Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl 2 3/4” waterfowl loads

Sorry for the slow response time. On some of the misfires, it sounded like someone was blowing down the barrel. On these, the shot, wad, and powder was gone but I'm guessing that the load just cleared the barrel before fizzling out. On other misfires, the primer was dented and nothing at all happened. Over Thanksgiving this happened 2-3 times one morning for my oldest son (shooting 3" shells). When we got home we tried to fire the shells in another gun or two; still would not fire. Later in the season he was hunting in Louisiana and was told by some of the guys there that they had been experiencing Fasteel misfires as well. It was later in the season when I had a misfire or two, but I don't remember now how those sounded. I don't know if anybody contacted Kent or not; neither my son nor I did. I did not think that the shells had gotten wet; even if they did, I would expect them to still fire especially since these are waterfowl loads. I also had a similar event with a Drylock, so I'm going to try another make this year, maybe Winchester Super X or Hevi Steel.

I tried some 3" shells in my Ohio-made Ithaca 37. Didn't like the recoil, so I went back to 2-3/4", 2's or 3's. Didn't see much in 2-3/4 available for quite a while, but they are starting to show up again here and there.


I and some others I know have experienced an unacceptable number of misfires with the Fasteels in recent years, both 2-3/4 and 3s. Primer is dimpled followed by a poof instead of a bang. I had a similar occurrence with some leftover Drylocks I switched to. Thinking about trying something else. Any suggestions?

That sucks! Does the wad make it out of the barrel?

I have not had any issues with the Kent loads in my Ithaca 37 or SX3, I am still working on the last flat I purchased a few years ago.

Have you reached out to Kent with a lot number?

Sorry for the slow response time. On some of the misfires, it sounded like someone was blowing down the barrel. On these, the shot, wad, and powder was gone but I'm guessing that the load just cleared the barrel before fizzling out. On other misfires, the primer was dented and nothing at all happened. Over Thanksgiving this happened 2-3 times one morning for my oldest son (shooting 3" shells). When we got home we tried to fire the shells in another gun or two; still would not fire. Later in the season he was hunting in Louisiana and was told by some of the guys there that they had been experiencing Fasteel misfires as well. It was later in the season when I had a misfire or two, but I don't remember now how those sounded. I don't know if anybody contacted Kent or not; neither my son nor I did. I did not think that the shells had gotten wet; even if they did, I would expect them to still fire especially since these are waterfowl loads. I also had a similar event with a Drylock, so I'm going to try another make this year, maybe Winchester Super X or Hevi Steel.