Used to own an Ithaca Mag 10- used it for pass-shooting geese, a tool it was well suited for. Then, along came the 12 ga., 3.5" magnum, in lighter, more versatile shotguns, and the Mag 10 went down the road.
I hunted Alaska Brown Bear on the Aleutian Island chain a number of years ago. My guide's 'camp gun' was what he called a 'poor man's double rifle'- a shortened, double-barrelled 10 ga. SxS, fitted with express sights, and loaded with buckshot or slugs.
After my hunt was over, and my brown bear was in the salt, he asked me if I cared to shoot his 10 ga., at an old 5 gallon bucket that had washed up on the beach. I fired one round, and handed it back to him- recoil was beyond brutal. By far the hardest-recoiling weapon I have ever fired.
