A Morning On The River

[Austin Smith]

Had a good morning with my dad going after some ducks. Had a bonus goose cup in from a long ways away right into the spread.

1911 GH 28” barrels and an 1894 DH 30” barrels, Both #2 frame 12 gauges. Shooting 2 1/2” 3/4oz #4 bismuth.

[Garry L Gordon]

Austin, it looks like you got your Christmas dinner. Well done!

[charlie cleveland]

nice pictures with some great guns and loads....charlie

[Matt Buckley]

Good for you guys to get some late season action in. Great pictures and awesome guns to boot. That looks like a pintail in the bag between those two green heads. Did it have much of a tail?

[charlie cleveland]

could you tell us about your duck loads....charlie

[Austin Smith]

Austin, it looks like you got your Christmas dinner. Well done!

Thank you Garry!

[Austin Smith]

Good for you guys to get some late season action in. Great pictures and awesome guns to boot. That looks like a pintail in the bag between those two green heads. Did it have much of a tail?

Thank you, Matt! That’s actually a juvenile drake Goldeneye. Seems to be quite a few of them this year compared to the mature drakes. We have almost a 50/50 split between Mallards and Goldeneyes this time of year on the Gallatin River in Montana.

[Breck Gorman]

Great eye for artistic composition on those pics especially that last one. Gorgeous goose and driftwood. Well done! Cover worthy.

[Austin Smith]

could you tell us about your duck loads....charlie

Of course, Charlie! I’m loading Cheddite Hulls I cut down to 2 1/2” with 18 grains of American Select powder with a Trap Commander Z21 wad with 3/4 oz of #4 Bismuth crimped with a 6 point star crimp.

From Tom Armbrust’s expertise, these rounds average 4850 PSI and a velocity of 1217 FPS. A real pleasure to shoot and seem to be very sufficient, even on some far shots. I have some Bs loaded up in the event I target geese and when I search for a turkey this spring, but the 4s seem to have handled that goose very well.

[Austin Smith]

Great eye for artistic composition on those pics especially that last one. Gorgeous goose and driftwood. Well done! Cover worthy.

I really appreciate that, Breck!

[Stan Hillis]

Very nice, Austin. Were those Cheddite hulls already stamped with the "Bismuth" name and the goose in flight? They look good!

[Austin Smith]

Thank you, Stan! I made the stamps on Rubbertamps.com and they are stamped with “Stazon” ink. The ink dries pretty fast and seems to hold up pretty well on the plastic of the hulls. A little bit of acetone on a paper towel and it comes off easy to re-stamp if necessary.

[Stan Hillis]

That is so cool. Thank you for sharing that with us!

[Matt Buckley]

After looking at the picture closer I didn't see the white stripe up the head like a drake pintail would have and got to thinking that could be a goldeneye since this is late season duck hunting. Well done.

[Austin Smith]

I appreciate that, Stan. You’re very welcome!

No worries, Matt! Thank you!

[William Parks]

Austin, this is a great post and picture! I appreciate the info on the loads you’re using. I’ve got a 1901 DH 30” 12ga and I was shooting 2.75” loads out of it this past duck season. Do you have a 2.75” recipe for those Damascus barrels you would recommend?

[Austin Smith]

Thank you William!

I don’t have any loads for 2 3/4 specifically. I just put a short kit on my Mec and cut everything down to 2.5”. I have an original 3” chambered damascus gun and it eats up the 2.5” all the same. I would assume that with the Z21 wads would work with the same powder amounts in a 2.75” hull versus a 2.5” hull as the wad compresses a bit once crimped. And in theory, with slightly less pressure on the powder from the wad being compressed down 1/4” less in a 2 3/4 hull, I would assume pressure would remain around the same or even a little less. But I could be wrong, maybe someone on here has some experience with loading multiple length shells?

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Austin, havent loaded any Bismuth yet, but certainly going to file that recipie in my reloading notebook. Have to shoot non-tox on most of my late season SoDok pheasant areas(WMA's).