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Best Shot size

8K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  maghunter1 
#1 ·
Well there's a group of us going on or first snow goose hunt this year and we are in discussion on what shell to buy. how are the black cloud snow goose loads? better then regular loads? i see a lot of people on here recommend the heavy metal, how does the hyper sonic loads hold up? thanks for the help
 
#2 ·
I admit I'm not a big fan of "designer" shotshells. That said,I've shot hundreds of snows/blues with 3", 1 1/8 oz. #1's. I've also converted most everyone I hunt with to the same load. Personally, if factory ammo. is your choice, I'd buy a flat or two of Kent Faststeel---two flats for about the price of a flat of Black Cloud, Hevimetal or Hypersonics. Nervous about 1's ability to kill 'em, step down to the same load in BB.

Steve
 
#3 ·
Shot size bb, 1, smallest we shoot are 2.
3 inch work good some days but 3.5 work good everyday. I do not like shells that shoot over 1550 fps. So that rules out hypersonic and black cloud snow goose loads. I have heard of some semi autos being damaged with those high velocity rounds. Not to mention 2 or 3 boxes a day of pounding can be rough on the body so the less recoil the better.
We shoot blue box federal with 1.5 Oz, blackcloud, and we will try some hevimetal this year. Wear glasses with the blue box federal cause they are usually dirty and you can get stuff in your eyes.
 
#4 ·
I like Kent faststeel 1625 in 2's or bb's and shooting a patternmaster. If they are playing nice the 2's work great and if they are playing hard to get the bb's reach out and touch them. I shoot the extended range patternmaster and shoot birds from the back part of the flock when they decoy. I have shot black cloud and for the money and how dirty they are I would go with the Kents or Winchester 1625. I like steel as "speed kills" IMO
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the info guys, i personally shoot heavy metal 31/2 BB for geese in oklahoma so ill probably stick with that, but some of the other guys that are going live and die by the black cloud so probably not gona change their mind on it lol
 
#6 ·
RedBeardkiller said:
Thanks for the info guys, i personally shoot heavy metal 31/2 BB for geese in oklahoma so ill probably stick with that, but some of the other guys that are going live and die by the black cloud so probably not gona change their mind on it lol
i would get some regular steel loads, heavy metal loads are ok for 35 yards and closer do to them being spreader loads. we shoot 2's for in your face snows, 1's,b's and bb's for other times. we shoot cases of ammo per day each. in my extended mag shotguns the last 3 rounds are bbb's. if using guides some like to have there clients shoot no matter what so the shots can be way out there. they call it good day even if they only get 5 geese. especially if they are lazy and stay in the same field for each hunt.

goose
 
#7 ·
We use the Winchester/federal 12$ box of shells for snows. 2 shot and bb in 1 1-8 oz and roughly 1500-1550 fps. I shoot an 870 28 in barrel full choke. My buddies use benellis. We decoy them in sd and that size works great. If pass shooting we use bb because they can get up there a little higher. No need to go spend 40$ a box on blindside and black cloud because (if you have a good spot) you will shoot a lot and it isn't worth the money when a 12$ box of shells will get you nearly the same result. I also enjoy Kent shells. They are 15$ or so but I like them

Carter Klatt
AYFS

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#9 ·
I and the group of guys that once belonged to a hunt club in Central New Mexico used, for the most part, 3 inch, 1 1/8, #4s for nearly 10 years. I at one time bought a pallet of these shells which worked well for our needs. Most Snows and Rosse geese were decoyed and shot from 40 yards out to nearly point blank range. During a great year we would kill over 1500 of these birds when the limit was 20 per day. I used nothing but 4s and killed over 200 during my best year. Should you have to take longer shots I guess you will need to figure out what to use. In our situation I found the Snows extremely easy to kill. Good luck. The improve cylinder was the choke of choice for most of us.
 
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