20 guage steel ammo for migratory water fowl?!

Huntress

Huntress

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Ottawa, Ontario
Hey there;

I hunt waterfowl with a 20 guage Remington 870. My husband hunts with a 12 guage using steel shells that have a velocity of 1550 FPS. I have not found any 20 guage shells with this kind killing power. I've only found ones with a speed of maybe 1300 & a bit FPS.

My question is... What should I hunt with using a 20 gauge. Who makes a good high velocity 20 gauge, steel shot shell. Please keep in mind that I will need shells for both goose and duck hunting.

Thanks in advance,
Fran
 
I have 4 different brands of 20 gauge shells sitting here and the only ones that show 1500 fps are the Winchesters with 7/8 oz of 2 shot. I looks like you'll have to drop back in the amount of shot to get the velocity you want. I pretty well stay with 1 oz shot. I have shot nothing but my 20 the last 3 or 4 years and I kill a lot of birds with it. If you do drop down to the 1200/1300 fps you may have to adjust your lead a bit but either 7/8or 1 oz will do the job.
 
I believe Faststeel has the best loads available - this is from the Kent gamebore website:
K203ST24-2,3,4 20ga. 3" 1550fps 7/8 oz. shot size 2,3,4
My son shot a Browning A5 20 ga. magnum for several years, we fed it the Kent #3's exclusively after experimenting with lesser loads. It was deadly on both geese and ducks as long as the range was reasonable, 35-40 yds is about it for this load and bore.
In the 20 ga, 2's often pattern poorly, and we find 4's a bit light for geese and big mallards.
hope that helps!
 
If hunitng ducks, your best best is #6 shot but I see almost no one carrying a fast #6 for the 20 Gauge, I have a lot of fastell #4 here and it is ok, but if you can find a fast 6 you're laughing. Now for geese, I would stick with a number 2 shot.
Persoanlly I am using (in my 12) fasteel #6 for ducks in close and Balck Cloud #4 for late season ducks and for geese all season.
 
I have used federal Premium , Winchester, Kent and Federal factory ammo in my 20, which is my goose gun.
The best i have seen from all of them is the Kent Fasteel #2" - 3" ammo.
However, the Federal Premium is a very good shell as well.
Cat
 
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