Finding out for myself.

[Phil C]

I went out last week and shot some pigeons with my new Parker SBT gun. Used RST 12 gauge 2 1/2” Woodcock spreaders 10 shot 7/8 oz.
I picked 14 birds randomly from the pigeons I shot. Rough cleaned only pulled out the breast . There was a total of 29 holes from the #10’s. Some birds did have zero pellets in the breast. If a pellet went in and out I counted this as 2 holes. I did not attempt to remove shot and feathers from the holes.
Birds shot between 15 and 50 yards.Not scientific but these are the results.
I am not advocating using #10’s but I was given the 10’s by a friend and after reading pros and cons of 10 shot I wanted to do check the performance myself.
Based on what I have experienced the 10 shot is very effective and did not seem to damage the breast meat any more than if I was using other size shot.
Birds hunted, distances shot, bird presentations and shells used all effect our individual results.
This is the reason I suppose we all have our preferred shells we like to shoot.
I do not doubt for a minute the poor results others have experienced due to the many variables.
I will post pictures later this evening when I get home and have faster internet speed.