Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns 3.5 inch how much more range does it buy you?

I have never had a turkey or a coyote laugh and or not die after being shot by 2-3/4" shells. If you buy into the marketing gimmickry thats great.

Not saying 2.75 shells will not kill either. Patterning both 3.5 and 2.75 turkey and predator loads at 40 yards gives a significantly better pattern for the 3.5's, thus extending the effective range which was the OP's question.

I am still up in the air about it, there are for and against arguments. One of my buds has a 3.5 inch mooseberg auto that patterns very nicely with 3.5 inch turkey shells, the other bud has a SBE2 with a gobblin thunder and it shoots patterns with a big bare spot near the center with a couple of different 3.5 inch turkey loads, so he is using 3 inch shells. My old m1 benelli 18.5 inch barreled tactical gun with a no name turkey choke shoots 3 inch rem #5's very well but now I just have to have a camo gun..then the damn 18,5 inch barrel is too close to my ears these days.

For wingshooting, and turkey shooting isn't in that category, I think even a 3" 12 gauge load cuts your range a good bit. Not ballistically, but in the poor shooting that tends to accompany a gun of such ilk. Agree w/ others here, 2 3/4" shells are plenty adequate in the 12 gauge.

Never have liked the Roman Candles, just plain hurts. Perhaps for goose, but 2 3/4 and 3" have worked for me for many years. I would guess that one would get some more range but at the cost of ammo and recoil.

I don't really think the reasoning to jump from a 3" to a 3 1/2" is solely range. will you gain some range? yes. usually in the 5-7 yard range but the big reason to switch is MORE BB'S. More bb's results in higher odds of hitting and killing your bird and allows a little more margin for error.

.... i.e., sloppy hunters can still down birds??.. (just kiddin')


But seriously, keep in mind that for years, many duck hunters were very successful with 20 ga shotguns.. Ignoring the lead vs. steel thing for a minute, a shotgunner must know his firearm and it's limits - then go hunting accordingly..

On a similar note, a majority of skeet shooters use a 12 or 20, due to 'more bbs' in the air - and that can help offset a slight error in lead.. But put a .410 in an expert's hands and he'll beat you rather handily.. It's all about lead, knowing range, and maintaining proper form..

BTW, best score I got in skeet with my .410 is 23.. Grrrrr..

We have guys in our goose pits who regularly use 20's, 28's, and .410's. They are cool customers who pick their shots carefully and kill as many geese as the rest of us, if not more. They don't shoot steel- Nice Shot and ITX rules their roost. Like Redneck said, knowing your gun, and it's and your limitations- and having the will power to act accordingly- is the name of the game.

I once fell alseep @ 20 on the skeet range or I would have shot 25!

Many have fallen in love with the really large cases on the logic of more larger size pellets, required since the mandate of non-tox shot.

With the advent of bismuth, and other more dense substitutes for lead, the long shell argument loses strength.

I cannot agree with your logic, if you go dense shot, then a 3.5 has more of it! I do not disagree that the 3.5 may not be the cats meow but more of a better thing is usually better unless its a better arse kickin.

If all 2.75", 3", 3.5" shells were loaded to their max specs, I'm pretty sure we can all agreed that 3.5" has more power and range (from more shots).

That's precisely the point: you don't need that much, because it's heavier for volume (i.e., sheds velocity slower, more terminal velocity). More is definitely not more in this case.

"More of the good thing" (shot), also brings more bad things such as recoil, over confidence (lots more shot makes up for poor wingshooting), a heavy gun that handles like a 2x4.

Ducks and geese can be killed efficiently inside of 40 yards with 2 3/4" field loads with 1 1/4 oz of shot. Beyond that, 95% of hunters have no business shooting at them, and most who have the skill are wise enough not to attempt such shots on wild birds.

More practice that is correctly done, a good mount, strong visual contact with the target, a shotgun that fits reasonably and has some life, having confidence in your ability that comes from experience will always be more productive than wishing, thinking or hoping extra BBs or 5 extra yards will turn the tide.

One day I watched a group of guys consistently hammer Geese with 10 Gauges at ranges I thought were impossible. They had all of the above, and if they hadn't a pound of shot wouldn't have helped them.

Addition: I watched and saw what they were doing, and finally walked over to their blind and asked if I could just sit and observe. They said sure. They were smooth, calm and deliberate while not being mechanical. They were knocking Geese out of the air at 60 to 70yards overhead consistently. Some came down dead, the crash probably killed some, some had busted wings and their Labs made short work of most retrieves.

The leads they were putting on Birds were beyond what most of us have ever seen. They were killing Birds with skill born of experience and know how of handling a shotgun. Without which extra shot would have meant nothing.

If one has the skill then there is an advantage. If not, there is none.

A good Dog makes most of think we are better with a shotgun then we really
are. And while we relive the great shots we made that day, he or she is usually in the kennel, tired and perhaps cold and wet trying to catch some well deserved zzzz while bouncing around in the truck bed.

Back in the days of lead, my dad was a pretty avid trapshooter, and reloader. Come duck season, we'd just dump bigger shot (5s or so) in to the bottle, and crank out a bunch of 1 1/8 oz loads in AA hulls, just like he used for trap shooting with 8 shot, without changing a thing other than shot size.

I grew up shooting ducks and geese with those loads, and never knew that I was apparently being handicapped with such anemic, short, loads.

Substitute any of the number of the various new non-toxic materials available today for our old lead, and I go on shooting those old 2 3/4" loads happily.

regards turkeys or coyote's I am thinking the 3.5 would be best for most everything else 23/4 has done fine for me as well.