Crow Busters Forum

8fishermen · Guru

Had a really good day.

duckslayer · Member

What size and weight and length 12ga shell is everybody's favorite, just wondering? I like the remington express long range #5's in three inch, but I have no clue how to load my own shells.

shaddart · Guru

Duck, theres tons of info out there on reloading, look on the MEC site for reloaders & the powder company sitess for reload recipes. Try the Alliant powder site for recipes.The biggest problem I've found is finding a good source for supplies & you pay a fortune if you buy powder & primers online. I use winchester 209 primers & winchester wsf powder in winchester AA hulls, but theres tons of different combos out there, that combo works for me because I can do both 12s & 20s with the same components. I also use chilled #6 shot, but you'll find everyone has their own thoughts on shot size. YOu must really smoke them with 3" 5s ! Reloading gives you something else to do when you can't hunt, & is enjoyable. Lots of guys on this site reload, so I'm sure you can get all the info you want by simply asking.

Lone Star Phil · Senior Member

Greg:

Good observation of the effect that a wounded or dead crow hundreds of yards away from your gun positions will have on flight patterns, especially when hunting orchards.

The TCP is sensitive to "hoppers" and seeks to mitigate that activity in a timely manner and with prejudice. Dead crows that are not within twenty yards of the caller are retrieved any time there are no crows working the area and tossed into the kill zone. We just ask that the casual observer not think that we are a 'tidy' bunch.

gearly65 · Senior Member

Duck, the Remington Express Long Range are very expensive and not necessary for crows. I like 1 1/8 ounce 6 shot. I found them for $52.99 a case at the closest Cabela's store to me on an in store special they had. They only had two cases but I ordered 20 more cases and they honored the price. These were the Winchester Super X Heavy Game Loads and are plenty for crows. No need to spend that much on the Express Long Range. That was an outstanding price. I check all over the country for the best prices on that load before crow season each year and by far that was the best price. I did find them a few cents cheaper a box out of Texas but with shipping it added a dollar a box to the price.

8fishermen · Guru

duckslayer wrote:
What size and weight and length 12ga shell is everybody's favorite, just wondering? I like the remington express long range #5's in three inch, but I have no clue how to load my own shells.

Duck,

I shoot 1.2 oz of 6's at 1350+ fps through a Imp Mod. They will knock nuts and bolts off of crows. Sometimes they come in with parts missing like landing gear, wings or ****pits. Since we don't eat them we like to see them deader than dead. Some close birds make a splat when they hit the ground. Your 3" shells will do the same. Most folks will tell you that 7 1/2 to 8's are all that is needed and that is true. However, to me, there is nothing like taking one out at ranges most people don't believe a shotgun can reach. I love to watch one have to pack a lunch just to make it back to the earth. The two most memorable shots to me on most hunts are the ones REALLY close (wad passes through) and the EXTREMELY TALL shots. We actually practiced both shots this off season shooting lots of clays at close range and long range, often over 70 measured yards.

There are tradeoffs with ALL shells. Recoil is going to be a major factor with heavy loads. Good recoil pads and well fitted and weighted guns help. Trap loads are pleasurable to shoot but don't pack the punch of the hot loads. Hotter loads will usually not pattern as tight as lower velocity loads. And on and on it goes. The key is to shoot what you are comfortable shooting.

Fives are great by the way. I love 5's for long range shooting. Some will tell you there is not enough pellet density in a 1 1/8 oz load of 5's. My response to that is gut shaking laughter along with a "watch and see my friend."

Good hunting and Merry Christmas.

nhcrowshooter · Guru

Hey Greg I was wondering how your season was going with your switch to #6 shot and reloads. Seems like they are everything 10gacrowshooter and I told you they would be biggrin

Close or far 6's noticably outperform the smaller shot if the shooter does their part. It's just hard to find a reasonable price and a quality load of #6 if you don't reload. In 12ga I just look for a 1200 fps 1 1/8 trap load and put number 6 shot in it. My components are Fed hulls free from trap range, Fiocchi primers, Green Dot Powder, Claybuster Wad and Eagle band magnum shot.

Gearly that was a good price, my cost for the reloads above is $4.80 a box or $48 a flat.

Loading the 1 1/4 ounce load for the old short tens (2 7/8" 10ga) is bit more pricey ($7 to $8.75 a box) as we have to buy the hulls and cut them down, SP10 wads are more expensive and double the price of 12g Claybusters.

-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Tuesday 27th of December 2011 08:56:40 AM

crowcommander · Veteran Member

Ive been shooting 1 1/4 of 6's in nitro 27 hull with 28 grains of 4756. I love it for my first and second shot. Cant go wrong with 6's in my opinion. Third shot is 1 3/4oz of buffered 4's, they are real asskickers but will reach out and knock em down along ways out.

gearly65 · Senior Member

That was an excellent price, I'm hoping I can get them again at that price. I should have ordered more.

Bob · Guru

Hey Greg,

When you say "obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated" bravo! That is a good one!

Bob A.

nhcrowshooter · Guru

Hey Greg, those 6's and 5's don't really work any better on crows than 7.5 and 8 shot, c'mon man don't you read any of the stuff on here? biggrin

http://crowbusters.activeboard.com/t38168702/shot-size-myth/

-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Wednesday 28th of December 2011 04:31:10 PM

8fishermen · Guru

Bob wrote:
Hey Greg,

When you say "obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated" bravo! That is a good one!

Bob A.

I thought you might like that one. I sure did when my wife sent it to me.

duckslayer · Member

Nhcrowshooter, I'm an avid duck hunter and I know that the heavier the pellet the more force it carries and that when the wind is a factor it blows off less, it may not matter at 20 & 30 yards that much but I like the long shots and have confirmed kills at 75 & 85 yards, so for ducks when my buddies are shooting 3's & 4's I shoot 1 9/16 BB made by Kent and after about 40yrds its all me and when a cripple really sucks, the birds will do the dead flop. I'm also shooting a kicks extended extra full choke tube and that helps too. Just My two cents

crowcommander · Veteran Member

Gearly65. How long ago did you get those cases at cabelas. That is way cheap!!! I live right next to cabelas kc. Ill probably go there tonight to see if i cant find those.

nhcrowshooter · Guru

duckslayer wrote:
Nhcrowshooter, I'm an avid duck hunter and I know that the heavier the pellet the more force it carries and that when the wind is a factor it blows off less, it may not matter at 20 & 30 yards that much but I like the long shots and have confirmed kills at 75 & 85 yards, so for ducks when my buddies are shooting 3's & 4's I shoot 1 9/16 BB made by Kent and after about 40yrds its all me and when a cripple really sucks, the birds will do the dead flop. I'm also shooting a kicks extended extra full choke tube and that helps too. Just My two cents

Amen brother, 6's will do everything smaller shot will do to a crow at close range and packs more punch as the range extends. The larger shot also patterns better at longer range due it's larger mass not shedding velocity as fast. Been telling people for years to try #6 (of course a quality load similiar to a AA or STS trap load is hard to buy, but easy to reload). Truth be told the people who shoot the 7.5's and 8's are shooting a huge volume like Bob where reloading would be far to time consuming or they simply want the convenience of being to buy shells off the shelf and go hunting. 7.5's and 8's will work, they work better if the bird is close, 6's simply outperform them as the range extends.

I was having a little fun with Greg with my post because he only recently started reloading and shooting 6 and larger shot. His recent comments about the effectiveness of 6 and 5 shot speaks volumes.

-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Thursday 29th of December 2011 07:35:03 PM

crowcommander · Veteran Member

Nhcrowshooter i could not agree with you more. When crows are close 7.5 is plenty. But where im at there just isnt as many crows so somtimes you gotta reach out there aways and 7.5 just wont always do it. And if you are reloading the price of a 25lb bag of shot is the same no matter what size shot.

gearly65 · Senior Member

Crowcom, I got that ammo from Cabela's approximately 6 weeks ago. That particular store ran the sale, so Cabela's in general wouldn't honor the price but that store did.

crowcommander · Veteran Member

Went down last night and boufht 3 cases. Used 20 off coupn which made it 46.30 a case. Great deal

gearly65 · Senior Member

I just ordered 10 more cases today. Got the $20.00 off plus had almost a hundred buck in Cabela's bucks which cost me about the same. That is a great price! I have checked all over the internet and no one can come close. Glad I could help.