I think the combination of 8's in the right barrel and 7 1/2's in the left is a sound choice for general ruffed grouse shooting, although I use 9's in both barrels. But it really comes down to the thickness of the cover and the average range of the shots. I hunt ruffed grouse in Sasketechawan incidental to my sharptail and hun shooting. The wooded cover surrounding the sharptail fields contains many grouse although you have to walk longer for a shot than you do in my home coverts in NY. They are not concentrated as the NY birds are. The shots are typically longer and I simply use my modified and full guns using my sharptail loads of 1200 fps and 1 1/4 oz. of #6 shot. It works well for me although if I was just hunting the ruffed grouse I would probably use 7 1/2's. It all depends on the cover and average distance the birds are taken.
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