What's up with needing a cannon to kill a goose?? All this talk of needing 10 gauges or 3/3½" 12 gauges slinging two ounces of shot has my head spinning. I have used nothing but 12 gauge (and a few 16's and 20's) in 2 3/4" with 1 1/8oz. of lead-like shot. The hundreds of birds I killed over the last ten years is proof that skill trumps cannons, no matter how much the glossy magazines, manufacturer's hype, and old wive's tales would have you believe otherwise. In this day and age of lead-like non-toxic shot there's no excuse for using steel shot which is the basis for the "more is better" myth. Expensive you say? Sure, but when compared to what you spend for licenses, trucks, decoys, blinds, guns, clothing, dogs, meals, etc., etc. that $2-3 per shot when filling a two goose limit is small potatoes. (Not to mention that with lighter loads you won't flinch as much and your shooting will dramatically improve- a win-win situation.)
The flyways were decimated 100+ years ago by market gunners shooting the lightest (most cost effective) loads they could- typically an ounce of lead out of a 12 gauge. Look me in the eye and tell me you believe geese are harder to kill now than they were 100 years ago.
Lead-like shot is expensive for guys who shoot a lot of geese (or shoot at a lot of geese) in a year. Big steel shot patterns a lot better out of a 10 ga than a 12 and the guns are typically heavy enough that the recoil is far less than a 12
