My favorite pheasant load for many years has been 1&1/2 ounce of magnum 5s, a remington STS case, win red wad, win 209, and I think 29g of longshot. It chronographs at 1260 fps from my 26" beretta A400 and patterns very well with a modified tube.

I have taken many pheasants at extreme ranges with this load. I tried some of the faster 1400 fps plus 1&1/4 once loads but always came back to this 1.5 ounce load. It's been the only shotshell load I've loaded in about 15 years. I had an old guy take me with him on a guide pheasant hunt one year. He paid so he asked me just to back him up and let him empty his gun first. After I dumped multiple birds without a mis at longer range the guide finally came up and said' "I just got to ask, what the hell are you shooting?" He said he does this every day all fall and has never seen anyone drop birds like that. I handed him a shell and he said this must be a reload, no trap load weighs this much.

The company I worked for for 13 years had a corporate membership at a pay for planted birds place. They would buy 100 birds a year or more and every year but one no one came out and hunted so they told me to go shoot them all towards the end of season. I'd bring my brother because he had two dogs he was training. We shot hundreds of pheasants mostly with my 1.5 ounce #5 load.

I also love longshot in pistols. It's amazing in 40 and 10mm and great for midrange 44 and 357. It's a powder I buy bulk and always have on hand. It meters pretty good too.

Bb