Help with cartridges numbers

James094 · 06-12-2012 3:51pm #1

Hi all,have not been out shooting in years and looking to get back into it. Was just looking for some recommendations for cartridges..I went after some duck the other day with number 4 eley grand prix cartridges and didnt hit a thing!!Then someone told me that them cartridges are pretty weak..What should I use for Duck,Pheasant,snipe,Woodcock??Thats pretty much all I would be hunting.. I own a Remington 1187.

Invincible · 06-12-2012 5:32pm

James094 wrote: »

Hi all,have not been out shooting in years and looking to get back into it. Was just looking for some recommendations for cartridges..I went after some duck the other day with number 4 eley grand prix cartridges and didnt hit a thing!!Then someone told me that them cartridges are pretty weak..What should I use for Duck,Pheasant,snipe,Woodcock??Thats pretty much all I would be hunting.. I own a Remington 1187.

First of all, if you have'nt been shooting in years, you really can't expect to go out the first day and knock birds. I had an 1187 some years ago and found RC3 6s & 5s with 1/2 choke great through it, they're 35 gram, found you need a heavier shell, as something like 15% of the cartridge power Is used to cycle the mechanism for reloading.

goss101 · 07-12-2012 2:16pm

+1 on the RC's i'm using them for everything this year, duck, pheasant, crow and pigeon, find them a great cartridge, have about 15 duck 6 pheasants and 150 crows this season, use the RC3 for the duck 6's and 7's over decoys, RC sipe for crow/pigeon 6 in both barrels and and RC3 for pheasants too 7 and 6. great stopping power!!!

meathstevie · 07-12-2012 2:49pm

Duck and pheasant; 32g 5 or 6 should do fine. My personal preference over the years definitely goes out to Gamebore and Fiochi. Pigeons, 6's or 7's 32g as well. Woodcock or snipe, 6's or 7's. I wouldn't be too concerned about some amount of gas being bled of to cycle the gun, that's just a little bit of that's not going into your shoulder.

If you were to buy a slab of cartridges a decent 32g 6 will do most shooting in a 12 bore without any bother. There's plenty of good stuff out there without the need to go and buy expensive "premium" stuff. Just make sure you buy hunting cartridges as the pellets are better for energy transfer than the ones in clay shooting cartridges which are designed to break clays.