Anyone using #9 shot in the 28 gauge for shooting clay birds, out to about 30 yards?
Got a chance to pick some AA's up for $13. a box.
Thanks for any feedback!
Virgil B.
Within your parameter of 30 yards and in their isn't a clay that can survive a well centered load of 9's..You may lose some frings chip hits, but that is it..Center them and the temp or target type will make little difference.
For the most part clays break from the impact forces of multiple hits, combined with the spin of the clay adding to tearing it apart..and at 30yards and in, 9's are not a handicap. In fact if they are showing belly, 9's may be the best first choice. As far as rabbit targets, I know one high master class shooter who shot nothing but 9's at rabbits with a full choke. He crushed them more often than not.
Yes, I would say that of all the things a beginner has to worry about when trying to break clays out to 30 yards, shot size (7.5, 8, 8.5 or 9) is at the bottom of the list.
I once took a team of kids to shoot int'l trap in the Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs. Some of us got there a day early, before our ammo arrived, and wanted to shoot some practice. The only shot size we could find was #9. In bunker you get two shots on each target (until finals) but the targets are harder than regular clays in order to withstand the force of the much higher velocities of the low birds, and the max allowed load is 7/8 oz (24 gram). By the time the kids were shooting their second shots the clays were usually about 50 yards out. I was stunned at how well they broke with the 9's, if the gun was pointed correctly.
Competitors use larger shot, usually, for two reasons. First larger shot gets blown around by the wind less, and second, in case they fringe a bird with their pattern they figure one or two larger pellets are more like to produce a visible break than two or three strikes with #9's. I'm pretty sure that is correct, but only once you are shooting past about 40 yards, and wind is not going to move your pattern much at all inside 30 yards. I'm not sure it is ever something you need to worry about with clays because whatever the wind is doing to your shot-cloud it is also doing to the target.
Bottom line: 9's will work fine for what you are doing.
