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Brewster11
PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:46 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

Anyone know of a good use for a 1 oz load of No. 4 lead shot? A hunting buddy gave me several lbs of No. 4 some years back which is still sitting mostly unused. I mixed a couple lbs with silicone sealant as vibration damper in the handlebars of a motorcycle to good effect. The rest of it is merely taking up space on the shelf.

If there is a useful purpose for it in my 2 1/2” 16ga loads, I will load some up. Otherwise I will use it for ballast or something, or trade it away if someone wants it.

TIA
B.
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skeettx
PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:12 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Amarillo, Texas

YES, I use #4 for Pigeons and Collard Doves.

In Texas, both are considered pest birds with no season or limit.
The #4 shot really breaks wing and put them down at all ranges.

Mike

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:31 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

It would actually be a good load for blue and ruffed grouse, mainly because the low shot count should prevent getting an excessive pellet strikes and wrecking the edible portions of carcass at close range. The shot should pass all the way through at typical sub 20 yard distances, except perhaps with a mature male blue crowding 4 lbs.

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MSM2019
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:58 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 04 Mar 2019
Posts: 1819
Location: Central ND

I have never had a load of #4 shot that patterned all that great in any of my 16 gauge guns.

Then again........I guess that I have never actually needed lead #4 shot for anything I hunt. I can't think of an upland bird that I would use lead #4 shot for, especially in a 1 oz. load.

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megasupermagnum
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:35 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 11 Dec 2017
Posts: 77
Location: South Dakota

Rabbits, squirrel, grouse... Pretty much anything you don't need extreme ranges on. Bigger shot like #4 often pass clean through, which is nice when eating.
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Charles Hammack
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:18 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Central Missouri

Very light social loads .
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1stgun
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:30 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 10 Jul 2010
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Location: Ponchatoula, Louisiana

Crows. With a modified choke (or whatever) good to 40+ yards.

Fun.

Regards,
Chuck

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16gaDavis
PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 8:01 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 24 Jun 2013
Posts: 2062
Location: canandaigua - western n.y. (formerly deerhunter)

what 1stgun said . Once we stopped fox hunting , people would give large shot away for nothing . Cheaper was way better for crows as you could shoot cases in a day . Wasn't subject to the non-tox regs and still isn't . How clever the politicians !! you can shoot truckloads of lead at crows yet get a ticket for just having lead on you when duck hunting !

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Bill K
PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 12:20 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Oct 2014
Posts: 253
Location: North Shore of Boston

No.4 lead shot is my favorite for pheasant.

1 pellet will put a bird down, and usually passes clean through - so no biting down on a pellet and getting that 'electrifying' jolt to your teeth.

I sometimes hunt on public where birds are stocked, and it ends 'well I fired last' arguments about who's bird it is.

Would probably work well on crowd control in a pinch.
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Brewster11
PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 1:07 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

It’s settled - I’m loading up the No. 4. I didn’t expect so many great ways to make use of it. We might start with the crows...they darken the skies around here some days.

I’m also thinking of those big spruce grouse that stand bolt upright in the middle of the logging road then flush at 40 yds. You can spot them at 100 yds, then slip a no. 4 in the top barrel and slowly walk in...

Thanks All,
B.
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Little Creek
PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 2:16 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Anchorage, AK

I used #4 1 ounce loads for wild pheasant one year. Shot 8 birds at various ranges. One bird I shot someone had ticked lightly so I engaged the full barrel and killed it at over 40 yards.

Use it on pen raised pheasant and you won't be biting shot pellets. It'll be easier to find than small shot.
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onefunzr2
PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 6:22 am  Reply with quote
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Location: Sandy Lake, PA

I shot 3 groundhogs yesterday using PMC's #4 lead shot out of my '53 era Sweet 16 A5. I don't usually use a scattergun for thinning out these burrowing varmints but my S&W M&P15 Sport II is back at the factory for warranty work.

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Savage16
PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 6:58 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 30 Nov 2011
Posts: 1693
Location: Minnesota

How about this one-12 ga 1 7/8 oz of 2's. 1 box that was Dads. Don't know what I would ever shoot them for. Should I pillage the shot for something?

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Dave in Maine
PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 8:05 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Sep 2010
Posts: 1972
Location: Maine

As one gets later in the season, #4 lead would be my choice for the left barrel with just about any small game, particularly pheasants. It will penetrate thicker, more fully developed fur and feathers. In a 16, it might be one size too large more because it seems one gets better shot flow with #5 than #4 in a 16 ga barrel. But that's so subtle as to be something you can discount. So, pattern your gun to find out. If you get enough velocity, short enough range and small enough targets, the 1 oz. of #4 makes a marginal but acceptable load for coyotes. Useful to have a couple in your pocket just in case Wile E. shows up. Think: the coyote thinks your turkey calling is spot on and comes in looking for an easy meal. It happens almost every year here in Maine.

As to 12 ga 1 7/8 oz of lead #2, that makes a great coyote load. Back in the day, that was a good long-range goose load. I've never lived where there were sandhill cranes to hunt so I can't speak to that, but I suppose it would have been a great load for sandhills. (Skeettx, please chime in on this.)

The 1 7/8 #2 and even the 1 oz. #4 both also make great turkey loads.

I don't want to suggest anything untoward, but those big #2 pellets would be useful on small to medium sized drones. I can't speak from experience of doing this - I have no relevant experience - but I'd speculate they will both do more than just knock the buzzers sideways (plastic is tougher than you think, at least when you're trying to break it) and big pellets will retain energy better for those longer-range and higher-altitude shots. IIRC I remember the Army equipping some soldiers with shotguns and those kinds of loads for counter-drone shooting.

Before shooting the #2 pellets, I would make a check of your state's game laws. Some states limit the pellet size for various game which might make using #2 problematic.

I have a couple boxes of short magnum #2 shells for my 12 ga, picked up for like $5 a box at a gun show. Well worth it.

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kgb
PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 10:24 am  Reply with quote
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Location: Nebraska

Pheasants died very well via 1oz loads of 4's from 16ga barrels back when I'd found an old box of them. Didn't pattern them, but they were no less effective and the only turkey I've shot was via #4s although those were Fiocchi and measured closer to #3's. My brother-in-law has been shooting garden-raiding raccoons with 1oz of #4s in his 20ga, says they work perfectly there.

Where I hunt pheasants there are also quail so I shoot 6's or 7's, but as others have mentioned the 4s have uses against larger beasts and I usually have a couple in a pocket.

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