did i pay too much or should i be laughing

Johnny_Canuck

Johnny_Canuck

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Howdy, just a question of value here, I just picked up a 10 gauge 3.5" sxs with 30 inch barrels, double triggers, and a fair amount of engraving. Its labeled "Supreme Ibergun" made in spain, model 310 3 1/2'' magnum. i got it on trade in for an old 12 guage 870 and 100 bucks. its a great gun and points fairly well for a heavyweight. just wondering if i should giggle a little
 
Johnny, I have a 10 gauge Ibargun. I bought it because it was good value and I wanted a SXS goose gun. I knew that the barrels were tightly choked and could not use steel shot. What I did not know was that obtaining Bismuth or Tungsten Polymer 10 gauge shells would be difficult. When I phoned the Bismuth shot company, I was told that they do not export to Canada. Since that time, some board members have informed me that you can get these shells in Ontario. Remington should have no problem bringing their TP loads into this country, but I have had two flats of the stuff on order for about 7 months now. Your best option is to handload, or look for those elusive Bismuth shells. Another option is having much the choke taken out of the barrels and try to shoot steel through it. I do not know anyone who has done this, and I am not sure how well it would turn out. You can always use the gun with lead shot for turkey hunting.

Edited to add: Try some of the Federal slugs for fun. They weren't very accurate out of my gun, but at short range they pack some wallop (look up the Taylor knock down value).

Sharptail
 
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Johnny C. Just bought a Spanish 10 ga myself. I am going to mike the tubes and see just how much constriction there is. I plan on shooting Remington budget steel loads through it. #2 max size 1 3/8 oz at 1500 fps. That will depend on the chokes. If they are too tight I will have my smith open a little. The spanish guns for the most part are well built. Try a google search for "shotgun world" lot's of reference on Spanish 10 bores on there. Search the sight when you access it. Beware lot's of opinion based ideas on there .... don't believe everything you read.

cheers Darryl
 
On a single barrel gun, you can ring the barrel at the choke, and not much will happen. On a SXS, if you ring the barrel it will separate from the rib and the repair will be worth more than the gun. These barrels were never designed for steel shot. Opening up the chokes is a reasonable way to proceed if you want to shoot steel, but how much? There is precious little data available on how much to bore out Spanish 10 gauge chokes in order to pattern steel shot. Take out too little and you could wreck the gun, take out too much and you have a nice short range 10 gauge. Until some hard data is collected, I will stick to the Bismuth hand loads, and hope to get my Tungsten Polymer loads some day. In my mind, it is not worth risking the gun for the sake of steel shot. I am interested in your results if you do open the chokes.

Sharptail
 
I use a 12 ga. A5 with no choke at all on geese over decoys, and it slays them with #2. A 10 ga. bored IC/IC shooting steel ought to be murder on any goose.
 
The purpose of the big 10 gauge SXS is to be able to reach out and touch something. Think 65 yard pass shooting. If you are decoying geese and calling them in to 25 or 30 yards, why bother with a 10 gauge? It is the long distance capabilities which make the big bruiser worthwhile. Randomly opening up the chokes for steel is not likely to provide the kind of pattern density required for long range shotgunning. Bismuth or Tungsten Matrix loads allow you to retain the original chokes and patterns, avoid possible barrel damage and skip the expense of opening up the chokes. If you do experiment with opening up chokes, please do us a favour and note exactly how much constriction you use, and what kind of patterns you get at 40 yards.

Sharptail
 
This is gonna be a strict gooser for the long shots and making grain feilds into killing feilds. Thanks for the input on choke sizing. Im prolly gonna leave em as is or open them just to north american full choke standards. As for shot #2 hevishot, i spent enough on the loose stuff and then a bit to get reloading gear required. Should be an interesting goose season, for me, not the geese.
 
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