I use a 2 3/4 dram( 75 grains) of FFg powder behind a 1 1/4 oz load of #5 shot for hunting pheasants( in my 12 gauge). #6 shot works okay as long as you stay inside 30 yards. #5 shot allows me to go to possibly 35 yards. I have killed pheasants with that load out at 33 yards. A comparable load in my 20 gauge fowler would be 60 grains of FFg, and 1 oz. of shot, #5 or #6 shot, with the same restrictions.
I am not surprised at the performance of #8 shot at 25 yards. Pellet energy is greatly reduce, and the shot kills because lots more pellets are available to hit the bird, so that the individual pellet energy is multiplied by the number of pellets that hit the bird. Shock is what will kill birds at 25 yards- as only rarely do you find that small shot penetrate to vital organs.
I have killed dove out to 35 yards with a cylinder bore 12 gauge shooting light #8 loads, but a dove is about the third the size of the average pheasant, and much easier to kill. Patterns do get thin, however, at longer distances. You have to center a dove with that kind of load to bring him down. I have dusted dove with the same load when I was a little off-center, only to see them at first dip, and then continue flying on.
I once shot a pheasant going away from me at about 20 yards with a load of #6 shot. Unfortunately, I was hunting with two guys for the first time, who then shot my bird with a load of #5, and a load of #4 shot, almost faster than I can type this. All three shots hit that bird within a second! The Number 6 shot tumbled the bird: the #5 slammed the bird; and the #4 smacked the bird out of the sky! The buy who was way over on the far left of our drive, and was violating both my and the center man's zone of fire, was given the bird because it was pretty badly mangled when he finished it with his load of #4 shot.
I learned the difference in power on a game bird of the three sizes of shot, and since then, have used that lesson in selecting shot for hunting every game bird I have had an opportunity to hunt. With Lead shot banned for hunting migratory Waterfowl, I have not had a use for #4 shot. I stopped using #6 shot after having a couple of crippled pheasants run away from me. I still use #5 shot for Pheasants, because the birds are anchored with any kind of good hit, even on long shots. The retained Pellet energy is quite good, and shooters should read the charts in the Lyman Shotshell Reloading Manual to understand retained pellet energy for the various size shots, fired at various Muzzle Velocities out at 20, 40, and 60 yards. Its a good education, and I used it to help me decide to switch to using #5 shot in all my shotguns for hunting pheasants. ( Modern, and BP.)
