sproulman

most of shells i see on ground are 12ga..most are 7 and 1/2 shot and 2/3/4 inch long ,LOW BRASS..

i use no.5 shot high brass 2 and 3/4 inch ,12ga.for pheasants.i think no.6 shot is ok to..

from what i found its not the shell as much as it is your shooting as crazy said..when i was good shot ,i would use FULL CHOKE in my 12 ga. with low brass no.6 shot or 7 and 1/2.. i shot many a bird at 35 yards with that choke..

so, cutting thru bull, here is what i would use..if you are bad shot do to no practice, i would go with no.5 shot with a IC choke as most likely you are going to miss the shot on bird CLOSE,yes, most bad shots are close....i seen bad shooters miss at 10 yds and hit bird at 25 yards..so, you need a bigger bb to reach out ..as birds get more pressured, 5 shot and MOD choke is way to go..

now, good shooters can use 6 shot as they DONT miss to much ..so, bird at 10 yards is going down..they also can use tighter choke,like IM/FULL if they do miss and still get bird..

sounds confusing,doesnt it..its this simple, bad shooters need high brass bigger bb,good shooter can use low brass/highbrass and tighter chokes..

old timers used to say, use 7 and 1/2 shot as you are putting more bb in air, thats true but i seen pheasants shake off that size shot and i seen turkeys which are tougher bird ,go right down with shot of no.7 and 1/2..its 2 factors, 1 is type of choke you have, remember i said FULL with low brass ,thats why turkeys go down..second is what crazy said, he is right..GOOD SHOT will kill a pheasant with 7 and 1/2 low brass everytime..i seen it for 50 years,WHY??they are GOOD SHOTS..