[willshoum]

Any Goose hunters out there that have thier preference. If so what do you shoot and why. Wills in da Swamp in La. One Shot One Kill.

[jpattersonnh]

I hunt Geese, ducks, quail...

I use 2 different 3" 12 gauge shotguns. My buddy Dave, a 10ga. for 3 years. He sold it and bought a 3" 12ga. The recoil was ridiculous which caused him to flinch. I use a Charles Daly field autoloader 24" w/ #2 steel on rivers (ducks are the same season here) and BB for fields. We have to use steel even if you are hunting fields for waterfowl. With a full choke the #2 is good to 30 yards and BB to 40 yards. For really tight areas I use a Mossberg 500 20" w/ #2 steel. We have the lesser Canadian and some snow geese here.

[hunter Joe]

I tried patterning my 835 ulti-mag with 3 1/2 inch shells and the dang thing kicked me so hard I had to go home. 3 1/2 inch 12 ga. shells have the same recoil as a 300 nitro express. I don't care how many extra B Bs you get with the 3 1/2 because it doesn't do you any good if your flinching so bad that you can't hit what your aiming at. I'll stick with the 3" and save my shoulder.

[LittleBear]

Originally Posted by willshoum

Any Goose hunters out there that have thier preference. If so what do you shoot and why. Wills in da Swamp in La. One Shot One Kill.

I have used 2 firearms for goose hunting over the years...My mossberg 20 Gauge and my Remington 870 12Gauge...Personally I like my 870 it uses 2 3/4 or 3inch shells...I find the 3 inch to be just what I need.For shot i use Bismuth BB or #2..It is much better than steel shot....Geese are tough birds and I have seen geese take direct hits and keep flying, or fall 30 feet to the ground and get right back up running or trying to fly away...I always hate it when that happens but it does happen to the best of hunters...the 10 Gauge yeah lots of kick makes it hard for follow up shots....Hope this helps

[stalkingbear]

With all other things being equal, a 10ga will pattern better than a 12ga. The reason is a shorter shot payload and less pellets flattened. In my experience a 10ga is built on a larger, heavier frame, causing it to kick less than a 12ga 3 1/2". I had 2 Browning BPS in 10ga-1 for waterfowl hunting and 1 for turkey hunting. I quit waterfowl hunting and started turkey hunting with a bow exclusively. I let buddies talk me out of them or I would still have them. The recoil wasn't near as bad with them as a 12ga 3 1/2".

[glock2740]

My 3.5" Mag has dropped every goose it's touched.

[R-BOLT]

What I have noticed the 3.5" is not bad when shooting a turkey. You are sitting ,but have a little more time for careful stock placement and are shooting with the gun more horizontal and squared up to you. I have also noticed it is a little tougher shooting geese with the gun angled up, some shots angling up quite a bit. That makes the recoil more felt to me, plus torching off more rounds in a single hunt. I am going to be very careful with the Burris Speedbead, turkey hunting with 3.5" loads that I do not break my thumb with the shotgun fired carelessly. Pretty sure it could be done.

[BoomHS]

I like having versatile guns so I vote for a 12 ga. that will kick out low base up to 3.5" mags. Winchester's SX2 and Mossberg's 835 Ultimag do it for me. The ported barrel and weight of the pump keeps the recoil down as does the gas release of the SX2. I see Hunter Joe had a bad experience with an Ultimag so I guess recoil is relative to the beholder. That being said, I've seen 2 3/4" Tungston wack the heck out of geese but I'm not paying the $$$$ for Tungston so I get the big payload of big steel pellets in the 3.5". I'm sure the 10 Ga. will the job just fine, I'm just not going to buy one.

[brandy]

the playing field. We have found that #3s will go right through a big goose out to 40 yards from a 3" 12 bore. I have used a 10 bore BPS stalker for 20 years and will keep it as a Mr Griz stopper as there is nothing like a 2 ounce slug, but it won't be in the blind anymore.