Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Am I out of date with my 2 3/4 inch for Canadian Hunt ?

25 years ago I used to slam Honkers and nice ducks with 2 3/4 inch lead. Now have been big game hunting for years but am meeting my brother in september for 3 days of ducks and geese.
I purchased some 2 3/4 1s, 2s and 3s at 1550 velosity.
The outfit says the Honks will come right on top of us, the snows out and ducks fairy close. In the old days never had trouble with close in Honkers even with 20 gauges, as far as the Snows I could care less if I just beat them up anyway. I am concern about nice ducks with my inexperience with steel. Should I bite the bullet and buy a 3 or 3 1/2 set up or just pick my shots and let the other guys take the long ones ?
Thanks for some frank advice ! Larock

Your 2 3/4" gun will be fine, unless you are just wanting to purchase a new gun. Pick up a couple box's of Hevi-Shot before you leave, just in case you decide to try some 'longer' shots.

Thank you REDGUN ! I will check out Hevi - Shot. If you just had a 2 3/4 what steel shot size would you purchase ?

I wouldn't worry about shooting expensive loads if they are coming in close ... and they should in Canada as they haven't been shaot at very much.

I shoot a Super Balck Eagle with 3.5" chambers, but I have only bought 1 box of 3.5' shells and will never waste my money again. Hitting them is what counts, and taking good, not marginal shots.

I buy the cheapest shells (cost wise) I can find and try to buy the largest steel shot size available ... usually BBB, BB or 2's. My guess is whatever ducks you'll shoot will be mallards, gadwall or pintails and these shells work fine.

These are plenty large enough to retain bone breaking energy for geese, and they fold ducks pretty well. I don't like trying to switch between duck and goose loads when hunting... it only flares the birds or screws up the shot some other way.

BTW: if you haven't shot steel before, give it some thought before blazing away. Very fast muzzle velocities so close shots need less lead; becasue of lower density and large size it slows down faster ... so there is a little more variation in lead between close and long shots...

As said...you will be fine but I would for sure go with heavy loads....BB or 2's max if there are honks.

It will be like ridin' a bike for you. Hope you have a blast!

Dudejcb and ScreeSlider - What good guys!
I am stoked about this imput. Duck and Goose hunting used to be a big part of my life years ago so the thought of all new equipment was not good. I do not have much experience shooting steel, but I will befor the trip. When I used to hunt alot of honks with lead I really settled in on 2s. I quess the last question that I still have is with steel would BB or BBB be the most similar to lead 2s.
Thanks Again!

BB


I'd pattern your shotgun with these loads first. As some shotguns/chokes have an affinity for one size and will not pattern another worth a darn

PG

The only place I really want a 3" or larger shell is for very high flying geese and then I shoot "T" shot at them.....surprising how they come down.

A 2 3/4" 12 Ga will do #2 and #3 and #1 shot very well.....have a ball!

POWERGUY AND VAPODOG - GREAT TIPS ! I PICKED UP A FEW BOXES OF ALL THAT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED AND PLAN ON SHOOTING SOME PAPER AND TRYING TO KNOCK DOWN SOME CROWS FOR PRACTICE. I HAVE A BIT MORE CONFIDENCE THAT MY OLD 2/3/4 " SCATTER GUNS CAN STILL KILL A GOOSE OR TWO. THANKS AGAIN !

I reload my own now but if I were buying factory, I would buy the Kent Fasteel 2 3/4" 1 1/16 oz loads in #3's for ducks and BB and 1's for geese.(or just use the #1's for both if this is a true combo hunt)

Good luck on your trip!

We have settled on using BB for everything - maybe down a little for early Teal ducks.

I wouldn't ever go back to 3.5's at all. Used them hunting snows and I wasn't folding them up any better than the guys gunning 3 inchers.

Kent Fasteel has an excellent rep for "bargain" steel - very uniform pellets, the Win less so. I picked up a case of Fasteel last year and haven't tapped into it. When it's gone, I'll prob buy Blackcloud or something similar. I've seen it really do a number on the ducks (we hunt mostly Blue bills) and I want to give it a run.

i hunt ducks and geese every year (all my goose hunting involves laying in rice fields). i'd suggest using bb's.

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I would buy the Kent Fasteel 2 3/4" 1 1/16 oz loads in #3's for ducks and BB and 1's for geese.(or just use the #1's for both if this is a true combo hunt)
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Exactly what I do. these were all shot with a modified choke in my old model 12 and Kent #1 steel 1-1/16 oz loads. They are deadly for the birds of Saskatchewan.

TEAL,HOTSOUP AND CASTNBLAST - THANK YOU FOR THE ADVICE, YES SASKATCHEWAN IS WHERE WE BOOKED. NICE PIC - THAT BIG SPEC LOOKS NICE !!! WHAT ARE THOSE CRANES ABOUT ? DO YOU EAT THOSE CRITTERS ?

Cranes is tasty...

What is your gun and age? Fixed Full choke?

The 2 3/4 guns I plan on using are an older Ithica 37 with poly choke and a Rem 11-48 with current full choke. The 11-48 is the one I quess I should get reemed out ?

Yes, I do eat cranes. Good in stews or slow cooker recipes, sausage, or jerkey, not so good roasted. You just have to cook them appropriately.
The morning we shot those cranes we also got snows, blues, ross', lesser Canadas, specs, mallard, pintail, wigeon, and a few greater Canadas give us a look but no shot. That is a fairly typical shoot around here. I like the versatility of steel #1's for this kind of shooting over decoys.

Large steel shot through a fixed Full choke is a no-no. It can also damage the forcing cone.

I've used #2 steel and 2-3/4" shells in an A-5 with Cylinder bore on decoying ducks with outstanding results.

There is no reason on God's green earth to shoot 3 or 3 1/2" steel shot magnums anymore. 2 3/4" loaded with one of the non-tox lead substitutes are plenty, proven by extensive experience up and down Maryland's Eastern Shore ever since Bismuth first was approved. Heck, my loads last year consisted of 1 1/8oz. of Nice Shot #2's @ 1200fps. Loaded in AA target hulls. They kill decisively, over dekes or pass shooting over water. The last time out on the last day I executed a double on geese at 50 yds., a departing "Hail Mary" shot. The 3 1/2" and 10 gauge guys I hunt with have all toned it down to at least 3", and some down to 2 3/4" after watching me outgun them for years. Two guys hunt with 20 gauges now and have no trouble keeping up.

Problem is, everybody listens to the hype from ammo/gun companies and the commercialized tripe in the gun rags and don't think for themselves. Remember, the migratory flyways were decimated almost to the point of extinction a hundred years ago by market hunters slinging an ounce to an ounce and an eigth of lead. I doubt ducks and geese have evolved kevlar feathers over the years.