GUNS Magazine October 1956

Sfart Reloading Shotgun Shells
How With the MEW . . .
1
~
into the right position, most of the ranges I
can be shortened from three to five ya~ds.
Once, while shooting in the Blue Ridge
country of southwestern Oregon, I had a
stand on a pass where the bandtails came up
a valley below me. I had crossing shots at
about 40 yards, a place where both my modified
and full choke barrel were very effec- 1
live. Yet the normal posting of this pass was 1
about 400 yards farther along the hogback,
where the pigeons flared up and over, towering
across the hill at a good 50 yards.
A lriend of mine, A1 Lyman, posted here
and using his 12 gauge magnum double, was
right in his element. But it was no place for 1
a 20 gauge. Yet, the light weight, quick ,
l~andling qualities of my Marlin over-under,
as well as my careful selection of a stand,
compensated for its shortcomings as a pass
gun. Fact is, I took my limit with less shells
than A1 Lyman did that day.
Next day, back on my own home grounds
in the huckleberry brush, it was no contest
between my 20 and Al's 12 gauge magnum.
We eased along through the huckleberry and
el(1erI)erry brush, flushing single, doubles and
small flocks of bandtails. Three times I got
doubles, while A1 cursed and sweated out
just four pigeons during the forenoon hunt.
It was ruffed grouse shooting, with a few
added touches particular to bandtail pigeon
alone. In some of the more open glades, they
came out of the huckleberry bushes like ,
snipe out of the Canary Grass along Ore- '
gon's fabulous Coquille River.
If you think the proper selection of a
shotgun for pigeon shooting is controversial,
try asking a gathering of rabid West Coast
bandtail gunners about proper shot sizes.
'rhere are those who use and swear by number
4 shot for pigeon shooting. At the other
end of the scale, there are bandtail pigeon
Exclusive new patented features make tbls tool a
handloader's dream come true. A whole new concept
in design and engineering was employed in
order to make the tool you requested. Look at
these not-to-be-co~ied feature%
1. ~ully sizes shot shell cases, correcting W L ~
diameter and rim thickness to conform exactly
to factory dimensions.
2. Removes old primer automatically.
3. Reforms damaged shells to feed properly in all
automatic shotgum
4. To assure perfectly uniform ballistics, tool seats
the primers by pressure from inside the shell.
5. Seats entire wad column in one operation. I
Wad punch is graduated in pounds of wad A
pressure applied.
gunners who use nothing but size 8. The best
compromise, of course, is found between
these two extremes. Those gunners who use
size 4 shot and 12 gauge magnums confine
6. One stroke of the press returns a perfect
folded crimp to a once fired shell.
themselves strictly to pass shooting. Gunners
using size 8 shot hunt the heavier cover$
using a fairly open bored ruffed grouse gun
for close range shooting. But where a gunner
plans on covering the entire field, from
heavy brush-covered huckleberry ridges and
acorh flats to occasional pass shooting, the
selection of shot sizes must be well rounded.
As I see it, size 4 shot is out for a target
the size of a bandtail pigeon, unless you
are throwing at least 1% ounces to give a'
sufficiently dense pattern. And 1 would question
anv shot size smaller than 7%. too.
Dies Available In All Popular Gauges.
GH Shot Shell Reloading Tool,
including one set of dies.. .. . . . . , . . .$69.90
Shot Shell Dies.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3O.W
See your sporting &s dealer or your local gun-
~~11th. For further kfortnation write direct.
~andiails are hard to kill, mu& more so
than ruffed grouse or hve. And, unless they
are killed very dead, they are very likely to
escape in the heavy cover to suffer and die.
Pigeon dogs, well trained retrievers, are few
and far between. So it is up to the gunner
Mu 11 Hunting
Accessories
to grass his birds thoroughly, or lose many
of them.
1 think 1 have used every shot size which
might be considered even remotely suitable
for bandtail pigeon shooting. And over the
years my shot sizes, like my selection of a
proper gauge, have narrowed down. I cannot,
in the nature of this shooting, expect to
cover all possible gunning situations with
my 20 gauge. By the same token, I cannot
expect to cover all gunning sit~~ations to hest
advantage with the shot size I use. But day
in and day out, all through the autumn
pigeon gunning, I find that 7% and 6 size
shot are my most versatile loadings.
J$12.50 N~W- One Neoprene
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lock kit for dl three. safety '$'- wght & left hand
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a to fit any low
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791 2 S. E. WWEU BLVD. JOBBERS INQUIRIES
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' .