5 or 6

You won't know the difference and neither will the pheasants. I have always used #6 myself.

 

I have always preferred #4 for pheasants. The larger shot will reliably break leg & wing bones.

 

6's.
More bb's vs bigger/heavier bb's...the age old question.

 

5's
Less pellets to bite into.

 

I have mostly switched to 3" 20 ga. When I did, I went with #5's they just hit harder.

 

The reason I ask is that lately on good hits, we or our hunting guide has had to wring necks, to get a quicker death. I was thinking less pellets, with greater mass, might be a better alternative.

 

Either. Part of the equation is the bird. Truly wild birds might respond better to 5s. I have used 7.5s on pen raised birds with devastating results, but I would rather have 5s or 6s in my pocket. Part of the equation is the distance you or your dog put the birds in the air. Part of the equation is picking shot from the meat.

Despite the thinner pattern, I think I generally see better penetration with 5s than 6s. Used to use copper plate shot, but I could never convince myself of better results.

 

I grew up shooting 4's but about 30 years ago started hunting with an old timer that loaded 5's copper shot. I watched him hammer birds even at extremely long ranges and it convinced me. The 5's pattern well and the copper cuts through the feathers and through the bird much better. You can see the difference when you pull the shot out of the meat and there are no feathers with it like how copper shot pulls the feather into the wound.
I have tried 6's but they just didn't work well at longer ranges. Some days when the birds are flying and breaking out way ahead you just have to work with the longer shot.

 

Been a while since I hunted pheasant, but when I was stationed in North Dakota it was about my most favorite thing to do. I started out using #6 as that is what I grew up hunting rabbits with in Ohio, but switched to #5. Pheasants are pretty tough birds and the extra energy of the #5 pellets helps, especially later in the season when they flush further out. Less shot to pick out of your dinner also.

 

Growing up as a general rule we used the following: (with a 12 gauge).

#4 - Ducks
#6 - Pheasants
# 7 1/2 - Quail

Now that I have downsized to a (much lighter) 20 gauge - I tend to use 2 3/4" 1oz #5's as my normal pheasant load and if needed a 3", 1 1/4 oz load for longer range pheasant shooting.

 

71/2 nickle plated for early season or pen raised, 6's for wild birds or long shots.

 

depends on how well you shoot. and how your gun patterns the load you choose. if your a average shotgunner and know it and keep your shots at under 30 yds then 6s. if your a better than average wingshooter and feel comfortable shooting out a little further than 5s are for you.

 

Exactly. If you're having to wring necks then you are not putting your pattern on the birds well enough. Could be because your choke is too open (meaning you are trying to shoot them beyond the range at which your choke is effective), or it could be you are simply fringing the bird with your pattern.

Pheasants are usually pretty tough targets, unless you get a stupid one that tries to fly into the wind. it is not usually easy for most people to put the pattern on the bird well, but if you do 6's will kill them even at very long range (as when our partner wounds one and you need to finish it at 60 yards).

However, at 40 yards all (or almost all) the #5 pellets will blow completely through a pheasant. There might be a few underneath the skin on the far side (because of the elasticity of skin) but there will be none or almost none in the meat, which is nice.

The problem is that most people are not able to shoot well enough to use a tight choke, and without a tight choke you've got a pretty sparse pattern at distance with #5s.

I've seen guys try to have their cake and eat it too by buying 3-1/2" magnums loaded with 5's or 4's, but then they usually start flinching and missing because of that.

My advice is, if you had to ask, then use 6's with something like an IC choke and figure out how to hunt so that you don't have to take long shots on unwounded birds. Often that can be as simple as everybody being very quiet and, if there is wind, moving into it, not with it.

Very good shooters will do fine with tight chokes and #5's, and it gives them the ability to reach out and take birds most people should not even be shooting at.

4's are overkill. You never need pellets larger than 5's to reliably kill pheasants. You are just driving your pellet count down for nothing.

 

Some of it will depend on your choke.

Hector

 

Some of it will depend on your choke.

This.

Assume we're talking about a 12. Maybe a 16. Tight chokes and distant birds, #5 is very reasonable. But a 12 w/#6 is plenty good to 40 yds. Beyond 40 yds is sometimes necessary (eg., when guiding) but even with full patterns start to thin much past 40.

Most don't do this, but it's a good idea to try the loads on paper.

 

As many have already alluded to shot size depends more on your shooting style and hunting terrain. I'm a very quick shot on birds, using a 410 you need to be, also the dogs we use and the terrain we hunt allow close shots if your quick so I use 6 shot. If I were hunting the large tracts in Iowa or somewhere with dogs that flush birds early and my shots needed to cover more distance I'd switch to 4 or 5 shot and probably my 28ga or even a 20ga

 

I've used 4s,5s,6s and 7 1/2s, I find that 7 1/2s in the i/c and 6s in the mod barrel works best for me.
However If I was to hunt somewhere else where they tend to flush at longer range I would use 6s and 5s, It just depends on how and where you hunt.

 

No doubt you get a better shot pattern with smaller shot but #4s anchors them with less runners in my experience- especially if you have wily late season birds that tend to only present longer straight-away shots. In that scenario you're shooting through its back and butt to reach the vitals versus having its head and neck more present to hit. If you can hit its head then the shot size is a lot less relevant.

Above all I prefer loads with good hard plated shot and buffer.

 

Why not both....

In my dad and grampas day California had a lot of pheasant that ran wild before cow pastures, fence lines and weedy ditches for nesting gave way to clean manicured orchards. No more jack rabbits and no more pheasants or anything else besides sparrows, ground squirrels, gophers and migratory doves in many places these days.

They both knew what they were doing with a shotgun and both tended to use full choke 12 gauges with 1&1/4 #5 or #6 shells for pheasant or rabbits and 1oz #7 1/2 or 8 for smaller birds and clays. Dad also liked the 20 guage and said a 3 inch 20 was almost as good as a 12 guage on pheasant but had also used 1oz and 1&1/8 oz loads as well. Dad's favorite shot for pheasant was #5 and I think it gives the best mix of pattern density and penetration in most situations. However, 6s got used a lot too and 4s only from time to time. I think my grampa liked 4s, 5s and 6s for Duck, 5s and 6s for WILD pheasant and 7&1/2 for dove. With pen raised birds flushing closer these days, #4 might be more ideal for some situations so you have fewer holes in the bird but #6 poses much less danger to unseen people and houses in the distance and there are 1oz and 1&1/8oz #6 12 guage loads one could use in place of the traditional 1&1/4oz high base for close flushing pheasant. 7&1/2 shot works good for small birds, but is too small in my opinion for large birds and squirrels or rabbits beyond close range.

So what's the take away from my rambling ..... old timers didn't just keep 1 kind of shell in their pockets. They filled their pockets with a variety of shells that would work for the hunting they expected to encounter and loaded their guns specifically for that situation. They used their experience and intuition to select ammunition appropriate for the shooting they expected to do. If shooting a 12 gauge, consider starting with a 1oz or 1&1/8 oz #6 followed by a couple of 1&1/4 oz loads of #5. rc