90% 8s with the balance Eley VIP in 7 or 7.5 Agree with the above that it's pellet count that matters and that it's very very rare to see a target these days that justifies/requires that bigger shot size.
Nobody has mentioned the C word yet, choke. Tight chokes will give kills with the smaller shot sizes due to multiple strikes whereas with more open chokes and consequently few hits on the clay the higher striking energy of the larger shot sizes may be required to break the target.
Having re-read what I've just typed above makes me sound like one of those shooters who try and analyse all aspects of the science of shotgun shooting!
I have read somewhere that rifle shooting is a science and shotgun shooting an art and that I firmly believe that. Studying ballistics, pondering and altering every aspect of gun & cartridge,- barrel length, choke,(fixed or multi) rib type & height, front bead type, mid bead (yes or no) trigger pull, stock length, comb height (adjustable) and so on and so forth. Cartridges, 21, 24 or 28 gram, fibre or plastic, cheap or expensive, British or Italian, shot size, it goes on and on.
Chard hit the nail on the head in #8 "you should be thinking about stuff that matters." If you point the gun in the right place virtually irrespective of all the variables listed above, the clay will break.
Get the theoretically perfect set-up from the above list and don't point the gun in the right place and surprise surprise the clay sails on unmolested.
Concentrate on the thing that matter and that, in my humble opinion, is the SIGHT PICTURE ie what you see when the clay breaks. For most of us mere mortals that takes a life time to build up that library of images, good coaching will/can speed up that process significantly but perhaps the greatest attribute a novice shooter should possess is a good memory!!
Mr Potter
