20ga convert waterfowl

[Novashooter]

To clarify, I shoot full or tighter with bismuth only. Or lead for other things like pheasant. I can't remember the last time I shot steel shot, but I often found modified would provide the tightest patterns. Full was rarely worse, but I've never had an x-full rated for steel shot. I'm more into older guns, which was part of my love for bismuth shot, and a lot of older guns were fixed full chokes. I'm not about to shoot steel from my 1897.

 

[frbg2019]

20 gauge can be made to work fine ballistically, but I don't understand the love for subgauges as primary duck guns now that the average 20 gauge is around 6#. That's a light gun.

Tungsten in shot sizes 9 and smaller is a terrible idea for waterfowl. I understand that it hammers birds, but I'm scared to chomp down on those stray teenincey pellets in birds that were hit but not killed.

In turkey hunting, I continue to find TSS 9s in the breast and even legs of birds shot in the 40-55 yard range (extended range is one reason you convince yourself you want to pay 6x the cost and shoot tungsten over say Longbeard XR #5).

Not trying to be a hater -- trying to be a realist about the tradeoffs in gun and ammo selection for every day waterfowling.

Sure, if you want to take a kid, wife, or just dork around with subgauges then the 20 or even 28 with high density shot is a cool option. A best bud uses 20 gauge Boss bismuth and crushes ducks all day long.

The most compelling cases for subgauges and HD shot to me are 1) you need a lighter gun because you don't want to or can't hold a heavy 12 gauge 2) recoil reduction and 3) fun of trying something different.

On recoil, I'd be super excited to see a duck load that utilizes HD shot in 12 gauge to reproduce the 17-18 ft. lbs. of recoil you feel in typical target loads. Hard to find wads to reload that and nothing is available commercially as of yet.

Sorry to be hijack everything! I’m interested in your SO Cimarron tent. I’m not allowed to post to the listing or PM, since I’m new to the forum. If you PM me an email or number, we could communicate that way. Thanks!

 

[Novashooter]

20 gauge can be made to work fine ballistically, but I don't understand the love for subgauges as primary duck guns now that the average 20 gauge is around 6#. That's a light gun.

Tungsten in shot sizes 9 and smaller is a terrible idea for waterfowl. I understand that it hammers birds, but I'm scared to chomp down on those stray teenincey pellets in birds that were hit but not killed.

In turkey hunting, I continue to find TSS 9s in the breast and even legs of birds shot in the 40-55 yard range (extended range is one reason you convince yourself you want to pay 6x the cost and shoot tungsten over say Longbeard XR #5).

Not trying to be a hater -- trying to be a realist about the tradeoffs in gun and ammo selection for every day waterfowling.

Sure, if you want to take a kid, wife, or just dork around with subgauges then the 20 or even 28 with high density shot is a cool option. A best bud uses 20 gauge Boss bismuth and crushes ducks all day long.

The most compelling cases for subgauges and HD shot to me are 1) you need a lighter gun because you don't want to or can't hold a heavy 12 gauge 2) recoil reduction and 3) fun of trying something different.

On recoil, I'd be super excited to see a duck load that utilizes HD shot in 12 gauge to reproduce the 17-18 ft. lbs. of recoil you feel in typical target loads. Hard to find wads to reload that and nothing is available commercially as of yet.

There's a time and a place for everything. I think you are spot on in most of what you have thought. This is just my opinion, but I think advertising has just about ruined waterfowl hunters when it comes to knowledge of shotshells. Yeah they have to sell them, and speed sells, but at the same time it's quite rare you find a duck hunter who really understands what he is shooting and why. One of the biggest myths is that steel shot needs high velocity to kill, and it's simply not true at all. You see it all the time online, "1550 fps is what you need for steel, 1350 fps loads just aren't fast enough". So you ask them what size shot they use. "#3 or #2, whatever is cheaper, doesn't seem to matter". They don't even realize a single shot size change makes a bigger difference than 200 fps when it comes to penetration. A #2 at 1350 fps is going to penetrate deeper than a #3 at 1550 fps. That goes for any kind of shot, not just steel shot.

I'm not sure what you consider HD shot, but if you are interested I do have a bismuth load I like to use that's a 1 1/8oz buffered load at 1150 fps with 700x powder using nothing but card and fiber wads. It's in the Tom Rosters bismuth reloading book. From what I recall it patterns about 80% at 40 yards from my fixed full choke 1897. Nothing spectacular, just a good all around load with ligher recoil.

 

[YungHoneydew]

There's a time and a place for everything. I think you are spot on in most of what you have thought. This is just my opinion, but I think advertising has just about ruined waterfowl hunters when it comes to knowledge of shotshells. Yeah they have to sell them, and speed sells, but at the same time it's quite rare you find a duck hunter who really understands what he is shooting and why. One of the biggest myths is that steel shot needs high velocity to kill, and it's simply not true at all. You see it all the time online, "1550 fps is what you need for steel, 1350 fps loads just aren't fast enough". So you ask them what size shot they use. "#3 or #2, whatever is cheaper, doesn't seem to matter". They don't even realize a single shot size change makes a bigger difference than 200 fps when it comes to penetration. A #2 at 1350 fps is going to penetrate deeper than a #3 at 1550 fps. That goes for any kind of shot, not just steel shot.

I'm not sure what you consider HD shot, but if you are interested I do have a bismuth load I like to use that's a 1 1/8oz buffered load at 1150 fps with 700x powder using nothing but card and fiber wads. It's in the Tom Rosters bismuth reloading book. From what I recall it patterns about 80% at 40 yards from my fixed full choke 1897. Nothing spectacular, just a good all around load with ligher recoil.

Care to post that recipe? That sounds lethal, and a nice slow load like that is perfect for ducks and heavily pressured upland birds.

 

[Novashooter]

I'm not sure how this forum views loading data or not. I can certainly PM you. I like that load with #4 bismuth.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Stopped hunting ducks with the 12, switched to the 20, mostly shoot Kent fast steel. Only really shoot decoying birds on tighter set ups lots of river hunting, so it works great, have killed a couple a little further out but 30 and in seems to be the sweet spot

 

[Rich M]

Tungsten makes smaller guages act bigger than they are. Pricey but amazing.

Dropping to steel you’ll be shooting #1or 2 steel for geese and have lots less pellts than #6 tungsten. Cripple count will go way up.