Sould it be illegal to hunt with 8 gauge?

[Dean Romig]

This is a great discussion and everyone's opinions are valid. I'm enjoying this thread immensely and I don't own a 8 bore and I wouldn't care to hunt with one only for the weight factor.... a fifteen lb. gun is a fifteen lb. gun no matter if you're hunting turkey or geese so it certainly wouldn't be my choice for a fun morning of hunting, But, hey - if you want to hunt with an 8 bore, I agree- the reasons for banning the big gun are no longer valid.

[J.B. Books]

The thought crossed my mind that currently many of the waterfowl restrictions for firearms have been relaxed for spring snow geese seasons; unplugged guns, use of electronic callers, no bag limits etc. Perhaps a petition could be made to USFWS to lift the gauge restriction as well.

Tomorrow, 26th August, besides being one of my beloved daughter's birthday, is also the 90th. anniversary of the Right to Vote issue- More mis-information about duck hunting, a man's right to have a drink after a hard 8 hrs. at Bethlehem Steel or Russell, Birdsell & Ward, and the general anti-hunting anti-whatever they don't understand movements have come from that, IMO.

I shot a Churchill 8 ga. with 34" barrels once, belongs to a brother PGCA member, and after that a 12 HE Super Fox feels light. If a man wants to use that two shot cannon and pay the price for non-toxic shot loads (a Fed reg that ain't ever gonna change, face it) and hire a small lad with a wheelbarrow to tote it for him, I say- Hell yes. If he wants to use a .410 for Turkeys or Geese, then as Col. Askins said, "better he should take up ping-pong"--

Two years ago this coming Winter- in our 30 day late Goose season, where we are allowed 5/day- a friend and I took our Mossenburghers- 835 Ulti-Mag pumps that take 3 and 3 & 1/2" shot, bought a box each of Federal BB steel- one box 3" the other 3 & 1/2" and flipped a coin, I lucked out and drew the 3" loads- we only took paired up shots at incoming birds at tree-top heights- we killed 7 birds, five stone cold dead in the air, two requiring a finishing shot or two- no difference we could see or advantage in using the 3 & 1/2" (ten ga. equiv) loads- dead is dead.

Sportsmanship afield and clean killing shots are not 100% dependent on gauge, it is the skill and experience level of the man behind the gun- I have no quarrel with the dove, quail and skeetists who love the .410, but like my mentor the late T. Nash Buckingham, believe it has no place in the realm of waterfowling.

I also agree with the analysis of the growing bunch of "antis"- they view ALL guns as being evil, and wouldn't know an 8 gauge if it bit them on the ying-yang!