12 gauge rabbit loads

I've got a hankering to do some bunny huntin' with my new Rossi coach gun.

What size pellet in a 2 3/4 shell makes a clean kill at 15-25 yard ranges.

__________________
Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

I like #6 shot for rabbits. 7 1/2 shot ain't bad but I do prefer #6.

I use No. 5 shot for just about everything these days. I like the Federal 1 1/4 Oz., 3 3/4 Dram equivalant loads. It will really dig them out of the brush for you.

1oz lead slug!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I used No. 6 in the forests of northern Idaho years ago, but in a 20 gauge. Worked great on rabbits and grouse. I tried No. 5 but found it too destructive for the relatively close range at which I was shooting. But occasionally, I'd get a longish shot and the No. 6 shot patterned better at 25 to 30 yards than the 7-1/2.
I ate the cottontails I killed. Baked them in a red wine sauce made of wine, spices, green onions, a bit of garlic and -- surprise! Prunes! The prunes give a nice, subtle sweetness to the sauce. And you have some nice, cooked plums to go with the rabbit.
My Belgian mother taught me this recipe. She also used it for ducks.

1oz of lead #6 is the standard rabbit load with a mod or I/C choke for little bunnys...............Jacks get out a little farther away and 1 1/8oz will work for them.

What size pellet in a 2 3/4 shell makes a clean kill at 15-25 yard ranges.
It doesn't take much to kill a bunny but being a coach gun I imagine your pattern won't be very tight.Therefore I'd go a bit heavy on my shot and use # 4's

I use slugs, can't be to careful with those killer rabbits, just ask Jimmy Carter.

#6 is what most bunny hunters use.

The last "rabbit" I killed was a snowshoe hare.
Sixes from my 20 OU rolled him.
Shot was about 15 yards.

I started out using seven and a half shot on rabbits and grouse.
Switched to sixes after a couple years and have stayed with them since.

Always used 1oz of #5 or #6 , but outta my 16ga.

I use 1oz load of #6 whether in my 12, 16, or 20ga gun.

__________________
David
CW3 USA (Ret) 1968-1990

Thanks it's beginning to look like a consensus. I will pick up a box of #6 and get my Fudd on.

__________________
Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

If you have a choice, more open chokes are better. Most of the time, you won't get a long shot at a rabbit, and at short ranges a full choke will tear up the rabbit. In those long-ago years when I hunted rabbit a lot, I used an antique 12 Gauge Marlin pump gun with no choke at all, and it never failed me.

The reasons I wasn't in that consensus for me

were coach gun and clean kills out to 25 yards

With a little practice and a skeet choke, carring your gun muzzle down......... you can shoot from the hip and hit a cotton tail that jumps out...........something you do not want to try if you are using a full choke !!

The other 66% of the time I carry my shotgun at "Port arms" or on my shoulder,so this style of shooting is not an option................... and yes even #6's in my .410 pump.