assuming pellets were deformed by the powder discharge. This maybe part of it but maybe the variation in actual shot size before also contributes to flyers and stringing just as much as deformation.

I seem to recall the dual shot size was (or maybe still is) used as a marketing tool for turkey ammo too. Something about improved pattern density If I recall correctly. I've never used or tested it but it would not surprise me to learn that it is an improvement.

Duplex Load
 

One that never made much sense to me.

As Grandma used to say, 8 1/2 shot??--'bout as useless as tits on a boar hog

My dads good friend and hunting buddy from West Virginia used to say that. Tough fella. He lost his right eye and then learned to shoot left handed.

He always had some great mountain wityisms. My other favorite was "talking to him was like satisfying a boar hog-once you start he wont let you stop":)

Scott that is the stuff. I had forgotten they also did that. Remember the marketing info on it but can't say how it performed justified the up charge in price they were asking. I think it just a gimmick that also produced shot stringing. Since most people don't really think about it that much it was one of those good thought-bad idea products.

Harold,

My friend's "Grandma" had a similar saying about useless things, but I can't post it here. Your Grandma was obviously more genteel than his. :)

I dug through my stash of shot shells, knowing I'd shot 8 1/2s before. This time my feeble memory served me well. I killed many a grouse and a few woodcock with these. Were they better than 8s or 9s -- not to my unscientific leanings, but when you can't make up your mind, indecision can make you do funny things.

I have a couple of AyAs with 27 inch barrels. When I bought them I asked the dealer why 27 inches. He essentially said that AyA was trying please those who wanted 28" AND 26" barrels. Not sure that works.

Chalk all this up to the large category of "the irrelevant."

I guess it's like finding a unique Parker with some feature or configuration not seen before. As I often read in this Forum, "Never say never."

The “Bill Hanus Bird Gun” dimensions specify 27” bbls. And you see lots of english guns with 27” tubes

Mark,

Very true, but I’ve never heard any English makers nor Hanus come up with the same goofy logic as that guy selling those AyAs. :)

True Dat!!!!

I only talked to Bill Hanus once years ago considering one of his guns. Neat fella that loved the small bores and had strong notions. Anything bigger than a 16 gauge for a double gun in upland hunting he was firmly against.