Use what you feel works best for you.

My wife shoots 1160. I shoot 1250, both 1 oz.. I sometimes use some of her shells and dont notice any performance difference. The recoil is definitely lighter. When she first started shooting those light loads, I was amazed at some of the targets she was smashing way out there. I decided to try them for myself.

Clark, you didn't say what you were going to be shooting, except it was sporting clays.

Shooting for fun, charity, and or corporate, a good 1 oz. load at 1200 fps. should be all you need. If you are going the more serious route into competition via NSCA registered shoots, shooting primarily the Main Event, I would go with what most of the top pros go with since this is how they make their living. At the regional in Houston recently they were shooting AA HDCP, Aguila HDCP, B&P HDCP, Federal HDCP, and Remington Premier Nitro Sporting Clays........IMO, they are all very good. Obviously they are sponsored, but still, they want to shoot the best shell they can.

points that come to mind

Don't think Pistol and Rifle as these are not solid bullets

All shells are better than most shooters

Fast loads tire you more

Heavy loads tire you more

Concentrate on putting the shot in the right place, as speed, load, choke, length of barrel are all secondary

^^^^^^ EXCELLENT !!!!!

Last sentence pretty much covers it You can buy/use all the latest/greatest gear and it's up to each shooter to put the shot cloud in the correct place to get that X

That's the best/simplest explanation on how to shoot/break Clay's IMHO

I've been shooting 1 oz 1250 Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics for the last couple of years but just recently bought 20 flats of 1 oz 1300 Fiocchi Crushers. Shot 8 boxes of the Crushers last Sunday. I couldn't tell the difference in recoil between the two shells but I'm not recoil sensitive. I've shot 200 rds in one day many times. I don't think the extra 50 fps help me any but for what I paid for the Crushers I couldn't turn them down.

I only shoot for fun and the occasional sporting clays charity event -

My main choices (readily available, reasonable prices) for what I want to do with it:
Shooting Beretta SP1:

Rem Gun Club 1200 fps - both 1 1/8 oz @ 1200 fps and 1145fps
Federal Target 1145 fps @ 1 1/8 oz - I buy the Red/White/Blue ones for Wounded Warriors a lot.
I have purposefully mixed the 1200 vs 1145 fps, firing one in upper barrel and one in lower barrel to see if I could tell the difference in recoil and I "may" can tell but it is not much in my perception.

Winchester and Herters - 1 oz @ 1180 fps
When mixing these with the 1200 fps 1 1/8 oz, I can definitely tell they are lower recoil.

All break clays and I have never seen a difference in my scores in any of these.
I typically shoot 100 every weekend.

If I want to forget recoil - I reach for my A400 in 20 gauge or my trusty Rem 1100 and shoot the 1200fps.

This guy has a wonderful way of saying a lot in a few words, a rare skill

Roger Gascoigne wrote:
points that come to mind

Don't think Pistol and Rifle as these are not solid bullets

All shells are better than most shooters

Fast loads tire you more

Heavy loads tire you more

Concentrate on putting the shot in the right place, as speed, load, choke, length of barrel are all secondary

Using a recoil calculator:
8# gun, 18 gr powder, 33 grains for the wad as constants
for 1oz @1300fps, you get 19.2
for 1-1/8 @ 1200fps, you get 20.3

and for 1oz @1200 you get 16.7
and 1-1/[email protected] 1300, you get 23.3

SO, lighter AND slower load gives you the best result from a recoil perspective

And from what I've seen/read and experience with patterns also.

I’ve tried everything out there and keep coming back to 1 oz 1180 FPS. Very mild recoil and breaks everything at any distance I can handle.
Cheers Gofer

What ammo is 1oz @ 1180?

Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics is one that I know of,imagine there are others out there

I have shot those in the past, but I do not remember that particular one. I need some 1oz for upcoming FITASC shoots next year........

They also have a 1oz @1200 that are pretty common,at least around me.

Many popular brands have it. Federal Top Gun is one of the most readily available right now. Winchester Super Target is usually fairly easy to find. When in stock the Bass Pro/Cabela’s house brand, Herter’s, is pretty decent in that loading but is out of stock right now. Some other brands have a close alternative like 1 oz/1200 fps which is not significantly different. I think I have seen it from Aguila and Noble Sport but I am not sure. It is for sure on of the most common and popular loadings.

Of course if you want premium, you can get it in Win AA.

To the OP's original question,

The loads you reference preferring are totally fine. As target distances get further out there, it is nice to have a little more ooomph, and ooomph comes from speed. Does a shooter need more than 1300 FPS? I personally don't think so for most sporting or FITASC layouts I've seen or shot.

That said, velocities above 1300 tend to render more open patterns than a sister load under 1300; stated another way, a 1200 FPS load is generally a little tighter than a 1290 or 1300 FPS load, the 1350 FPS load will be more open still.

My "normal" load is 1 oz of #7-½'s at 1250, 1230 or 1275 depending on manufacturer. I have also shot several 1oz 1210 FPS loads with good success. I personally stick to 1250 as my goto as I am then comfortable shooting any 1200 to 1300 FPS load I can obtain at a travel shoot and not have to worry about lead changes.

But then I do keep a few 1oz 1350 #8's handy and use them a legal FITASC "spreader" load where changing chokes is not viable. They open up about a half-choke step over my normals on the pattern plate and do absolutely hammer targets, but I personally do not choose to shoot them regularly due to recoil.

I won't shoot Super Target - for some reason, it beats the snot out of me. Most sub 1200 fps shells I have seen have usually been 1-1/8oz so I'll have to look into some of these.

The under 1200 fps 1 1/8 oz loads tend to be further under 1200, commonly 1145 or so. I don’t think I have ever seen an 1180 fps load that wasn’t 1 oz. But then again I wasn’t looking for one either.

35fps is negligible as you can get that much variance in a box of one or the other