Although I have enjoyed all the responses and comments, I don’t want to belabor the conversation and repeat myself. But I will make a few comments before I back out of the conversation.
I have no experience using #10 shot on close cover grouse. Everything I have said about their use is secondhand from my grandfather and others who spent lifetimes in grouse coverts. I respect their opinions. I’m sure their grouse bags were far beyond anything I or other modern hunters have experienced. They had a wealth of experience on which to base their choice of loads.
All of these gentlemen, to a man, had an almost reverential respect for their partridge. They didn’t express themselves the way writers such as Spiller, Schaldach, Foster and others did, but they all shared the same love for arguably the finest of all game birds.
None of those gentlemen, or I, would use loads that we didn’t feel were effective killers. Lost birds are the nightmare of every caring hunter. They are a regrettable fact of life. It will happen occasionally despite our best efforts. But I am highly confident that my loads did not did not equate to a higher number of birds lost. I would have known it and I would have modified my approach if it did.
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