Curious experience some years ago, the result of unexpected improvements in shot patterns. I was doing a lot of clays shooting with a Beretta O/U 12 ga and in the interest of saving money decided to try some 7/8th oz shot cups. It was a huge success, and after a little bit of investigation discovered that my IC choke was shooting close to FC patterns. Head scratcher that was. Dug a little deeper and found that chokes are not the only thing that influence pattern density. Another influence has to do with the length of the shot column. In short, the closer to square dimensions, ie., column diameter vs column length, the denser the pattern will be. Well, a 7/8 oz load from a 12 ga is close to square, and there you have the explanation. Not only did it work with the various clays games, it was also quite effective with quail and dove.
I no longer bow to the heavier shot weight gods.
I have found also how effective 7/8oz of 9's are on 16's and 1 st bird doubles. With a mod choke they smoke ball 16's..mb
