Dove opener
 

We opened the season here yesterday morning by shooting a sunflower field. This is the first time GA has allowed shooting before 12 noon on opening day in many years. We were greeted with a temp of 55 degrees at first light!! What a contrast to the usual afternoon temps in the high 90s or even triple digits.

It wasn't a barn burner but we enjoyed ourselves much. As per usual I opened the season with a .410, this time with my 30" barreled Dickinson. This gun is a "giant slayer" with W-W 3/4 oz. loads of 8 1/2s. Chokes are .008" and .008" (something I may mess with :duck:)

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Going again tomorrow afternoon to a different field, with a .410 in hand again.

Nice gun and nicely set up picture.

Are you taking the same .410 or will you be shooting a Parker .410?





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Shell count
 

Good shooting Stan! I would wonder how many shells it would take me to get 12 doves with a .410.:eek: So apparently the limit of 10 isn't the same everywhere?

Why would you want to mess with those chokes, Stan? Unless you're shooting handicap trap, I 'd say they're about perfect for the .410. :whistle::whistle:

Dean, I think I will be using the same one. I don't have a Parker .410, so have to make do with more modern versions. I have a .410 FAIR Iside Tartaruga Gold with 30" barrels, and a .410 FAIR Verona Gold 30" barreled Verona (O/U). I shot the Iside a lot last year, but really love the little Dickinson.

Larry, the limit here has not been as low as 10 since I began shooting doves 61 years ago. It was 12 in those days, and was raised to 15 about ten years ago, or so.

Greg, I'm an inveterate tinkerer/patterner/reloader. The Dickinson has two triggers ....... it deserves two chokes. I'd like to have the left barrel backbored to increase the choke some. I've had good results with a tighter choke in my other .410s. The bores are very tight, at .399" and .398", so plenty of room there for a little more choke. The final decision will be mine, but I will lean heavily on the recommendations of Dean Harris before having the final say.

BTW, the W-W 3/4 oz. loads pattern so wonderfully (in spite of naysayers' claims of poor patterning because of a too long shot column), and have killed so well for me for the past three or four seasons, I have started designing a Super Duper .410 hunting load. It has almost 3/4 oz. of true nickel plated 8 1/2s in a roll crimped load. Preliminary patterning has been great. Plan to test it on doves later this season.

Thanks to all for the interest.

Stan, I won a Verona O/U combo 20/28 with 30" barrels. I loved shooting the 28 gauge barrels at Skeet but the 20 gauge set clobbered me even with light loads, especially the top barrel. So, down the road it went.

I don't have a Parker .410 either, though I wouldn't refuse one if someone felt generous.





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My Verona is a 28/.410 combo. I love it for sub gauge clays competition. Lot of gun for the $$$.

Congrats ! Last time I killed any dove with a 410 it was the K-32 I used to have with Kolar sub gauge tubes in the barrels .

Looking forward to this afternoon. My pastor invited me to a 10 acre sunflower field he's been scouting for several afternoons. He says there's no reason we shouldn't get a lot of shooting today. Supposed to get to 91 here this afternoon, so we're not going out there until about 3:00. Hope to make short work of a 15 bird limit with the .410 again, and get out of the heat. Maybe the humidity won't be too bad.

I'm anxious to try the nickel plated loads but will wait until the late season when I can test them on big, old tough mature birds. That really tells the tale on effectiveness much more so than on these early, immature doves. Patterning is very promising.

Tom Roster told me 7-8 years ago that he was going to publish some "super" .410 game load recipes, but I've yet to see anything of them. Does anyone know if he has published a book of loads lately that might contain them? It wouldn't be free, but would have to be purchased, according to our conversation.

Great little Labor Day shoot this afternoon. It was 92 when we arrived but a big cloud bank came in from the west and shaded us the rest of the afternoon. There was a little breeze, and the doves were really wanting to be where we were, in those sunflowers. We went to the field a little after 3 and I was done by 5, at the latest.

Used the same Dickinson .410 as Saturday, with the same 3/4 oz. loads of 8 1/2s to get a 15 bird limit. Was in a narrow neck of the field with tall, thick weeds on one side and a hedgerow on the other filled with wait-a-minute (smilax) vines. I had to pick my shots carefully to keep them from falling in that jungle of stuff. Everyone was told to be out of the field by 6:30 so the remaining doves could feed, but I think everyone was out before 6:00. I had to wade into those smilax vines to get one dove and I came out looking like I spent the night zipped up in a sleeping bag with a blind bobcat. Killed two sets of doubles. Two doves would come by and I'd get one with the right and one with the left. On one set both birds were dead in the air at the same time and fell about 15' apart.

I used a few of the nickel plated loads towards the end of the afternoon just to see how they would do, and they hammered the birds hard. But, as I said earlier, these early season birds aren't the best on which to make a judgement call on how good the load is.

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