Duck Hunting Forum banner

Is a 10 gauge a bit overkill on ducks!? I think so...

6K views 42 replies 23 participants last post by  Have Gun Will Travel 
#1 ·
My buddy swears by his 10 gauge thru and thru hes fully convinced his 12 gauge 870 doesnt kill em. I mean its his decision but I think its a bit overkill on ducks, maybe some late season mallards that your pass shooting you wont tear em up too bad but he took it out when our target was woodies early in the season. :eek: I will upload a pic of our results I got my limit of two hens and a drake using my SBEII using black cloud 4 shot and he got his one hen using 3 1/2 BB in his Browning BPS his end of the blind didnt have as good as shots as mine but he dropped his one as i doubled and then shot the drake a few min later as he came in lone on a string straight at me!
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
Maybe for woodies but a Mag 10 with BB will drop ducks like stones. I love mine. Hasnt seen much action though since I got my new A5
 
#6 ·
I've never shot a 10 gauge but where I see the advantage is you could open up your choke to a IC or LM instead if a M or F and still get enough pellets on target. But I think a skilled shooter with a 3" 20 gauge could kill the same birds as a average shooter with a 3 1/2 10 gauge.

Sent from my badazz phone using a badazz app
 
#7 ·
NuffDaddy said:
I've never shot a 10 gauge but where I see the advantage is you could open up your choke to a IC or LM instead if a M or F and still get enough pellets on target. But I think a skilled shooter with a 3" 20 gauge could kill the same birds as a average shooter with a 3 1/2 10 gauge.

Sent from my badazz phone using a badazz app
The skilled shooter with the 20ga would probably kill more than the other.
 
#9 ·
And I've been bummed because everyone's out of 2 3/4" 20ga upland steel 5s, and I had to step up to 3" 4s. The idea of swinging a 10ga on ducks gives me the willies. But if you're bud's more confident with the 10, he may well shoot better with it.
 
#10 ·
Sometimes its the little things that make a big change in our confidence and our abilities. I know for me this season I switched from fast loads to slightly slower loads and intantly started shooting better, I suspect it was something subconcious making me lead them slightly further.
If this is his positive improvement let him have it, maybe try and get him to switch to 2's or 3's for ducks though, and the patterns should be impressive.
 
#11 ·
Rick Hall said:
And I've been bummed because everyone's out of 2 3/4" 20ga upland steel 5s, and I had to step up to 3" 4s. The idea of swinging a 10ga on ducks gives me the willies. But if you're bud's more confident with the 10, he may well shoot better with it.
I love swinging my 10 gauge, it has built in lead!!!

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2
 
#12 ·
My opinion is that a 10 guage is overkill for any ducks and probably the most preferred tool for skybusters, im the only one out of the friends i hunt with that still shoots a 3 inch gun and i do just as good as the fancy 3.5 guns if not better some days. Instead of buying a bigger gun i decided to better my calling, decoy strategy, and concealment rather than focus on longer distance shooting, like i said its just my 2 cents. The fun in it for me is to get them close but to each is own.
 
#13 ·
lou_01 said:
My opinion is that a 10 guage is overkill for any ducks and probably the most preferred tool for skybusters, im the only one out of the friends i hunt with that still shoots a 3 inch gun and i do just as good as the fancy 3.5 guns if not better some days. Instead of buying a bigger gun i decided to better my calling, decoy strategy, and concealment rather than focus on longer distance shooting, like i said its just my 2 cents. The fun in it for me is to get them close but to each is own.
EXACTLY! He's not anymore confident with it he just thinks oh I can blast em even higher/farther then :no: he's my best friend but our hunting styles are way apart. He's a skybuster and even got kicked out of a property this year because of it! He's a decent caller but gets way too impatient and thinks oh my 10 will shoot 100 yards in the air and kill em dead lol he may hunt like that on his own but when I'm with him ill settle him down and let em work and decoy that's just how I was taught! He always wants to go to my property to pass shoot geese that are skybuster level and If u shot a box of shells you might get 1 or 2 if your lucky cause the refuge is right across the highway but I'm not about that no need to educate 1500-2000 birds when we can stack em up the right way over dekes in the slough or the pit!
 
#16 ·
A number 2 steel BB leaving the barrel at 1400 fps out of a 410 has the same leathality as the same BB leaving a 10g @ 1400fps. BBs dont carry more energy because they were shot out of a bigger gun. The advantage is more BBs or the same number of BBs in a larger size which do carry farther. If your buddy thinks a 10 will kill em at 100 yds; he will end up shooting tons of expensive hard to find ammo with no results other than a sore shoulder and cheek.
 
#19 ·
johnmoses said:
Rick Hall said:
And I've been bummed because everyone's out of 2 3/4" 20ga upland steel 5s, and I had to step up to 3" 4s. The idea of swinging a 10ga on ducks gives me the willies. But if you're bud's more confident with the 10, he may well shoot better with it.
I love swinging my 10 gauge, it has built in lead!!!
Maybe once you push start it.
 
#20 ·
I couldn't imagine shooting a 10 gauge day in and day out. 3.5" shells out of my 12 gauge are even too much for me. Hunted with them once and the first shot pushed me back off the bucket I was sitting on and I landed in the cold swamp (not to mention the bruise it left on my shoulder). I went back to 3" #2's and don't plan on ever changing again.
 
#22 ·
Greenheadindy said:
I couldn't imagine shooting a 10 gauge day in and day out. 3.5" shells out of my 12 gauge are even too much for me. Hunted with them once and the first shot pushed me back off the bucket I was sitting on and I landed in the cold swamp (not to mention the bruise it left on my shoulder). I went back to 3" #2's and don't plan on ever changing again.
My browning gold 10ga kicks less than my benelli nova, benelli sbe2, and rem. 870 with 3" shells. The 10's are much heavier than the 12's resulting in less recoil.
 
#24 ·
LETEMWORK21 said:
I've brought my grandpas old 10 guage out a few times on geese I call it the goose boom I can reach out and touch em it's a H&R single shot full choke 38 inch barrel :yes: nick named it the goose boom
38" Wow
 
#25 ·
LETEMWORK21 said:
I've brought my grandpas old 10 guage out a few times on geese I call it the goose boom I can reach out and touch em it's a H&R single shot full choke 38 inch barrel :yes: nick named it the goose boom
My granddad has a old Long Tom 12 with a 36" barrel. Never shot it though. Heard great things about it. :biggrin:
 
#26 ·
rebelp74 said:
Greenheadindy said:
I couldn't imagine shooting a 10 gauge day in and day out. 3.5" shells out of my 12 gauge are even too much for me. Hunted with them once and the first shot pushed me back off the bucket I was sitting on and I landed in the cold swamp (not to mention the bruise it left on my shoulder). I went back to 3" #2's and don't plan on ever changing again.
My browning gold 10ga kicks less than my benelli nova, benelli sbe2, and rem. 870 with 3" shells. The 10's are much heavier than the 12's resulting in less recoil.
My Mag 10 weighs almost 12 pounds. Doesnt kick at all, more of a gentle push. My Nova will knock the crap out of me with 3 1/2's. Dont shoot 12 ga 3 1/2's any more.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top