Ammo

except for a teal hunt or woodie hole hunt, i shoot 3 1/2" 2's. kents or federal(whatever rodgers has on sale) i find 2's dont tear up the ducks and brings geese down just fine.tired of shucking shells or bringing two guns out. i have my lead down good with 1550 fps. switching shells is fine but sticking with a certain fps will help you maintain your shooting average.
 
I have shot and shot at ducks and geese with quite a variety of guns and loads from 2 3/4 " 20 ga to 3 1/2" 10 ga. and the thing that keeps coming up is you have to hit the birds. I have not yet had the heart to put my 28 in the bottom of the boat but it could happen on a nice day. One note on this subject is last weekend I decided to shoot up some OLD Federal 2 3/4 # 2 steel and didn't kill anything clean. I may give them away or shoot trap with them. I will have to pattern them out of curiousity but won't hunt with them. I really like Bismuth #4 but is hard to find in bulk so I hoard that to use in my Pedersolli 10 muzzleloader. In my 20 ga. Hevi # 6 has been impresive. Been reloading non toxic misc for a very long time with good results from all designer loads. Last year I tried and liked Kents 3" #4. Got another box this year for if I run out of my reloads. Interesting thread, Thanks.
 
Chris, I tried the 1700 fps shot and didn't feel it offered any advantage. Certainly nothing that would induce me to prefer it over anything else. Like everyone has said, it really comes down to getting them close & hitting them. At that point, shot speed really doesn't matter. I guess I'm not good enough to notice a difference, but I would think that the faster shot would result in different lead.
 
I find that no matter what ammo I use, it works better if I yell "light 'em up boys" at the top of my lungs before I shoot. Curiously, it works even if I'm alone.

T
 
Wendell I agree that it did make your lead a good bit less. I noticed it most on cross shots where the duck was flying right to left or left to right. Try em out they may be the ticket. I did feel that they kick a bit more then other shells but when the ducks are coming in you don't feel it at that time. Good luck this season.
 
Tod

I prefer to scream out "LET IT RAIN" or "GIT U SOMME" in my best southern accent, I don"t think it help us kill more birds but it does maker me feel more like a black hoodie wearing pro staffer!!!

Fred (hew who drank to much coffee this am and is all jazzed up)
 
Tod

I prefer to scream out "LET IT RAIN" or "GIT U SOMME" in my best southern accent, I don"t think it help us kill more birds but it does maker me feel more like a black hoodie wearing pro staffer!!!

Fred (hew who drank to much coffee this am and is all jazzed up)
Click to expand...


Try "Light 'em up" next time. Better performance than a wad-stopping patternmaster in a benelli with a "meat stick" sticker on the barrel, held by a black hoodie-wearing prostaffer...
 
If money wasn't a concern I'd get whatever best matched the old lead 2 3/4" 1 1/4oz 4's that we use to shoot "back in the day". We shot waterfowl with no problems. Never even thought of using 3" shells. I suppose if we practiced enough at long range pass shooting like Nash did we would have used them... but we didn't and most don't.
I'm not sure why high speed 3 1/2"ers are needed in the high density stuff. It was purely a product of poor early steel shells, in my opinion 3 1/2" could be phased out with all the improvements in non-tox.

I shoot 2 3/4" Kents (sometimes XPerts) in 2's and 3's and find it kills the ducks I hunt at the ranges I shoot. Heck I've even shot geese with them and they die too. Like Tod said you need to yell something first, I use "Hamma Time!"

Tim
 
I'm with Tom S. I have found that the key to killing a duck is to hit them. (duh!)

Thats gets harder to do if you are mixing up loads traveling at 1100fps, 1550 fps and even 1700fps. Leads need to change as shot velocity changes and if you do the math on a 30 yard shot on a foot long target going 50 mph, its easy to see why the velocity variation matters.

And I don't yell anything before the shot, but I like to mutter, "Pretty good shootin' pilgrim" in my John Wayne voice if I hit something.
 
Winchester Super X #2 steel. < 20 yd shots feet down in the decoys. Might try some #3 this season early on in the north and south zones.
 
I tried that once. Ended up with a bb rattling around in Dave Shady's decoy! I learned to shot a little taller after that....hehe
 
Anybody else had failure to fire on Remington Wingmaster HD?

I had two shells that didn't fire last season and figured they'd maybe gotten damp. Clear firing pin marks on the primer, but the shell didn't go off.

This season I've had it happen on two shells already--and both were new out of the box on the morning it happened. Again, clear strike mark on the primer, but the shell didn't go off.

I mostly shoot Kent Fasteel in #4 and #3--all puddle ducks over decoys. I shoot a few #2's late in the season for whistlers.

And the occasional Hevishot or HD in #6. Used to buy them when they went on sale. I got a screaming deal at Dick's one time. They were doing buy "1 get 1 half price", and Remington had a $10 per box rebate, and I had some Dick's dollars to cash in, so I walked out the door with something like 10 boxes for a little over $125. I still have some of that left.
 
So I have been wondering about this for awhile about the different shot speeds and how much does it really matter. As an engineer who's brain is on the ducks with opener days away and not wanting to work I decided to do the math as far as leads go. I found a table of #2 shot speeds at 10,0,30,40,50,60 and 70 yrds with an initial velocity of 1400 1600 and 1800 fps. Once you take deceleration into account you would need to lead a duck on a 30yd cross shot that is traveling at 50mph by an additional 11" with 1400fps vs 1600fps. The speed of the shot at 30 yards is 775fps vs 836 fps. I don't think it makes that much of a difference and what is important is that you pick load and stick with it for consistency. And for the record I don't yell anything before the shot but I think I'll try "MAKE IT RAIN!" on Saturday... ah what am I talking about I'll probibly forget..
 
Most of my duck guns are vintage doubles so its Bismuth for me either factory or handloads. I do use cheap steel in my Japanese Browning A5
 
jeff, i had an issue with hypersonic as well. the steel shot barely rolled out and the wadding actually got stuck in my barrel. had i taken another shot my barrel may have exploded. ive had other shots that just sounded weak as well but no jams. needless to say i have half a case of hypershot that i won't be shooting anymore. im going to stick with the hevi shot goose 3" #4 for everything. its almost 3 bucks a shell but man does it drop em dead
 
I am still looking for the perfect shell after 53 years of hunting. I don't yell much but when a single comes in and my partner shoots and gets the bird. I like to say " Did you see the shot I made , I killed em dead " It makes for interesting conversation and it really increases your shooting percentages ( : O )
 
I like 3 inch Black Cloud # 3's. Also I like to yell "consider that your warning" or "and don't come back" after a clean miss....or when somebody connects..."good shootin tex" like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters.
 
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