Usefulness of #9 shot

[B. Dudley]

It puts a lot more lead in the air.

[6pt-Sika]

Honestly I'd hate to say how many tons of #9's I've shot at skeet targets , dove and quail . In every gauge from 10 down to 410

FWIW I was shooting #9 light loads in my 26" barreled 10 gauge hammer gun last evening at skeet .

[Joe D.]

20 ga. #9 shot was all we used for Eastern Shore wild quail (bobwhite) over pointing dogs back in the 80's. I never noticed excessive shot in the birds.

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by Joe Dreisch

20 ga. #9 shot was all we used for Eastern Shore wild quail (bobwhite) over pointing dogs back in the 80's. I never noticed excessive shot in the birds.

I grew up shooting grouse with 9 shot and rarely had a bird that had too much shot in it. It just didn't happen that often. Maybe one or two birds a season and I was shooting between 70 to 80 birds a year back in the day. I pulled a tail feather from each bird and tallied at the end of the season.

The market hunter who introduced my grandfather to grouse used #10 shot out of an old sawed off colt double before market hunting became illegal. He shot for the New York city market. His birds wouldn't have been accepted if they had a lot of shot.