Who hunts with a 10 Gauge?

CoryTheCowboy

CoryTheCowboy

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Hey folks,

Just picked up a BPS 10 Gauge and am getting anxious to try it out during our early goose season here.

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I know I didn't need one, and I know I don't have the shooting skills to use it to its full long range potential, I just thought it would be interesting to try out a 10 Gauge this fall.

Anyone else hunting with a 10 Gauge? Any favourite loads or do most of the serious shooters for it reload?

Cory

P.S. Please don't turn this thread into a 3.5" 12 vs 10 argument...
 
Most serious 10 shooters I know roll their own, a quick survey of them regarding their favorite shot sizes have BB's and 1's tied for first although BBB's, 2's are also popular. If memory serves me correctly the last few boxes of 10 gauge steel I've seen were BBB, BB and 2's I think federal premium and Winchester drylocks, you may be limited in terms of whats available and may want to stock up when you find some. Should be fun patterning it with whatever load you choose.
 
I shot a Gold 10 for 10 seasons. Phenomenal gun. I used to shoot Winchester 1 3/4 oz#1's and on occasion when buddies from the U.S came up they could get me Remington Hevi-Shot at a decent price. Suffice it to say it is really not a decoy range gun, there is just so much big shot in a small space at decoy ranges that you can destroy big Canada's. Being an avid trap shooter I used to wait for my buddies to empty their 12's over the decoys and then pick off 40+ yard birds flying away. The back on a goose has little protection so shooting them going away made for good clean kills without a breast full of shot. I couldn't begin to guess how many geese that big gun rolled? Lots! I used to shoot 1-2 flats of ammo through it each season. Never once had a hiccup with the Gold 10 either.
 
I've had a love-hate relationship for years with my Remington SP-10. Love how it absolutely clobbers geese -- larger shot in heavier payloads makes an immediately appreciable difference. But I hate how slowly an 11 lb. shotgun swings when a flight of pintails or teal rocket past the decoy spread. Have since moved to a 3-1/2" 12 gauge Benelli SBE II for most of my waterfowling and find it a very, very happy compromise. But when the geese are, for whatever reason, not coming into the decoys well, I still end up wishing I had brought the SP-10...
 
A hunting buddy shoots a camo BPS .it sure puts a thumping on late season full feathered geese . Shells are a bit expensive but he doesn't miss to often as were shooting over decoys .
 
the spank said:
I shot a Gold 10 for 10 seasons. Phenomenal gun. I used to shoot Winchester 1 3/4 oz#1's and on occasion when buddies from the U.S came up they could get me Remington Hevi-Shot at a decent price. Suffice it to say it is really not a decoy range gun, there is just so much big shot in a small space at decoy ranges that you can destroy big Canada's. Being an avid trap shooter I used to wait for my buddies to empty their 12's over the decoys and then pick off 40+ yard birds flying away. The back on a goose has little protection so shooting them going away made for good clean kills without a breast full of shot. I couldn't begin to guess how many geese that big gun rolled? Lots! I used to shoot 1-2 flats of ammo through it each season. Never once had a hiccup with the Gold 10 either.
Click to expand...

I hear you
I have two GOLDS still in 10ga and will do the same and wait for everyone to be finished and then shoot when we hunt over decoys. If not many will be in real bad shape. Must be an old skeet/ trap shooter thing :) with us

Cory you know I love the 10ga's and have been reloading 10ga for many many years. Lead first and then switching to steel a year after it became law
I have my guns patterned and the RSI duplex high speed loads are the best I have found other than shooting the old bismuth years ago
My golds don't like winchester hulls and will pull slots in the brass of many so I stick to the federals and remingtons for the reloads which work fine. I have found all of my brownings love the IM Briley choke
I had a BPS also in 10ga and sold it here on the EE maybe 3 years ago. I was just not shooting it with the semi's in the safe so decided to let it go. It works just fine
I also still have a remington sp-10 and an Ithaca mag 10 which I had Briley fit with choke tubes some years ago
All the best with yours but as spank says watch taking close shots unless you like hamburger :)
Cheers`
 
I bought a H&R at CT 25 years ago for 100 bucks use it for Bear Busting when they tear apart my BBQ on the back deck.Trying to get some 10Ga oo buck fron Kate the ammo girl.
 
I shoot a SP-10 and it's actually quite pleasant to shoot. A 10 gauge has a shorter shot string than a 12 gauge with 3.5 shells. So with the 10 is a clean miss or a clean kill. It's my go to gun for geese and cranes.
 
Just to put in my .02$
I have a lite gold.
The laws of physics ( which are irrefutable) dictate that same size pellet launched at the same velocity will have the same terminal performance at the same distance irregardless of gauge.
Ergo the 10 will not provide increased performance at distance as far as pellet energy (striking power) goes.
Where the gain become very obvious is in shot count( density) on target and better patterns inherent to the 10 gauge.
My first purchase after buying a 10 ga was a "terror tube" choke.
Super performance.
 
I shoot pigeons, magpies and gophers with a Winchester 1901.......if that counts as hunting.

I have to reload my own, but I don't fire that many rounds in a year so it's not so bad. I really do like the gun, for some odd reason.
 
I owned a BPS in the venerable 10 gauge one season..well part of a season.
Couldnt swing the dam thing fast enough in the mud flats off of Steveston at Snowies in the first half of said season.
Thought it would be great on the Brant Spit, but traded it in on something else and used the Wingmaster for everything in between.
I did take a few Honkers that would fly on a specific pattern and they would fall from the sky when hit, but didnt matter cause the 12 did the job just as well with less felt recoil and less boom too.
Nothing Wrong if you like it and it fits and you shoot it well.
I just couldnt do any of the three together.
Rob
 
I have one a SP-10, don't use it often, my main shotgun is a Remington 1100 in 16 ga, but when the sun is high the birds sliding off the end of the decoys, sometimes I walk back to the truck and get the big ten.
An 1.3/4 of bismuth or ITX shot @ 1350-1400fps has a way of plucking geese out of the sky, that a 12 ga with steel can't touch. A specialized tool for those odd days.
Love the big cannon, once moving it stays moving, and the kerchunk of the next round loaning sounds like a howlizer loading.
I pattern tested mine, every load was very even, much better than the three Twelve gauges we tried
Much prefer the 16 ga, with bismuth or hevishot, sold all my twelve gauges off.
The ten will likely go after this season too, just gotta burn threw the non-tox hand loads.
 
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I have a cut down single shot I use for vermin, I got a good deal on some 2 1/4oz duplex 4/6 shotshells that annihilate pretty much anything within range. Finding lead shotshells is almost impossible, I have been looking into loading my own but I have a lot of other stuff to get going first...
 
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