Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl What is your standard duck shotgun/load ?

Even with good shoulders there is ZERO need for 3.5"! But I have to say the gun company's have done well with it. After all you need to sell guns to stay in business.

I have thought that 3.5" were not needed for a long time. Back in the day when you could shoot lead, I killed more than a few ducks with 2 3/4" lead #5 Baby Mags. I tried 3.5" one time and said no thank you. If you can't work the ducks into a decent range, let them go.

TRUTH

In the old days early season it was allways 1330 fps 1 1/4oz of 5's with a 2 3/4" 1 1/2 oz of 4's in the end of the mag. After the northern mallards showed up I'd use 1 3/8 oz of copper plated 4's at 1375. Big learning curve on steel but it works. Mostly Kent Fasteel 1 1/16 oz #3's for ducks and 1 1/4 oz 3" 1-BB's on geese. Shot hevi, tungsten polymer and bismuth but they are spendy. Mb

I've gone boss 2 3/4" 5's copper plated bismuth out of the 20 GA.

I might sell all them 12 ga's. 😀

Remington or Federal 3.5” #2 out of a Briley Improved Modified choke.

Belgium Browning A5 magnum with bismuth 2's. This is the shotgun I grew up using for for everything, ducks geese,doves,quail,rabbits etc. Shoots where I point it and Kills well

Browning BSS 30in bbls opened to IC/MOD. Favorite load is bismuth 2 3/4in with 1 1/4oz #4 at 1220. They called this a Sporting Game load but ducks just hate it. Running low on these now so I’ll soon shift to #5 in the same load. Got lots of those. Bismuth #2 is deadly for me on geese These are hard to find loads as most guys want higher velocities, so that’s what gets produced. I may have to load my own one day. To be fair, I ‘d do as well with steel 2’s in an auto, but these are fine for me.

Duck hunting 60 day season in Iowa first 20 days 4 shot second 20 days 3 shot last 20 days of season 2 shot.
Why early season most ducks are smaller teal,woodducks, middle season Gadwalls Widgen Bluebill, late season mostly Mallards.
Match the shot size for the majority of the Ducks you are shooting.

I bought my 2 3/4" Browning A5 new back in 1978 and on ducks it / I have always liked #3 steel fired through a Carlson's LM stainless extended choke.

On the two hunts we've been on so far this season my buddy and I did pretty good......we're going again this coming Thurs. or Friday morning.

Gun: something in 12 ga 95% of the time, 10 ga 4%, 16 or 20 the remainder.

12 ga: over water- Modified. Field IC and/or Light Mod as birds are close and these chokes pattern larger goose shot well.

10 ga: Mod. Gives the best long range patterns in my gun.

16 & 20: Mod. It's the choke I have found to work best in these two.

12 ga :

1 1/4 oz of #2 steel. No particular brand though generally stay away from the lowest quality. This is my over water preference.

Field hunting: 1 oz #3 steel handloads ( 2 3/4") or whatever #4, 3, or 2 factory loads I won't use over water.

10 ga:

Factory #1 steel, 1 5/8 factory. Really reaches out and touches ducks. Good goose load too.

20 & 16 gas:

Prefer something other than steel but get by with factory #2 for the 16 ga and 3" # 2 or 3 in the 20. Have shot a lot of #5 tungsten/poly in the 16 and a fair bit of #4 bismuth in both.

Velocity in the 12 and 10 ga loads run in the 1350-1450 fps range whether factory or handload. 16 and 20 factory steel ~1300 fps, factory bismuth and tungsten/poly ~1250 fps.

Kent fasteel 2 3/4” # 2 shot. Occasionally will load a 3” BB first if there are geese mixed in.
Winchester SX3 3 1/2” chamber for all steel, just in case you run out of shells and gotta borrow your friends.
Always be prepared to shoot your buddies shells!

Hevi metal 12ga 3” #3 for early season does great work on anything from green wings to mallards , I switch to #2 for later season birds plus its a great option for when you can shoot ducks or Canadas

2/3/4 steel at decent velocity will kill any duck that 98% of folks have any business shooting at….,in a 2-3/4” or 3”, 12/16/20ga.
Unlike rifles, patterns mean far more than pellet size/shell length, when coming to the pill in the vitals component. I’ve found I’m no better or worse, using any combo just mentioned, when choked/patterned properly, and I do my part.

#2s will also kill geese just fine to 40 yards and more. It’s all the guides provide when I go to Saskatchewan. The geese get piled up.

For 90% of my hunting, I prefer 3s or even 4s, and I often pick 1s over 2s, just because they seem to pattern better in my 12s….not because the size is any benefit. 3.5” ruins a LOT of good duck holes. JMO

12 ga. #2 steel, don't mess with 3.5", I can get teal and Canadas in the same place at the same time.

You guys are killing me. All I shot last season was a 28 gauge Beretta A400 with Hevi-X 4’s. That’s pretty much all we shoot, and nearly all our ducks are mallards. Heck, I even used the 28 while hunting honkers and doubled with it from a decent sized flock. Haven’t hunted ducks with a 12 gauge in 5 seasons and haven’t missed it a bit.

Too many shotguns to list. Last year did well on Mallards with 12 gauge Federal 3" #1 shot @ 1550 FPS.

Realistically? Any good, decent speed #1-4 steel and up to #5 or 6 bismuth, if I have it handy. 12, 16, 20ga…. Doesn’t really matter. If you hit them, they die. It’s far more about more pellets in the duck, than which pellet in the duck. I used to obsess more.

Using boss shells good stuff.

All in marsh over open water:

12 gauge beretta 391 with factory modified choke -3” 1-1/4oz #2 steel

12 gauge beretta 690 field o/u with factory imp and mod chokes - 2-3/4” 1-1/8oz #3 steel

10 gauge browning bps with factory improved cylinder - 3-1/2” 1-3/4oz #4 bismuth