Opinions on maximun shotgun ranges

[angery jonn]

I thought I would throw this out here... in your guy's opinion what is the maximum range each gauge is reliable for when wing shooting?

[fish_e_o]

i guess it depends on what you're throwing but i'd say 40 yardsish. i've seen geese from 70ish yards and ravens shrug off shot at less

if you hit it it doesn't matter what gauge it is.

[elkhunter11]

What are you trying to kill? The larger the pellets that are required for a particular bird/animal, the closer that I want to be to maintain the pattern density that I prefer. You can extend the range to a point with choke selection, but the larger shot may not pattern all that well in a tight choke in a small gauge.

[angery jonn]

Fair enough, let's use Roosters for an example. I'm wondering what you think are the maximum distances of each particular gauge are. Obviously choke and shot selection will make a difference, so go ahead and include that info...

[elkhunter11]

For pheasant my own personal limits would be around :

410- 25 yards

28/20 gauge 35-40 yards

16/12 gauge 45-50 yards

In all cases, I would be using the Federal Golden Pheasant loads, using nickel plated lead shot. I would be using mod/full chokes for the 410, and IC/MOD in the rest.

And in all cases, the number one factor would be being able to reliably place the pattern on the bird.

[6MT]

I can plink steel at 100m with slugs from my 12ga.. I've tried to 200m, but can't seem to make the rainbow shot.

Bird shot...about 70 yards on the trap field.

[The Spank]

Originally Posted by angery jonn

I thought I would throw this out here... in your guy's opinion what is the maximum range each gauge is reliable for when wing shooting?

Originally Posted by angery jonn

Fair enough, let's use Roosters for an example. I'm wondering what you think are the maximum distances of each particular gauge are. Obviously choke and shot selection will make a difference, so go ahead and include that info...

Originally Posted by 6MT

I can plink steel at 100m with slugs from my 12ga.. I've tried to 200m, but can't seem to make the rainbow shot.

Bird shot...about 70 yards on the trap field.

And this is relevant to the OP's questions how?

My own personal limitations/confidence with a good quality and nice even patterning load would be as follows:

4:10 20-25 yds max
28ga to 35 yds max
20ga to 35-40 yds max
12ga to 45-50yds max

However knowing my ability level and confidence to make a good clean kill shot I would not push my Mod choke past 35 yards. I would want Imp Mod &/or F choke beyond 35 yds. As well I am not a fan of heavy shot for upland birds. I prefer 7.5 shot through IC/M chokes under 35 yards. For longer shots I like to drop down to a #6 shot or at most a #5 shot for the longest shots I would take. I know it's not always possible but I really like a S/IC combo in my O/U with a load of 7.5's around 25 yards. Just seems to really crumple birds well.

[.257Weatherby]

Originally Posted by angery jonn

I thought I would throw this out here... in your guy's opinion what is the maximum range each gauge is reliable for when wing shooting?

Depends...if your using tungsten or not.
Rob

[wwbirds]

While teaching shotgun for MNR back when lead was still allowed I taught the maximum effective killing range of lead #5 shot was about 40 yards.
We gave each student (from about 14 years of age to around 50 years of age and everything in between) a stake and asked them to mark 40 yards from our shooting line in the gravel pit. We got everything from 25 yards to 80 yards that day.
I have had several waterfowl hunters claim to kill a goose at 80 yards and I thought it was closer to 50 yards.
We put most of our decoys at about 20 -25 yards but will often put a highly visable or security decoy at a roughly measured 40 yards to remind us of the effective killing range. I still considered lead shot effective to about 40 yards give or take 5 yards and steel shot 10 yards less.

While the shot charge of different gauges are smaller (pattern) I dont believe the gauge affects effective killing range nor the choke. If you hit a rooster in the head with a #6 shot full choke 410 at 40 yards they are still going to die.