Heavy shot is brutally lethal. 2 of the birds i've killed this year had feathers blown out 6 ft from the bird (35 and 40 paces), and the other i missed 1st shot (he moved when i went to pull the trigger, but he went down hard the 2nd shot from the air. It patterns extremely tight, so missing a bird is definately a possibility. I'm sold, the extra $ is $ well spent. I took a pic of the bird's breast i killed today and will post it later, maybe 25 pellets in a slightly larger than softball sized pattern. When using this shot, i highly suggest a good sight system

i shoot the 3.5" 1 7/8 oz load