Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 20 Gauge for ringnecks

Acquired a nice Rem. 20 gauge pump last year and wondered what load would work best for pheasant - I've got some #6- would those be suitable ?

Stocked birds or wild birds??

Pen raised birds will die quite easily with practically any kind of high brass #4-6 ammunition.

Wild birds, esp West of the Mississippi, need the best shells you can buy to anchor them. They are a different animal ie. bird altogether. The Federal Premium PF load in #5-6 or Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #5-6 are top shelf stuff and work well.

NB

Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #5-6 is the best

What these guys said.. +1

Agree with the other guys on the Fiocchi, prefer #5's. That said, if you have other high brass #6's, I'd use them. If they're light loads, use them for blue rocks before you head out for the first push.

Kurt

I don't know anymore, used to say premium #6 early, #4 late season. Had a friend that shot #2 or BB in 3" all season and he was absolutely deadly with them. Few cripples, mostly they just dropped.

use whatever patterns best in you gun with 5's or 6's.

I like high brass 5's the best. Never had a problem killng them at reasonable range with a 20 gauge so loaded.

I don't target pheasant's much anymore. Don't really care to eat them. When I did I used 1 1/8th oz of #6 reload in a WW case or Peter's Blue Magic case. Always kept velocity at around 1200 fps. Hunted mostly chukars and now and then would get into a few pheasant's. #7 12 shot gave to many cripples. #6 shot still gave a dense pattern for the smaller birds and stopped crippling the bigger birds. I don't believe wild pheasant's are any tougher than pen raised. But what I did see is that they were more prone to flushing earlier and thus really needed heavier shot to penetrate and kill well. The wild birds do seem faster than pen raised and that give's more time to get on them for a closer shot. If I was going to target pheasant's today and not use reloads I'd look for #5 shot in a 1 1/8 oz load at about 1200 fps. If I had #5 shot around I'd just load my own.

Thanks for the suggestions . I'm in S.Ind the Pheasant hunting around here is the result of stocked/penned birds . And like a couple people have already noted they do seem to "hold" longer than wild birds- so I think I'll just stick with what I've currently got on the shelf . Good luck in the field . MJ

We hunt preserve birds here in KY. but I will say they do fly well. I use my 20ga/mod all the time with 1oz loads of #6 and it hammers them if I do my part. Likewise my buddy uses his 20ga CZ sxs and does well too. Most are dead in the air.