Anyone hunt ducks with a 10 gauge regularly?

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

Don't knock the NID 3.5 'til you've tried it.

Mine is used mostly for fall turkeys, and it makes my arm longer by the end of the season...and leaves my middle finger swollen unless I shoot the back trigger. When I shoot it at turkeys they die, and at ranges I would not attempt with anything else. I only shoot it sparingly, and can't imagine shooting 3.5 inch shells at anything other than turkeys. I have used the Ithaca for ducks loaded with my own light, short loads, and it will reach out an touch a duck...when I luck into leading them correctly (not all that often).

I guess the Ithaca ten 3.5 would be called an niche gun, yes?

I’ve killed a fair amount of deer over the last 7 or 8 years using handloaded 2 7/8” Buckshot and slugs . And I had a couple old Ithaca MAG-10 semis and the BPS although I never killed a deer with the BPS or the Ithaca’s . I already have an NID Super 10 that does very well , but I got the idea I needed to be able to shoot 3 1/2” from a double also , hopefully I’m past that but I often have flashbacks . 😂😂😂

[mobirdhunter]

OK, seriously...you're hooked. I can tell. Yes, you DO need another gun! and you do need to shoot 3.5" shells through a double.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

I hear you ! I thought I had a need for an NID 3 1/2” but after messing with a BPS 10 shooting factory 3 1/2” stuff I saw the error of my ways ������

I feel ya on that point. Have a BPS 12 gauge setup for a turkey gun with built in sights on the barrel that can shoot 3.5 inch shells. It is lightweight with a 26 inch barrel for a 12 gauge gun. I am not certain if felt recoil on same setup on 10 gauge is more than the 12. Weight of 10 gauge gun might offset the extra charge and load that 12 may offer, but betting that 10 probably does kick like an angrier whipped mule than equivalent 12. Either way remember vividly patterning my gun one afternoon to figure out which shot size would give me best patterns at 50+ yards with choke I was using, and that was 10 years ago.

I know these 10 gauge SXS guns generally are pretty heavy guns to offset recoil shooting a 3.5 inch shell but still there is no comfort of recoil reduction.

Was reading last night about Jerry's use of of 9 shot tungsten and lighter loads effectiveness at 50+ yards, may need to rethink this whole 3.5 inch heavy load big charge notion to get those longer shots.

[Mike Franzen]

You will find the Short 10 to be very effective on just about anything covered with feathers. For an added thrill get some solid brass shells and load them up with black powder. I worked up a turkey load for my gun. After spending time at the range I felt very confident the patterns would be effective to 50+ yards. This load worked on ducks and geese.

[HERSH]

i shoot rst bismuth in my short 10 all the time, as long as the birds are over the decoys it kills just fine i’ve even taken cranes swans and big geese with bismuth B shot

[Tom Flanigan]

The 10 bore handles 1 ¼ oz. of shot better than the 12 bore. The 10 bore makes a great waterfowl gun and it patterns larger shot better than most 12 bores. I don’t shoot larger than #4 in a 12 except when I could get #3’ back in the day for geese. I never owned a 12 that patterned 2’s worth a damn. The 10 might do ok with them, but since I don’t use 2’s for waterfowl there is no need to pattern one of my 10’s with them. I would suggest that if one wants to use larger than #4 shot in a 12 bore that they take some shots at paper and see what the patterns look like. You might be unpleasantly surprised. I used to do a lot of pattern work with my guns and know the shot size limitations, for optimum performance, for the different gauges.

Back in the day, I used to kill deer in a thick swamp with buckshot. Patterns were awful with 00 buck but I found that I could get decent 40 yard patterns with #1 buck, but only if I melted wax around the shot. That worked pretty well. I wish I had a 10 bore back in those days for buckshot.

[Keith Sirmans]

Amen to bismuth! 7 for ducks and 5 for the big boys. Case price just go 5's

[HERSH]

Rio has a new load out for 2 3/4 in 12 gauge in # 6 bismuth works really well for ducks i buy custom loads for crane and bid honkers with #B in bismuth in 2 7/8 inch for my short 10 there is a new non toxic shot out called NICE shot that is a little denser than bismuth but soft enough for old doubles i may try some this year

[J.B. Books]

To answer the original poster's question, yes. The short ten's seem to work pretty good :-)

[Allen Peterson]

Ithaca magnum 10 great for Geese and larger. Nid super 10 is great on almost anything