Description
Winchester AA Super Pigeon 12ga is the heavy end of the AA target line: a full 1-1/4 ounce payload of copper-plated lead shot at 1,220 fps. It exists because some targets are further away and harder to break than a standard sixteen-yard trap bird, and a 1-1/8 ounce load runs out of pattern before you run out of range.
What Makes Winchester AA Super Pigeon 12ga Different
Two things separate this from an ordinary AA target load. The first is payload: 1-1/4 ounces instead of the usual 1-1/8 or one ounce, which is roughly twelve percent more pellets in the pattern at any given distance.
The second is the shot itself. Winchester AA Super Pigeon 12ga uses copper-plated lead rather than plain lead. Plating hardens the pellet surface so fewer pellets deform on setback and during barrel travel, and round pellets fly straighter than deformed ones. The result is a denser, more even pattern at distance, which is the entire reason the load exists.
Everything else is standard AA: the one-piece AA hull, a 209 primer and a low brass head. That hull is the most reloaded target hull ever made, so a case of these is also a long-term supply of premium brass-headed hulls.
Specifications and Where to Use It
At 1,220 fps with 1-1/4 ounces, this is a genuinely stout target load. It was developed for the international live pigeon and helice disciplines, where birds are fast, erratic and shot at distance, and it carries straight over to handicap trap, long crossers on a sporting course, and the second shot on trap doubles.
Recoil is the tradeoff. A 1-1/4 ounce load at 1,220 fps kicks meaningfully harder than a 1-ounce practice shell, and over a hundred-bird day that adds up. Most shooters reserve Winchester AA Super Pigeon 12ga for the stations where the extra pattern actually buys them something rather than shooting it all day.
- Gauge: 12 gauge
- Shell length: 2-3/4 inch
- Shot charge: 1-1/4 oz
- Shot size: #7.5
- Shot material: copper-plated lead
- Muzzle velocity: 1,220 fps
- Hull: Winchester AA, low brass head
- Primer: 209
- Packaging: 25 rounds per box, 10 boxes per case
- Manufacturer item: AA12SP7 / UPC 020892012134
Field Notes
Choke matters more with a load like this. Copper plating and a heavy charge already tighten the pattern, so a modified or improved modified choke that patterns well with standard AA may throw an unnecessarily tight pattern here. Pattern it on paper before a competition rather than guessing.
Check your club rules. Many registered trap and skeet events cap shot charge at 1-1/8 ounces, which means Winchester AA Super Pigeon 12ga is legal for practice and for some disciplines but not for others. Helice and live pigeon rules are different again.
Save the hulls. AA hulls reload well and repeatedly, and a 1-1/4 ounce shell is a hull most reloaders are happy to have.
Shooting standard target loads too? The AA line covers 12ga 1-1/8 oz #7.5 and 12ga 1 oz #7.5, and AA Super Sport is the sporting clays option. Load details are published by Winchester Ammunition.
For helice shooters, handicap trap and anyone who needs pattern density at distance, Winchester AA Super Pigeon 12ga is the load to reach for. MAG5 Firearms stocks it in the 25 round box, manufacturer item AA12SP7.
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