fishslinger, I will respond to your questions best I can, these are my opinions yours may differ.
But would like to know why majority of people say they Had a 10 gauge but ended up selling it?
It is misleading to say the majority said that they had a 10ga and sold it, some said that they sold it others said that they sold it and regret selling it but most that responded own a 10 ga. and some own more than one including myself. The thread is actually titled Any 10ga shooters out there? so it makes sense that most respondents here own a 10ga., why would you respond otherwise! I personally know 2 that sold their 10's but they no longer hunt geese
Why does the 3.5" 12 ga out sell the 10ga 10 to 1?
The 12 ga is the most popular gauge on the market if one wants a gun that does many things, kind of the 30-06 of gauges. A jack of all trades master of none. The 12 outsells all the other gauges combined.
Shouldn't a gun that's so effective on waterfowl be more popular today?
The 10ga is a specialty item that suits very specific needs, basically shooting Geese or pass shooting northern ducks at long ranges with large steel shot. Not a gun for shooting over decoys at short range.
Specialty items do not sell in large enough numbers to be economically feasible for a long time, weather we are speaking about shotguns or rifles, some very effective calibers and firearms were
discontinued because they did not sell in large enough numbers to keep them in production. I use or have used the 10, 12, 16, 20 and 410, they all have their place in my view. I have shot decoyed ducks with a 16 and a 20 and never felt under gunned it was all I needed for some situations and enjoyed the fast handling characteristic of these smaller guns/guages.
I will leave you with this thought, Think about where the 12 ga has gone over the years, it started as a 2.5" then became 2.75" then 3" and now 3.5" !!!
Ask why has this happened? The 2.75" killed millions of game/waterfowl over the years so why bring on a 3"? Public demand, for longer range shooting that is why (basically larger payloads at higher speeds).
Finally we get to the 3.5", the ultimate Kool Aid! A response to the steel shot advantage that the 10 gauge had when loading large pellets to maximize the energy requirements of the lighter steel pellets, only two companies could respond to this requirement with 10 gauges, Remington and Browning, Remington saw the writing on the wall and acquired the Mag10 from Ithaca instead of developing their own 10ga semi and Browning chambered their BPS Pump in 10ga and later developed their own semi know as the Gold 10 an overgrown SX1, everybody else got shut out so the industry responded by increasing the 12 ga length in order to compete with the 10, and everybody adapted their 3" guns to 3.5 with little R&D and here we are today, ever wonder why 3.5 " 12's pound the crap out of you and don't pattern well! because they still weigh the same as their 3" brothers, and they never increased the bore size when they increased the payload, they are basically the same guns.
The alternative to the 3.5" 12 is to develop a 10ga to handle the larger shot none of the other manufacturers wanted that. I like the 12 it has it's place like the other gauges and it is very versatile but when it comes to large pellets for Waterfowl it is not a 10.
Take a 1 ounce and load it into a 410ga,then a 28, 20, 16, 12 and finally a 10, every time you increase the bore you shorten the stack in the shell, this is very good, now increase the pellet size until it becomes a problem you ill see that every gauge has it's limitations and when we are talking large pellets for large birds there is only one gauge that has this ultimate versatility the 10ga, you see the 12 was already at it's max when it was asked to take on the heavier loads of the 3.5 hence the longer stack and higher operating pressures, not good !! The 10 can maintain a good killing pattern with large pellets where the smaller guages fail, those few thousands in diameter make a huge difference on the pattern board and on the shot string.
I talk too much !
BB
