Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Shot size for ruffed grouse

No matter what the bird, I tend to use smaller shot size earlier in the season and move to heavier shot by the 3rd weekend. They flush longer and the birds feathers are heavier as well thicker layers of fat for the pellets to penetrate. Works for me ,you do her anyway you like.Best of luck to your success. Magnum Man

7.5 in the lower barrel and 6 in the upper.

A grouse won't know the difference between 7 1/2 shot, 8, 6 or any othe size for that matter. I will use 7 1/2 most often in a shotgun, but a 357 will work and so will a bow...

How can you obsess about that?

I like 7s for ruffed grouse and quail. They seem to shock the bird better and nail them to the ground. A moderate #6 load is also one of my favorites.

JB,

I like #4 shot for about anything. There might be less shot density, but one pellet into the body about anywhere will kill the bird and make far less holes full of feathers.

7 1/2`s

you could actually put 6, 7.5 or 8's in your shotgun and a grouse wouldn't know the difference if you shoot straight

7 1/2's or 6's depending on what choke I am using.

Deerslayers are pretty close to Improved Cylinder and seem to work best with 7 1/2's.

I tend to use 6's with modified and full choked guns.

I used 6's with a full choke on one outing this year and shot a hen turkey with that load as well.

My old 16 gauge Wingmasters from the early 1950's like either 7 1/2 or 6's.

I'm with these two guys, #6's, 2 3/4 high brass though. Ruffies, Blues and Spruce all live close together where I hunt.
On a combo moose or elk/grouse hunt, my 35 Whelen in 250gr is pretty definitive as well, just don't shoot to low if you get my drift.

I use 2 3/4" 1 1/8 oz of #5's in my single shot 12 gauge and 3/4 oz of #6's in 28 gauge for grouse but would have bought #5 if they had been for sale locally. The bigger shot size often goes through the bird and when it doesn't it is easier to find than the smaller shot. BTW troufly, I shot one once with a 180 gr Speer Mag Tip from a 308 Norma Mag, the head dissapeared and ended up stripping all the feathers of the neck, it was a nice clean kill

6's out of either a 20 or 12 gauge. Used 7 1/2's for 20+ years, but found 6's to be more effective and more meat friendly.

I'm almost out of the last 'ole box of 20ga. Federal Premium, copper plated 6's. I don't know if they even offer them anymore. I bet that I haven't packed a 12ga. for ruffed grouse in 15+ years and I really don't think that it has cost me any grouse over using the 12ga.

As can be seen here, it often depends what other species you may encounter. I hunt ruffed grouse and woodcock far more than I big game hunt.

Now if you are doing it right you will be hunting with a SxS, well at least try it anyway. Burton Spiller and Foster figured this game out a long time ago.

I shoot 8's in both barrels for the first 3 weeks. Woodcock are small and need pattern denisty. I will transiition to 8's right 7.5's left and finally end up hunting 7.5's after the second week of November. I like hard shot. I hunt Federal papers at 1200 for 8's and hunt Remington STS for 7.5's as they are green and easy to tell apart from the 8's.

Could I hunt with 7.5's or 8's all season long? No problem at all.

Well I lean toward 6's for 90% of my bird shooting, I go heavier late 4's or 5's in winter. I think it more how your gun patterns than anything else. I am by far not expert on the matter. All I know if that modern shotguns and shell pattern way tighter than they did when I start hunting in the 1960's. I shoot a Vinci and well, I admit that if I don't let a bird fly out a bit, they tend to turn into burger. I come to belief that the old rules about chokes and shot size really don't apply to the short of guns and the material the shot is made out of. The pattern board is your friend more so now than it was in the past. My gun needed some stock mods so the shot would go were I looked, I was shooting low and to the right some. It was fine just wearing a shirt, Cloths that I usually wear made enough of a difference to cause me to miss birds. Needed a shorter stock, and they shimmed it a little and I was back on, I even shoot better in just a shirt too. this stuff is Voodoo. When I comes to shotguns, its a world of its own.

where i hunt grouse if you let them fly anywhere you won't kill one or even see it. If you get a glimpse of the bird when he flushes, you shoot if you want a Ruff for supper. There is no letting them get out there. You shoot and then listen for them to hit the ground.

I prefer 7 1/2s to 6s for Ruff Grouse or Chuckar.

I developed this opinion when Oregon Chuckar was in its heyday and we'd each shoot 15-20 in a long week-end. I also use high quality, heavy Trap loads.

Another good thing about the smaller shot size ---- They're easier on your teeth.

I use #6 for everything, but only because I do so little shotgunning that I don't want to stock different shotshells for different things.

I run Remington 2 3/4", 1 1/8oz of #8 shot nitro gold sporting clay loads most of the time. In the late season I switch over to #6 shot because buy that time I am mostly hunting rabbits with grouse as a bonus.

I like 6's or reloaded 7's..also have killed lots with #5's...