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.

[mobirdhunter]

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]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

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

Thank you Garry!

[Austin Smith]

Originally Posted by 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?

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]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

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]

Originally Posted by Breck Gorman

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!