Looking for a good all-around upland load for pheasant and grouse
Been hunting for a couple seasons now with my Beretta A400 Xcel using whatever 12ga loads were on sale. Mostly shot Federal Top Gun 7.5s for clays and dove, but last fall I had a few pheasants get up at 30+ yards and I just couldn't put enough pellets on them. Looking for something that'll handle both birds well without having to switch shells constantly. My gun has a modified choke tube in most of the time.
1 Answer
I've been in that exact spot before. For pheasant and grouse, I've had great luck with Winchester Super-X 6 shot in 1-1/4 oz loads. At 1300 fps, it gives you good pattern density for grouse at 20 yards but still carries enough energy for those longer pheasant shots. With your modified choke, you should get nice even patterns out to 35 yards. Another solid option is Fiocchi Golden Pheasant 5 shot if you're seeing more open-field birds. What's the typical cover like where you hunt - thick woods or more open fields?
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