11s

[hawglips]

I'm hoping to try out some 11s on upland game this fall. They will have over 800 pellets per ounce, and at the speed of my fastest .410 load (1516 fps), they should have adequate penetration (.75" in ballistics gel) on small upland game out past 60 yds.

Since the recommended pellet count in a 30" circle for small upland game (dove and woodcock) is 230, having the extra pellet count to work with is a plus.

[Fishh2o]

I can see that poor BobWhite I pick up and its Quail burger. Thats a lot of pellets in an OZ.

[Dave in AZ]

I have a good feel for how I think lead #6 and #7.5 has worked for dove and quail at various ranges, in 7/8oz, 1oz and 9/8oz loads. The #6 9/8oz load has 253 pellets, and that seems to be good pattern density out to 40 yards, but beyond that I get too many one-hit woundings... even at 40 yards, I don't like the pattern density lethality on dove/quail as well as I do #7.5, which has 349 pellets in 1 oz (normal load of 7.5 I shoot at dove). With #8 I often shoot 7/8oz 20ga loads, with 360 pellets in it. However, on Gambel's quail at least here in AZ, I haven't felt that #8 launched at 1250 fps was super-lethal once I got past 40 yards? So I've back-calculated what that penetration is, just roughly using 40 yards, and come up with 1.0" at 1000'msl and 70F. That really sounds like overkill on dove and quail, but I've just wounded too many at 45 yards to over-ride that with confidence. It may be a pellet count thing, as I usually find 2-3 pellets when wounded.

So my theory would be I would want at least a 7/8oz of #8 lead comparable load, 360 pellets. That's maybe a 200gr load at 800 pellets/oz? So a 1/2oz load at 219 gr would fit the bill for me I think.

What payload are you planning on yourself?

[Fishh2o]

I was thinking how we hunt quail over dogs... It would need to be a lite load for sure.. I could see these being good for dove and pheasant on nontoxic lands.

[hawglips]

Shooting bobwhite quail growing up my dad and I settled on using 7/8 oz loads of 9s going about 1200 fps (20 ga). His primary hunting buddy used a 12 ga 1-1/8 oz load of 8s. A 40 yd shot was a long one usually.

I'm hoping enough guys will try out the 11s this year to get a few field test reports in. I'm going to try them on clays also....

[Dave in AZ]

My hunting without a dog kinda skews the loads we both like to opposite ends I guess... Walking up dove and quail I rarely get a shot closer than 30 yards, while that would be long with a dog.

[hawglips]

And those AZ quail are a lot tougher than bobwhites.

[UPEgger]

I have been using the 3/8oz #11 load in my .410 for dove this year. Adequate out to around 30yds on mourning dove. Very loud though. Also very visible. I now believe that even if I miss them I w\ill set them on fire....lol.

Carl L.
Winter Quarters

[UPEgger]

I switched from a 26" barrel .410 to a 28" barrel (different gun) and the loudness and muzzle flash went away. Evidently 28" is the right length for this round.

Dove continue to fall out of the sky with 3/8oz. Over 100 so far.

Carl L.
Winter Quarters

[Jraducks]

Carl,
Was your choice of limitation of 30yds on the load based on pattern density or something else? Do you have any pictures of your patterns? Did you recover any shot in the meat? Thanks,
Jake