Lots of good answers, as you might guess I use a 16 ga, it's an old single shot, don't have much of a problem with #2 shot (steel) on ducks, (geese maybe not so much), so I would imagine a 12 ga should work a bit better.
Lots of good answers, as you might guess I use a 16 ga, it's an old single shot, don't have much of a problem with #2 shot (steel) on ducks, (geese maybe not so much), so I would imagine a 12 ga should work a bit better.
I use #3 and 4's and they worked well but I have notice that with winchester ammo it seams that the dont kill them on the spot. Had this problem this weekend, I would hit the Bird and it would spin and fly away. All the shots were 15 yards and under. So what the hell is going on
Check your choke tube maybe too full a choke. remember most chokes bump up a size with steel. I use 3 inch #2 feds for everything modified choke. If a duck looks a little high let it go u'll just miss him and scare them away. Just focus on one duck
If you're "hitting" the bird and it turns and flies away you ain't hitting it. At 15 yards like you say a #3 pellet going 1550fps will go straight through a duck no if ands or buts...enter and exit hole. Massive bleeding the shock alone if not a head/spine/wing shot could bring the duck down.
Sometimes you gotta face the music and realize a miss is a miss. It happens. Maybe it's a gun/choke/ammo problem. Pattern it to see what its doing on paper at 15 yards. It would take alot of missed shots before I started blaming my ammo.
Last edited by Crazy_Farmer; 10-18-2010 at 09:36 PM.
i use kent farsteel #4 in 3inch for ducks, seems to get them most times.
270win Browning A-bolt
12g Maverick 88 Field
30-30 Marlin
kent 3" #2's for ducks and kent 3" bb's for geese.
"you know there are a lot of mountain bikers in the area" she looked at me weird when I said back to her " Thats fine, I'm not hunting mountain bikers today" Brambles
My guess is you've not patterned your gun with the load your using or your not following through on your swing. Make sure that when you swing on a bird that you keep the gun moving when you pull the trigger, Good luck, K
I found 12 ga 3" #2 (IC) over decoys within 30 yards almost too much, it kill them on the spot which is great(if you hit them), but it mess up a bit more of the meat. (All shots went through the ducks I got this pass weekend).
15 yards... you should see a pretty big "poofffuu" of feather ....if you hit it with even 2-3/4 #2's.
Do Good ...and forget about it..
The closer the shot the tighter the pattern, I sometimes shoot better in the 25-30 yard distance then I do in the 10-20.
I'm using the Kents fast steel #3's and it's doing a great job. I'm going to say that it's more your shooting, choke, pattern or all of the above combined that's causin you grief. Federal, Winchester , Kents , they'll all kill ducks dead, you just have to put it on target.
Get some time behind the gun, shoot some clays and learn what your gun is doing.
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