Far from handicapping you, they are almost overkill.
Consider this: Snipe hunters often prefer the brisk handling of a .410. This might surprise some people, considering the small shot stream. But, even with fast-turning, small targets like snipe, an even shot pattern is more important than quantity of pellets or velocity.
In the most competitive trap events on earth (Olympics, World Cups), International Trap shooters are limited to 24 gram loads (roughly 1 or 2 pellets less than 7/8 oz.)
W.W. Greener undertook painstaking research into achieving optimal patterns. His work was originally focused on choke-boring barrels, but he also discovered some fundamental principles for superior results. For example, he saw that there were numerous "fliers" , or "outliers" as they would be considered in a data sample. Closer investigation revealed that patterns are disrupted, and fliers created in at least two ways.
Deformation of pellets occurs when they are flat-sided through friction or skewed by pressure from the shot cup or the choke constriction. Any change in the shape of the pellets will affect their trajectory.
But, pellets are also 'stripped off' of the shot at the moment it exits the barrel, if the powder charge isn't spent prior to that instant. The effect is that of a blast of blow-by that rushes past the rear of the shot and knocks pellets out to the sides.
Migratory bird hunters sometimes have a legitimate need for high energy at extended distances. Upland hunters, however, have nothing to gain and much to lose from heavy loads. We would be best served with 7/8 to 1 oz low pressure loads (with occasional exceptions for long shots on pheasant or sharptail). Lightly loaded, low pressure loads would reduce carry weight of ammunition, reduce felt recoil on light upland guns, reduce wear on guns, improve shot patterns, and presumably they would reduce the cost of production (since lead is supposedly sooo expensive
).
Manufacturers should want to improve safety, reduce costs, and increase their business. Yet not one has noticed that they could produce 2 1/2" shells, lightly loaded at 7/8 oz., with a carefully balanced charge designed to push the load at approximately 1200 fps. These would improve safety overnight by being safer in older vintage guns. They would be cheaper to produce due to shorter cases and less lead and powder usage. And, I would think they'd find a ready market in Canada, where the upland hunter is all but ignored.
But, unless you have a vintage shotgun that was built with 2 1/2" chambers or is proofed only for black powder, target loads are just fine. There are some semi-auto designs that won't cycle certain discount target loads.
