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Best ammo for Doves

40K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  tidmarshsmiths5 
smith5 -

Your best bet is to reload your own, then you KNOW what kind of quality you have. Big problem with the promo factory loads is that they are all 1 1/8 oz. shot. This is just too much lead for doves. Let's face it, doves are not hard to kill, but they can be very hard to hit.

I've been shooting 1 oz., 7.5 shot at approx. 1200 fps for doves for the last several years, with great success. I can usually scrounge all the Rem game load hulls I can pick up and they reload very nicely. I will be going to 7/8 oz. as soon as I get the new bar for my reloader. IMHO the primary benefit of the lighter loads is the lower recoil. I can remember days of shooting 1 1/8 oz. shot when I would come home with a shoulder that felt like someone had been pounding on it with a meat tenderizing hammer! No more. And let's face it, everyone can shoot better when the recoil is lower. The idea is to get lead on target.

Also, at least for me in both my 870 and in my O/U, the 1 oz. loads pattern much better. I find that the factory 1 1/8 oz., high-velocity (1250+ fps) loads tend to blow the pattern, leaving a hole with very few shot in the center.

If you really don't want to reload, I would suggest finding some of the Fiocchi 1 oz. loads or if money is not an object find some of the AA 1 oz.

Just my 2 cents worth and probably worth less than that.

Good luyck, have fun and stay safe.
 
IMO you should shoot 1 oz. For all the reasons I listed in my previous response.

I went out this evening for a couple of hours, conditions were poor, due to a 30+ mph wind. When doves fly 30 mph on top of a 30 mph wind, leading the bird becomes somewhat subjective for me! Despite the wind and doves that seemed to think airborne acrobatics were the norm, I managed to get 6 birds for 14 rounds fired. :) Not great, but not bad either. All were 1 oz., 8.5 shot, 1180 fps. My point in relating the above was simply to state that 1 oz. of shot is more than sufficient to bring down doves, even in less than ideal conditions.

I will load 7/8 oz. as soon as I get my new bar. I don't know if that will work well on late-season doves, but I'm sure it will in the first part of the season. I'll probably have to wait to try the 7/8 oz. loads until next season.

Also, you really do not need those "high-velocity" rounds. If you do the math, the difference in the time it takes the shot to reach the bird with a 1200 fps vs. a 1300 fps rounds is measured in thousanths of a second. All you do is add is more energy, thus more recoil. You surely don't need the added terminal energy to kill doves.

Having expounded at length, I now refute my own argument. Much of shotgunning is mental. If you are comfortable with the 1 1/8 oz. loads, by all means shoot them. Other than possibly tearing up birds shot at < 20 yds. a little more, it probably does no harm. One of the most important aids to accuracy is your confidence in your equipment, including the loads you shoot.

Don't know if this addressed your questions or not. Bottom line, decide what you like, what works for you, then shoot that load.
 
Greece -

I'm not familiar with the term "stockdove". We don't use that term here in the U.S.

We generally have three types of doves here. The mourning dove, approximately 12 in. long, pointed tail and grey-brown in color; the White-wing dove, slightly larger than the mourning dove with a white patch on the wing, and a long moderately rounded tail; and lastly the Eurasian collared dove, approximately 15 in. long, grey in color, with a thin black band with a white border on the neck.

All are small, very fast, and sometimes erratic flyers. They are easy to kill, so 7.5 or smaller (U.S. shot size) shot is all that is needed. While they ARE easy to kill, they can sometimes be very hard to hit!

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
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