I am going to load some 12 gauge 2.75", 3", and 3.5" for dove, turkey, and sandhill crane.

Would appreciate any specific powder and shot recommendations...

I’ve killed a lot of birds with an ounce & a quarter of shot over a heavy 36-37 grains of Blue Dot in Federal Paper hulls. This was my “When you absolutely don’t want the bird to cross the fence” load.

These days if I’m shooting doves with a 12, I prefer 7/8 ounce of shot in the same Federal Paper hull over 19 grains of Clay Dot. Far less recoil.

I suggest you use the powder manufacturer's websites like Hodgdon Powder and Alliant Powder for reloading data.

Shotgun powders are designed to function within specific ranges of the amount of shot loaded and the velocity that the shot is propelled. If you load a combination outside the optimum design window then you may have a "dirty" load leaving lots of fouling in your barrel or another result could be unsafe pressures.

For 12 gauge tapered hulls like Winchester AA and Remington I currently use the following powders with the appropriate wad listed by the powder company's website:

Amount of shot. Powder
3\4 or 7/8 ounce. Alliant Extra Light
7/8 or 1 ounce. Hodgdon Clays or Alliant Red Dot or Western Powders Nitro 100 NF
1 1\8 ounce target. Alliant Green Dot about 1200 fps
1 1\8 hunting Winchester Super Field about 1300 fps
1 1\4 ounce. Alliant Blue Dot or Alliant Unique

Always check using a scale what the powder bushing is actually throwing. Never blindly trust the bushing charts.

Have fun reloading.

Good advice!👍

Lyman has a good manual for reloading shotguns, the list TLoving provided is a good one that some of is what I used when shooting 12a a lot. I shot mostly 2 3/4 inch shells and that is what I have loaded in th 12 and 20. I used reddot for a while then switched to Hodgdon clays when it came out since it was a lot cleaner burning.

Stick to the published loads like said above both in powder/shot weight and wad for the hulls you are loading.

I load a lot of shotgun shells. Mostly 2 3/4”. For target/dove & quail loads Ive used Red Dot, clays, clay dot, 700x, and tite wad. They all worked well but 700x is my preference with a clay buster 3118 wad and 1 1/8 oz of shot in a Remington STS or Nitro 27 hull. For heavy field loads Longshot is my powder of choice. I’ve dabbled with 3” shells but not enough to settle on a load to recommend. Loading shot shells is all about finding a set of components that gives a perfect stack height to get a perfect crimp. Once dialed in, it is a PIA to change. I leave my Mec set up for 2 3/4”. It will load 3” but not 3 1/2”. Hence I have not loaded 3 1/2” shells. When loading heavy loads for turkey, hard shot patterns best. Magnum shot is harder than chilled shot due to antimony content. Remington and Lawrence magnum shot has 6% antimony which is what makes it harder and it will pattern better. Those are the best two. Copper or nickel plated is harder still. Hard shot patterns tighter. Adding a buffer like Grex will tighten patterns. With lead, plated shot with a buffer, around 1160-1200 fps is where I would want to be for a tight patterning long range load.