Go to Crowbusters website, Advanced technique. Everything you need to know on shot size, muzzle velocity, yardage, brand, manufacturers , price , chock. Then try it for yourself and see the difference. I had shot size 6 1 1/4 oz. Modified chock. I read the article then invested in 7.5 and 8s , full chock. Made a big difference. 6s was dropping 3 birds for every box. Then 7.5s I was dropping 15 per box. 8 was about the same. But I found my kill zone so that changed the entire game. Read on and study ...... have fun keep us posted.
My thinking and experience is what ever works! If you shoot a lot of crows then you probably don't want heavy field loads at least not without a limb saver. On the other hand my 11-87 has some kind of recoil reducer so heavy loads while not actually necessary -well actually are to cycle the gun as I don't plan on putting low brass rings in her...so that idea in a shotgun-this Remington recoil reducer-is the cats' meow if you want to use heavy loads..
Limb saver is a modern recoil pad but keep this in mind too. Recoil pads can increase your stock pull ...making your gun a little longer. The clay pigeon men can explain this a whole lot better than I. However if I use a pump shotgun I use lighter loads to save my shoulder. But anyways once you have all this figured out? Let the crows beware!
I'm a trap and skeet shooter and I reload 12 & 28 ga. I can reload 6,71/2,8,81/2 or 9's. My normal trap load is 1 1/8 oz. of #8 shot. I do have a 1 1/4 oz. bar but really don't know if it's necessary to load that heavy. I'll be shooting a Remington 1100 and have most choke sizes. Our season doesn't open til June 7th so I'll have plenty of time to use the pattern board. I've never hunted crows and it's getting hard to contain my excitement. lol
Watch every video you can, read every book you can, study shot size, etc. practice with your mouth call. Learn their language. Don’t rely on a speaker caller as it can only say the same thing. Head shots drop them, side shots only damage the wing. They are tuff. They are intelligent. They are curios , they educate quick, with in one hunt. Watch Bob A videos he’s the Master here. Read everything on this forum from the beginning. Go out and just listen to the Crows talk. They have different languages in the trees, on the ground, in the air. The words are the same but the meanings are different. Read what scientists know about them. Scouting is key, blind set location is key. I’ve been hunting crows and turkey come to see what is going on?
My preferred load is 1 1/8 oz. with #6 @ 1250 FPS. No need to use those “Snot Knocker” 1 1/4 and/or 1300 shells. Barrel placement is far more important than ammo particulars.
JMHO
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Thanks everybody for the replies. I'd have to agree with you Demi, same holds true when shooting clays. I have all the components on hand for that load.
My preferred load is 1 1/8 oz. with #6 @ 1250 FPS. No need to use those “Snot Knocker” 1 1/4 and/or 1300 shells. Barrel placement is far more important than ammo particulars.
Go North and see what loads you’ll need, as the Crows feathers are thicker with two layers. It gets -60 there in the winter. 6s worked best. 7-8 hit them and they all flew away. They don’t migrate from The Dakotas .
I’ve hunted Crows in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, in December, January, February. It gets -60 that time of the year. Only food is Road kill . I fallowed 300 crows from town 30 miles to a dead deer. The fun part of the hunt was finding roads leading to where I last seen them 3-4 miles away on their flyway. I only called a few to me as they refused to leave their food.
When it gets -25 work is canceled, if I can hunt I go. Plenty of starving critters when it’s that cold.
-- Edited by Crowpocalypse on Wednesday 13th of March 2019 08:37:07 PM
I’m from the Canadian prairies, probably the coldest place on earth where any amount of humans live. 40 below is about as cold as I’ve ever experienced but often the wind factor or wind chill is quoted. Had several 40 below nights with fifty below windchills this past winter as per pic from my vehicle dash thermometer a few weeks back
I’m from the Canadian prairies, probably the coldest place on earth where any amount of humans live. 40 below is about as cold as I’ve ever experienced but often the wind factor or wind chill is quoted. Had several 40 below nights with fifty below windchills this past winter as per pic from my vehicle dash thermometer a few weeks back
T
I don't have the amount of experience as you do M12 but back in the early 80's I was stationed at Minot AFB in ND. Winters were long and harsh. There were long stretches of very cold weather, -20's meant you kept the block heater in your vehicle plugged in so it would start. Work on the flight line required special clothing and full face protection including goggles, no exposed skin. There were a few times temps approached -40 but that was rare. The wind chills were often at the top of the chart. When it did get that cold guard dogs has come inside, and outdoor work required maintainers to be tethered to each other so that if someone fell or had a medical issue somebody would immediately know about it. You were also limited to the amount of time you could be outside before you had to be relieved and get back into a vehicle to warm up. You were advised on how to keep an emergency kit in your vehicle should you get stranded, walking to get help could get you killed. Recreation in those temps wasn't happening and would have been highly dangerous. Fun times.
To answer the OP's question, I like to use reloads and any trap or skeet loading at 1100 to 1200 fps, 1 ounce or 1 1/8 ounce with lead 6. I have found it to be the best performing load for all ranges. Soft on recoil, hard on the bird.
-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Thursday 14th of March 2019 08:32:31 AM
I worked in Big stone South Dakota, Center North Dakota, Hastings Minnesota, and it gets -60 in the dead of winter. Watch the news gentlemen. Hunt it and you will know I’m not telling stories. I work 70 hours a week. When I get a cancellation from work because of the cold I’m hunting. Crows, Coyotes, Fox, Badgers.... They are starving, they will come when you call.
Coldest temperature recorded in South Dakota was -58 degrees F on February 17 1936, Coldest recorded in Canada was a balmy -81.4 degrees F in Snag Yukon on January 9 1899..all form Google
Thank God I wasn't around for either
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
I didn’t add wind chill factor when I stated -60 degrees. So the real temperature was in the -25 to -30 then add 50 mph winds. Regardless it was cold. Had to dress in layers, with extreme artic clothing. Any exposed skin would get frostbite in 2 minutes. I’ve called Coyotes with blizzard conditions in such weather. And had them come in to my set. Now the old F250 with 7.3 Navstar motor had to have several upgrades to start in this type weather as the plant didn’t supply power outlets. So high output glow plugs, new starter, 2 X 1200 cold crank batteries, 0-5 weight oil. it was good to -40 . Then I threw a 1800watt generator in the truck and would fire it up at my 3pm break an plug the truck in, so it would start at 6pm. Had to park the truck where the cold wind wouldn’t blow into the grill. Also had to cover the grill just to keep the motor warm going down the road. Many days I would be one of four men out of 150 go to work. I love the cold weather.
Does anyone have a new 870 Remington exspress ? I do and it’s jammed since day 1. I polished it and was told to only shoot high brass. It worked ok for several months. But crow hunting has caused it to start jamming again. I machined it and started shooting low brass. Well after several hundred rounds it’s started jamming again. Some research has led me to believe the extraction spring is now weak. Any ideas?
I shoot an 870 for my de-crowing efforts. My gun has similar issues as yours and I have tried similar fixes as you mentioned with minimal success. Cheap hulls get stuck in the barrel and become difficult to extract. This is a known problem by Remington. If your gun is new-ish, I have heard that Remington may send you a new barrel.
I do not have this problem with quality hulls such as Remington STS or Winchester AA’s. I reload my crow shells so it’s not a big issue for me. If I didn’t reload I would be quite annoyed.
The El Cheapo loads with a steel head on the hull do not extract very well out of the 870 Express or the Wing Master model's.
That is why I changed to the Benelli and in later years the Beretta semi autos, they will shoot anything you feed them including the El Cheapo loads which I use on crows.
I shoot an 870 for my de-crowing efforts. My gun has similar issues as yours and I have tried similar fixes as you mentioned with minimal success. Cheap hulls get stuck in the barrel and become difficult to extract. This is a known problem by Remington. If your gun is new-ish, I have heard that Remington may send you a new barrel.
I do not have this problem with quality hulls such as Remington STS or Winchester AA’s. I reload my crow shells so it’s not a big issue for me. If I didn’t reload I would be quite annoyed.
BH
Quality ammo has brass bases as opposed to steel used with promo type loads or Euro fodder. Many older shotguns as well dont like steel bases. My Model 12's will usually digest anything without a problem.
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
I am new here from north east England and in 12ga i like to use 5s that is English / italian size 2.8mm thats 220 x1OZ so around your 6 shot. Load i favour 1 1/8 and put it through a Mod choke . if i am pass shooting and they are high i just use a 32 inch full choke .
You can kill them with smaller shot it is just that i like the 1 1/8 oz of 5s they seem to work best for me on crows.
I am new here from north east England and in 12ga i like to use 5s that is English / italian size 2.8mm thats 220 x1OZ so around your 6 shot. Load i favour 1 1/8 and put it through a Mod choke . if i am pass shooting and they are high i just use a 32 inch full choke . You can kill them with smaller shot it is just that i like the 1 1/8 oz of 5s they seem to work best for me on crows.
You are in very good company as #5 shot (English) is what George Digweed uses.
-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Wednesday 27th of March 2019 06:45:19 PM
In a 12 bore I mainly shoot the 1 1/8th ounce load in either 8's or 7 1/2's.
Here is a photo where I shot 506 with a 20 bore with a 7/8th ounce load of # 8 shot. There are 386 in the photo, I went back the next morning to pick them up and setup this photo. The coyotes ate over a hundred of my crows just overnight.
Thanks for the welcome awesome shooting there bob and i get where you are coming from on the small shot, i do use some when it comes up cheap but here could lay the reason i do not like the 7 1/2s as much. Kind of ammo i buy being careful with money ( I DO NOT HAVE A LOT) tends to be cheap clay breaking ammo low velocity and often wont operate the Semi auto reliably its that tame. Crows i shoot are open country moorlands very little cover and just the occasional bush or tree with dry stone walls crossing it, so shots tend to be at the limit of range .
Main gun i use on crows or pigeons is an old Browning B80 with a Modified choke it patterns the 5s well in a plass wad shell , i just go around pick up the wads after i Finnish its usually easy enough to see them being grassed pasture .
The 7 1/2s i get around here are usually by a british company called Express they are 1 oz and are fibre wad, the pellet count is up on the 5s but they hit harder a quicker more lively shell.
I do reload too and make my own lead shot when i can get scrap lead or preferably car wheel weights which are becoming quite rare these days. I will admit i do like my reloads in smaller shot sizes much more than what i buy but reloading is not as bigger saving these days as it used to be powder her as gotten ridiculous on price. These days i do still exclusively reload for Wild fowling and Rifles, but pigeon and crows i do buy in over a half of what i shoot. i
Hey, why do you go to the trouble of picking up your wads, are the land owners that fussy ?
I reloaded my own ammo up until 2001 and just bought factory ammo after that because my time to me was worth more than the measly savings I got in later years. With the cheaper ammo with steel heads on the cartridge they do not cycle very well in some semi autos and pump guns. I use a pair of Beretta (gas guns) semi autos and the cheap ammo works just fine through them. The cheap ammo that I buy has a velocity of 1200 feet per second in the 3 dram (powder) load with 1 1/8th ounces of shot.
Since you hunt crows on open moors here is a photo that is wide open like the moorland that you hunt on. The first photo got posted by accident.
ITs family land and 1. we don’t want to see the plass wads and 2. never had a problem so far but do not want the chance of cattle eating the wads, i think the second is over thinking it perhaps but i try clear up if i can i dont get them all but we do not get huge numbers of crows 20 to 40 is a decent day for me, i had 80 once over a mole hill damaged field they were coming into them like mad things guess it was earth worms ?
Hey, why do you go to the trouble of picking up your wads, are the land owners that fussy ?
I reloaded my own ammo up until 2001 and just bought factory ammo after that because my time to me was worth more than the measly savings I got in later years. With the cheaper ammo with steel heads on the cartridge they do not cycle very well in some semi autos and pump guns. I use a pair of Beretta (gas guns) semi autos and the cheap ammo works just fine through them. The cheap ammo that I buy has a velocity of 1200 feet per second in the 3 dram (powder) load with 1 1/8th ounces of shot.
Since you hunt crows on open moors here is a photo that is wide open like the moorland that you hunt on. The first photo got posted by accident.
Agree on the reloading the savings are small you can make it verging on worthwhile if you drop your own shot , or load shot blast steel shot comercial blast shot number S7 size this is 2.83MM so like a five in steel size this is cheap loading and use CSD24 wads which although expensive are not too bad and offset by the cheap blast shot steel, Good thing about using steel is Falconers will buy the crows for feeding their birds they do this with pigeons or any pests and are prepared to pay for such reliably shot birds.
Up here we get good % of carrion crows approx 1/3 rooks and some jackdaws . plenty of magpies . Overall i think rooks are on the increase up here, other parts of country i am not too familiar with rooks look to feature in many photos you see on the Web sites media pages here. Not big bags up here but i enjoy it just the same, manse crops look the best for good bags but we don’t get it grown in our mediate area.
i Just watch where they congregate in numbers watch what they do and where they fly in a morning and at dusk and try and intercept them without getting too close to the roost sites to freak them out. Flighting is main sport or watch where they are feeding, neighbours are flexible where we can hunt so can usually get a go at them.
Welcome to the forum, as wheel weights are now aluminum it’s difficult to find lead weight. I know a fella who gets his lead from car batteries. I’m certain it’s very dangerous to harvest the lead From these types of batteries. He didn’t see the danger so I’d guess he knows what he is doing. A little research on the net will probably show you how to do this safely.
I have not used or considered batteries myself but its another option worth exploring, one other lead route is lino type from printers again not as common these days. And dont forget reclaimed lead shot from clay grounds i used to get it from a mate £1.40 a kilogram it was graphite mixed and quite good condition it sized out about 7s English most of it. It is a shame components and powder cost so much now, i used to quite enjoy a evening in the garage putting my own ammo together, i only reload now mostly for water fowling i do load a bit for crows pigeons but buying is more sense these days.
I shoot an 870 for my de-crowing efforts. My gun has similar issues as yours and I have tried similar fixes as you mentioned with minimal success. Cheap hulls get stuck in the barrel and become difficult to extract. This is a known problem by Remington. If your gun is new-ish, I have heard that Remington may send you a new barrel.
I do not have this problem with quality hulls such as Remington STS or Winchester AA’s. I reload my crow shells so it’s not a big issue for me. If I didn’t reload I would be quite annoyed.
BH
Quality ammo has brass bases as opposed to steel used with promo type loads or Euro fodder. Many older shotguns as well dont like steel bases. My Model 12's will usually digest anything without a problem.
Ted
Interesting. Until recently, I used a Wingmaster almost exclusively. Never had a problem with anything. I will admit she hasn't seen a ton of steel based loads.
The Model 12 did have some ejection problems while using cheap loads. New ejectors solved it.
Annoyed would be a mild description of my mood while having malfunctions during a shoot.
