Hunting with 10g

[Dean Romig]

Vermont longbeards with my 3-frame Damascus barreled short ten Lifter.






.

[J. A. EARLY]

Just my opinion but the short 10 gauge is superior to the 12 if both are shooting 1 1/4 to 1 3/8 ounce bismuth especially in tight chokes, and in the 1 3/8 ounce RST 1200 fps loads I would not go over forty yards to avoid crippling since bismuth is not as heavy as lead.

The commercial 3" 12 gauge loads as you know can load up to two ounces in tungsten but in non-toxic you typically see 1 1/2 ounces at higher velocities, so the 1 3/8 ounce in a 10 can't compete fairly with it. And it cannot touch 3.5" 12 gauge loads, but with steel, bismuth, or alloys I still do not trust them over forty-five yards. Modern guns with heavy loads are an insurance policy but the old girls still work at forty.