early 3 inch magnums

[charlie cleveland]

i have always beeninchanted with the 12 ga magnum shells and the guns that fire them....i think the first gun to shoot the then new 3 inch magnum shell loaded by the factory was the model 12 winchester in the heavy duck configuration..this gun fired the new 3 inch shell with a payload of 1 3/8 ounce of shot.. next they bumped the load up to 1 5/8 ounce next was 1 3/4 ounce then 1 7/8 ounce and finall a full 2 ounce load in the 3 inch hull...i have shot all these loads except the 1 3/8 ounce load which was made before my time... i watched a ammo auction this past month they had a box of the peters with the flying mallard comeing out of the marsh grass in fact they had several boxes of these 3 inch shells..here are some of the loadings that interested me real good...first was a peters box with this loading 4 drams powder 1 3/8 ounce of shot brought 80.00dollars next was a rare loading in this duck box was the loading of 4 1/2 drams of powder and 1 7/8 ounce lead...several really nice boxes of the duck box in 1 5/8 ounce load this load equaled the mighty 10 ga loading of 1 5/8 ounce of lead.. i really like this duck box its nice to look at and the price is not to bad on it yet...i wanted that 1 3/8 ounce load and the 1 7/8 load just did not have the cash on hand...but i did get a winchester box of shells in the 3 inch 1 3/8 loading this is the box you want to go with your heavy duck gun... i also got a box of federal shells with the duck on the box and it has the 1 3/8 loading this is my first time to ever see this loading in a federal box....seen a lot of real interesting high dollar shell boxes but all i can do is look at them...but i did see a box of 12 ga shells that were 2 7/8 inches long and only a load of 1 1/4 ounce..and there was a 3 inch box of 16 ga on that auction too...and there was a parker brothers 11 ga shell on there too...too rich for my likings....now gota find me a cheap model 12 heavy duck gun to put my shells with....charlie