Couldn't believe it. Wal Mart here in Prescott, Az has Federal "Dove" loads @ $4.94 per box. It's the same load as the Federal "Multi-purpose, game & target load." ---3 dram, 1 1/8 ounce, 7.5 shot---only in a different box. That's the cheapest I've seen this ammo in years. Given the price of lead and other components, at least in this area, you can't load 12's or 20's for that price. I walked away with 3000 rounds.

That ought to get you through dove season.

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Originally posted by TWL:
Couldn't believe it. Wal Mart here in Prescott, Az has Federal "Dove" loads @ $4.94 per box. It's the same load as the Federal "Multi-purpose, game & target load." ---3 dram, 1 1/8 ounce, 7.5 shot---only in a different box. That's the cheapest I've seen this ammo in years. Given the price of lead and other components, at least in this area, you can't load 12's or 20's for that price. I walked away with 3000 rounds.

They might both be 3 dram, 1-1/8 ounce loads of #7.5 shot but that doesn't mean they are the same. There may be big differences in the level of QA and, more importantly, the consistency, roundness, and hardness of the shot. Better shot and higher rejection rates make shells cost more and that alone might account for the pricing difference. Cheaper shells also tend to be loaded using cheaper primers and cheaper hulls. You pay for the performance and patterns you get.

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I've heard the promotional shells dissed for decades, mostly by people who like to blame their lack of success on something other than their shooting. Put the gun where the dove is and it will fall.

Promo shells often (or used to, at least) use a stacked wad column instead of a one-piece wad. They typically are a little dirtier and the patterns a bit less well distributed than a dedicated target load. But they are 99% as effective for hunting small birds.

I wasn't dissing the shells, just pointing out that they are not likely to be the same. Yes, cheap shells have killed millions of birds and will continue to do so. But there are differences in quality and performance. Cheap dove loads might be over 90% as effective as premium loads but 99% is a stretch.

Uneven shot patterns contain more random gaps big enough to account for a miss, especially as ranges increase. Still, if one gets enough shots at small birds like doves one can limit out with any shells. There are times I've shot several hundred, even over a thousand, doves in a day. The guns were smoking so much and the birds dropping so fast any occasional miss attributable to a poor pattern was inconsequential. Not that all misses can be attributed to any shells. Surely they cannot but just as surely some can be.

I am also perfectly comfortable using cheap dove loads for fun-shooting trap or sporting clays. But when I hunt where the doves are sparse, and making the limit is difficult, I want every shot fired to have the greatest chance of bringing a bird down. I want a dense, consistent pattern and an extra buck or two per box of shells matters little to me for the extra edge.

There IS a difference in the performance of shells. Whether or not that difference is worth paying for is a choice for each shooter to make.

I shoot doves exclusively with a 28 gauge choked IC/Mod stoked with my own handloads. My "3/4 oz" charge bar throws an average of 310 grains of #8 shot, or about 283 pellets. A promo 12 gauge load of 1 1/8 oz of #8's contains 448 pellets.

Regardless of how efficient and even my 28 gauge pattern is, I am loathe to believe that it is more effective than the most humble pattern thrown from the typical 12 gauge using promo loads. Yet I have found that with the little 28 gauge, when you put the gun where the bird is, it falls.

Besides, I've never been desperate enough for the difference in taking home only 14 doves versus the full 15 dove limit to spend double the amount on the shells.

Another interesting facet of "promos" versus "target" shells: Promos do tend to throw wider, less concentrated patterns. Many, if not most, shotguns are over-choked for upland birds. The promos help that old Model 12 or Browning Auto-5, with its excessively tight "modified" choke, shoot something much closer to a modified pattern, whereas the same barrel may shoot a full or extra-full pattern with premium trap loads.

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I wasn't dissing the shells, just pointing out that they are not likely to be the same. Yes, cheap shells have killed millions of birds and will continue to do so. But there are differences in quality and performance. Cheap dove loads might be over 90% as effective as premium loads but 99% is a stretch.

Without doubt, the promo loads are not nearly as effective at longer ranges than better target quality loads. I'm not sure the "multi-purpose" loads qualify as better. The obvious difference is in the antimony content of the lead. Less antimony, more deformation, worse patterns, including uneveness and pattern holes, even at closer ranges. AFA the shells purchased versus the more expensive "multi-purpose" loads, I would doubt there is enough difference to make the differences in cost worthwhile. At skeet ranges, which are typically under 25 yards, they will undoubtedly work nearly as well as better loads. Double that, and the differences show up quickly.

I've always liked to kill what I shoot at, and that includes at longer ranges. With no disrespect intended, if Stonecreek wants to stand on the 27 yd trap line with his 28 ga OR with "promo" 12 ga loads against a decent shooter with quality 12 ga target loads, he'll find that the differences are more substantial than he would believe at longer ranges.

Nope, I wouldn't volunteer to stand on the 27 yard line with the best trap loads in a backbored full-choked 12 gauge against even a mediocre trap shooter even if the trap shooter was handicapped with a 20 IC shooting Estate promos. I was never particularly good at the trap game.

A clay disc presents a somewhat smaller and more challenging target to break than a flying dove does to bring to earth. And trap shooting, being a competitive sport, whereas dove shooting being a recreational sport, it's not hard to see why trap shooters would insist on the best ammunition available, both for its performance and for its psychological benefits.

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A clay disc presents a somewhat smaller and more challenging target to break than a flying dove does

Really? Funny I don't see many, if any, dove hunters, regardless of skill level, running 100 in a row as is commonly done in trap and skeet. So which is more challenging? Must be all that "psychological benefit" from superior shells.