Waterfowl Shotgun Help?

squidxm said:
I've owned 3 separate 3.5" waterfowl guns and never got 3.5" shells to pattern as well as 3" shells. This is out of an SBE2, Extrema II, and a Nova. To this day I only shoot 3" shells so my next Waterfowl gun will have a 3" chamber max to slightly cut down on weight.

I use an Affinity 3 20gs for upland and will be trying it this year for ducks. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 12ga Affinity. The Waterfowl Elite models look promising.
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Oh, that's good to know!
Honestly, I would rather have a one gun that can do it all if i could. So, if i DID want to hunt big game with slugs, i could do so with 3.5's if i got another barrel.
 
BPS. Solid. Reliable. Japanese. Doesn't feel like a toy, unlike the Benelli. Not knockin' the Benelli, but a pump with high quality and substantial heft is nice. 2nd choice, close 2nd Remington's 870, though I didn't much like the stock express. With some parts swapping and usage, turned into a favorite. Then I met the BPS. Guess I like chunky:)
 
the nova / super nova are excellent quality we have sold them ever since they hit the market i find them crude as far as smoothness also not well balanced but very reliable . the stoger and other such knock offs have many issues .
 
All of those three you listed are perfectly suitable for the job. But the gun has to feel right to you. Handle each in person, better yet try to shoot each one. One or all or none may fit you perfectly.
 
I wasn't going to weigh in here but decided I will. 3.5" is not needed plain and simple and is known for being nothing more than a shoulder punishing poor performer when compared with 3" shells. Like Stubblejumper we shoot a pile of geese each season and my wife and I use a 20ga with 7/8oz of 2's in a 3" hull mostly. If I can find them which isn't easy as most dealers bring in 3" I drop down to 3/4oz loads in 2 3/4". If you know how to judge range and keep your shots within 40 yards you'll fold big geese consistently. It's shooting outside of 40 yards that you start pushing any shotgun out of limits unless you're moving up to a 10ga. I've never seen any 3.5" 12ga load that could perform as well as a 10 so if you want to go 3.5" you are best to jump up into a 10ga. As for brand & model of guns I'd avoid anything with the name Stoeger on it. They have a known very poor reliability factor, extremely poor after sales service and you'll be replacing it eventually out of frustration anyways so avoid the detour and just go straight to one of the known reliable brands. Just my .02 worth...
 
Not sure but I’m sure it was said, get what fits you. It needs to fell like its part of you, not fighting you. The guys I hunt with all shoot Berettas or Benellis, and all auto loader. If I was going to another pump I think it would be a Rem 870. They have always been good as have the Ithaca (back when we shot lead). We shoot over decoys and never use 3.5”. Sometimes they are too close and you let them pass or destroy them.
 
I know the BPS is tried and tested, loved by many.. and I get the appeal of being an ambi option... but I never could warm up to mine. Owned it for a few rounds and away it went. Sure was pretty though, medallion version. Too nice for the duck blind. Didn't like the bottom eject, I like side ports, thought takedown was a pain. Like I said, it is loved by many, just not me. If I was buying a pump for waterfowl, I'd probably go 870.

This thread is a few months old, I'm curious which route the OP went.
 
I would respectfully disagree with the 3.5" not being needed.If you hunt open water you want your birds to be dead and as there are many passing shots I want as much shot out there as possible. My friends that shoot Eiders on the east coast would chuckle at the thought of shooting anything less.It is a big difference chasing a cripple around on a field and in the water.The 10 gauge versus 12 gauge 3.5 I have gotten rid of my CUSTOM built 10 in favour of the 3.5" and have found that I have superior patterns in some loads in both 3.5 and 3' and poorer patterns in the same.If it was me I would decide what specifically I was going to hunt and what type of hunting I was going to do.Ducks over decoys I use a 20g geese over open water use 12 g 3.5" .My .02
 
reddog said:
I would respectfully disagree with the 3.5" not being needed.If you hunt open water you want your birds to be dead and as there are many passing shots I want as much shot out there as possible. My friends that shoot Eiders on the east coast would chuckle at the thought of shooting anything less.It is a big difference chasing a cripple around on a field and in the water.The 10 gauge versus 12 gauge 3.5 I have gotten rid of my CUSTOM built 10 in favour of the 3.5" and have found that I have superior patterns in some loads in both 3.5 and 3' and poorer patterns in the same.If it was me I would decide what specifically I was going to hunt and what type of hunting I was going to do.Ducks over decoys I use a 20g geese over open water use 12 g 3.5" .My .02
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One of the few here that agree with you 100% but I also hunt sea ducks like Eiders and see the difference and also just smile :)
The hunts I have been on out west where most seem to shy away from the 3 1/2 I understand fully since I could have used the 410 there LOL
Cheers
 
reddog said:
I would respectfully disagree with the 3.5" not being needed.If you hunt open water you want your birds to be dead and as there are many passing shots I want as much shot out there as possible. My friends that shoot Eiders on the east coast would chuckle at the thought of shooting anything less.It is a big difference chasing a cripple around on a field and in the water.The 10 gauge versus 12 gauge 3.5 I have gotten rid of my CUSTOM built 10 in favour of the 3.5" and have found that I have superior patterns in some loads in both 3.5 and 3' and poorer patterns in the same.If it was me I would decide what specifically I was going to hunt and what type of hunting I was going to do.Ducks over decoys I use a 20g geese over open water use 12 g 3.5" .My .02
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3macs1 said:
One of the few here that agree with you 100% but I also hunt sea ducks like Eiders and see the difference and also just smile :)
The hunts I have been on out west where most seem to shy away from the 3 1/2 I understand fully since I could have used the 410 there LOL


Cheers
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I don't know fellows? I shot a lot of late season diver ducks (scoters, buffleheads, goldeneyes, greater and lesser scaup, canvasbacks and old squaws) growing up cutting my teeth on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie long before the 3.5" 12ga ever came into being. I shot a 2 3/4" Browning A-5 and even with today's steel loads I'd see no need to use a 3.5" shotshell for big water hunting. Never used or really needed it on big Canada's in Ontario either even though I shot a Gold 10 for a decade there. Geography has little to do with killing birds other than there is a heck of a lot more of them here! LOL
 
the spank said:
I don't know fellows? I shot a lot of late season diver ducks (scoters, buffleheads, goldeneyes, greater and lesser scaup, canvasbacks and old squaws) growing up cutting my teeth on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie long before the 3.5" 12ga ever came into being. I shot a 2 3/4" Browning A-5 and even with today's steel loads I'd see no need to use a 3.5" shotshell for big water hunting. Never used or really needed it on big Canada's in Ontario either even though I shot a Gold 10 for a decade there. Geography has little to do with killing birds other than there is a heck of a lot more of them here! LOL
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You and I have beat this to death and will never agree which is fine
Growing up and shooting lead cannot even be closely compared to shooting sea ducks with steel shot and as far as geography I have hunted lake Ontario and the atlantic ocean where I hunt and not comparable a lot more and a hell of a lot closer shots in your area


Cheers
 
the spank said:
I don't know fellows? I shot a lot of late season diver ducks (scoters, buffleheads, goldeneyes, greater and lesser scaup, canvasbacks and old squaws) growing up cutting my teeth on the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie long before the 3.5" 12ga ever came into being. I shot a 2 3/4" Browning A-5 and even with today's steel loads I'd see no need to use a 3.5" shotshell for big water hunting. Never used or really needed it on big Canada's in Ontario either even though I shot a Gold 10 for a decade there. Geography has little to do with killing birds other than there is a heck of a lot more of them here! LOL
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You must have been a Dunnville boy ?
 
Small world I shot my first duck from a floating blind in front of the grandstand in Port Dalhousie and we use to shoot the night flight off of the sand piles at Michigan beach and used a sneak boat a Weller to shoot divers and Blacks on Martindale pond no Mallards or Canada geese around in those days. The rooster hunting around the airport and the canal was world class . It's all gone now lots of big city idiots around now . You wouldn't recognize it today.
 
warzaw said:
Small world I shot my first duck from a floating blind in front of the grandstand in Port Dalhousie and we use to shoot the night flight off of the sand piles at Michigan beach and used a sneak boat a Weller to shoot divers and Blacks on Martindale pond no Mallards or Canada geese around in those days. The rooster hunting around the airport and the canal was world class . It's all gone now lots of big city idiots around now . You wouldn't recognize it today.
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I haven't been back in years. We lived on the lake a few hundred yards from the old Geneva Street drive in. Used to be pheasants galore in the orchards and running the bank of the lake behind the house. Shot my first one in our back yard with a pellet pistol. Last time I was there hunting with a friend was well over twenty years ago and there wasn't a pheasant to be seen anywhere. I used to shoot skeet at the St.Catharines gun club occasionally as a kid with my newspaper route money. That club is gone now too from what I understand. Have to be honest I don't miss the area at all and never looked back when I left there in 1982....
 
You grew up in the same area as me . I moved out of town 32 years ago bought a farm had great hunting and country life but that has also changed people have moved into the area now it is crawling with city people.
 
Man you two brought a tear to my eye :)

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Ive had a great time reading about all the inns and outs of different size shotgun shells. So now Im going to inject what Ive found over shooting shotguns for 50 plus years. A ten gauge will always be a ten gauge wether shooting steel or lead. Owned two BPS Brownings and an Ithaca mag ten as well as an SP10 remington. In the hands of a skilled shotgun shooter, theyre, well unrivalled. Heavy and harder to get swingin but once there, they stay there. Spank knows what I speak. An object in motion stays in motion. As far as 3.5 inch shells,theyre like a pretty fishing lure. Purely a marketing thing done for poor shooters looking to think theyll be deadlier with a bigger gun. Video yourself firing a 3.5 inch gun and watch what happens in slow motion and tell me ur brains not screamin STOP. If you wouls close ur mind and shoot a good quality patterning shell and shoot to your capability youd kill twice the amount with half the shells. Im pretty sure I know of what I speak. I guided for 14 years for the largest waterfowl outfitter in Canada. Our annual harvest was 5,000-7,500Canada geese and 3,000-5,000 ducks. We shot a lot of late season Whistlers(Goldeneyes) which are in my opinion are the Kevlar coated bird of ducks. I encountered every level of shooter and the most highly skilled shot very expensive ammo and fired very few shells to complete their limit. Bluntly 3.5 inch shells dont pattern and boot you so hard you will not shoot them well. I tried them and my ammo was free and I chose 3 inch and now shoot 20 gauge for waterfowl exclusively. Pattern ur gun and be honest. Good ammo costs more but will harvest many more birds cleanly and is actually cheaper and much more humane. If anyone thinks Im full of it Ill send you pics if you PM me. This is just my opinion but poor shots need excuses. Go to your range or a buddies field and get good with a gun that fits. Buy good ammo and pattern ur gun!!! The outfitter was ST.Lawrence Outfitters
 
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