There is matching gauge to range as well as the game bird. The mighty 10 shines at long range and far superior for pass shooting waterfowl.

Crow shooting, can't hit him too hard, shredding is fun, shooting the tall ones is fun too.

Roosters jumping far ahead late season, tight choke 2 frame 10 would be a dandy gun for that too.

King,

Bigger bore, better pattern especially with big shot!

A 1 & 3/8 oz load from a 10 gauge is much better than the same from a smaller bore.

It's as simple as that.

Respectfully,
Mark

Don't believe you can't shred birds with little guns also !

If we were preserve hunting with side bets , I've seen the days that I shot quail on the rise with a 28 and there was nothing left fit to eat .


But as to the 10 gauge being a goose only proposition I personally think far from it !
My 1 1/4 ounce loads of #8's work great for late season dove shoots :cool:

if i had one gun to buy 100 years ago, knowing what i know now about 10's it would be a 30 in. 2 frame .025 by .025 choke 10 ga, you can shoot 1 oz to 1 3/4 oz loads and the guns is 8 3/4 lbs, boy does mine shoot GREAT from trap ,ducks, geese, turkey, deer and my best hunting CROW! scott

I would order a ten gauge two barrel set, on a #2 frame, one set of barrels like the 27" ones on my 7 1/2 pound DH, one set 32" for a weight of about 9 1/2 pounds. Those under 8 pound #2 frame tens are not rare, just scarce. I have a nice ten gauge EH 28" gun that weighs about 7 3/4 pounds and is quite a bird gun.

Best heavy brush/close range/hands-and-knees wild hog gun I ever saw was a good - shooting lever action or rolling block .45-70. As Elgin Gates once said about big-bore cartridges for rhino and Cape buffalo, "Make the first one count, because he'll never feel the second one."

That's probably right. There are hog hunters who use nothing but those short barrel lever action Marlins in 45-70. The recoil on those things will rock you back.

Lots of talk about 10ga's.
Here is a CH 10damascus /12 Bernard on a 2 frame. The 10's are light 26" uplands and the 12's are heavy fowlers. With the 10's the gun is a tad over 8lbs.

I've spent a considerable amount of time over the last 10 years working with Marlin's in both 45-70 , 444 and 450 Marlin . And let me just say out of the 90+ Marlin's I "had" the only ones that remain are two dozen chambered for 444 and another for 45-70 !

And ALL of them are cast bullet only rifles :cool:

I think whole heartedly that the 45-70 is a better cartridge then the 444 for larger game . But for some reason I got hooked on collecting the early 444's that were made from 1964 to 1975 . I now own one that was made in each year as well as duplicates and small variations . That accounts for 23 of them , I also have one rifle from 2001 with the faster twist and ballard rifling so I can shoot 400 grain cast !
And strangely after getting all the 444's I found they were a blast to shoot cast in at game and targets !

I really like that gun !

Don't know if I need as high a grade as a CH but I sure wouldn't turn it down !

The usual Parker 10ga is a #3 frame 30 or 32 choked f & f and will weigh around 9lbs. There are some upland configured 10's like mine above, but they seem to be uncommon. Most Parker 10's are damascus barreled grade 2's, but there are some fluid steel guns throughout the grade range. There are even some later V grades with long chambers.