#8 v. #9 Shot

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Never cared for 8's OR 9's......lost a lot of birds to #8 shot when hunting; switched to 7s (NOT 7 1/2s) and problem was solved! Use to use #8 for trap shooting and targets only, but then started finding clays during the pick up that had one or two holes in them, but weren't busted. Started using 7s and my 'misses' became fewer.
Just the ramblings of an old man.................

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by Mr. 16 gauge

Never cared for 8's OR 9's......lost a lot of birds to #8 shot when hunting; switched to 7s (NOT 7 1/2s) and problem was solved! Use to use #8 for trap shooting and targets only, but then started finding clays during the pick up that had one or two holes in them, but weren't busted. Started using 7s and my 'misses' became fewer.
Just the ramblings of an old man.................

That is how they did the "study" for the article I read. They went through the skeet/trap field and looked for unbroken clays with pellet holes through them. Then, they determined what size the pellet holes were and looked to see how many total pellet holes were in the clays.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the larger shot usually throws a tighter pattern because there is less deformation of the pellets upon firing. That might be another reason for improved performance with larger shot, especially at trap.

Me, I never use anything smaller than 7.5's for hunting, and that is only used on doves, crows, quails, and pen raised pheasants/chukars shot on game farms. Otherwise, it is always #6 or bigger.