ips wrote:Don't know what those are my friend but balled shot that we refer to is when the shot fuzes together effectively forming a "slug"
As far as I am aware that has happened to me only once and it happened just over 50 years ago. I was a complete newcomer to shooting with my first ever gun, a Cooey single barrel 12 bore. I was using , I think, "Trent" paper skinned cartridges (5 shillings for 25 ! That's 1p each in todays money

) They were on sale here at a cut back price due to them being somewhat unreliable due to age and they were only available in No.1 shot size (I think ?)
I took a walk on Cramond foreshore at about 9 a.m. in the morning with my brand new second hand gun fondly imagining I was wildfowling !

A very stupid small duck of a kind that shouldn't be shot flew overhead at about 60 yards up ...........so naturally I took a shot at it. The duck seemed to go upwards in the air and then collapsed in a heap all the way down to the sand. It had a hole right through it from front to back.
It was a superb bit of shooting but even I knew it shouldn't have a hole right through it ! I took the gun back to the shop and exchanged it for another gun as I thought the gun had caused the balling !

The gun I exchanged it for was a side by side hammer gun with a little pin hole in one of the barrels and a lot of rust in the other one ! The barrel with the hole in it used to sort of whistle when I fired it !

I'm amazed I'm still in one piece after shooting with that gun !
Also available back then from a slightly unscrupulous Edinburgh gun shop were 12 bore cartridges meant to be issued during the second world war. They were purpose made single ball cartridges whose purpose was, I think, to shoot landing German paratroopers right up the arras ! I tried out those cartridges from 10 yards range on trees and on big water filled oil drums. The oil drums just sort of blew up and the penetration into trees was considerable , I poked a pencil into the hole and almost lost the pencil .
I feel very sorry for any German Paratrooper that landed on top of one of those cartridges. He'd have been mince.
Must admit I hate to see birds shot at very close range in field trials sometimes by more than one gun. I fully understand that the dog's handler wants that bird brought down but I still don't like seeing that ........and why bother to "check" for hard mouth following such close shots ?
I was about to be eliminated in one Hpr trial following a grouse being shot at very close range . The judge said my dog had damaged it. I was never frightened of judges so I argued my case .........and I won...........but I still did not win the trial.......judges always have the last word !
Wullie