Will a 2 3/4" do the job?

I

icedog

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Several years ago, after the ban on lead shot for waterfowl, I sold my old 12g 2.75" Wingmaster, and replaced it with a new 3" one. I had been convinced that the 2.75" just wouldn't have enough punch with steel shot. Since then of course, there have been quite a few improvements in non-lead shot, some it advertised as being even heavier than lead. So, with this new heavy shot, are the 2.75" chambered guns just as effective on ducks and geese as they once were with lead shot? Have bird hunters simply come to believe, whether it is true or not, that a 3" shotshell is the minimum required to knock birds out of the sky?
 
2 3/4 with lead shot worked for about 100 years. Bismuth or similar shot as heavy or heavier than lead should work fine. Although, if waterfowl have evolved the way game animals have - you know, where you now need a 375 H&H for antelope, you may have to buy depleted uranium shot.
 
I must have missed the memo...


I'm still hunting with 2 3/4" steel shot...I better go tell the birds in my freezer that they are free to go.

All kidding aside. Even steel in 2 3/4 works just fine, however, the heavy shots that have come out can far surpass the old lead shells in terms of performance.
 
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A 2 3/4" shotgun will most certainly do the job...even with steel shot...as long as you do your job of putting the pattern on the bird!

When steel shot use became law in Canada there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I would even go so far as to say steel shot was better back then than it is today! The problem was that people used the wrong shot sizes (too big just as often as too small) and didn't pattern their guns at the distances they expected to be shooting waterfowl at or any distance for that matter!!! The smaller sizes crippled birds because of a lack of penetration and the larger ones (BBB, T, TT, F) did the same because of a lack of pattern density! That is where the big push for longer chambers came from. However, even in the 3" and 3.5" 12ga. and the 10ga. guns, the larger pellet sizes still didn't give you the pattern density required to make clean kills beyond 45yds. Fast forward 10 years and the "speed kills" craze hits the shotgunning world! The problem is that hi-speed loads don't pattern very well at longer ranges (some don't even make the cut at 30 yds) and payloads are reduced to make the speeds possible. To make matters worse the best shot size, #1, is damned near impossible to find.

For the last 14 years my go to load has been the factory Federal 2 3/4", 1 1/4oz, #1 steel shot @ 1275fps shotshell. Fortunately, I stocked up years ago because it is no longer produced. With that load I have knocked birds down as far as 62yds!

Whether I'm using lead, steel, bismuth, tungsten-iron, tungsten-matrix...I have yet to notice any difference in killing efficiency when the bird is centered in...or missed with a pattern that is shot using a 2 3/4", 3" or 3.5" 12ga load or even a 10ga 3.5" load!
 
The problem with fast steel is it doesn't deform it hits and drives in filling the hole with feathers

My waterfowl gun patterns very well with stEel but I watch ducks hit hard fly another couple hundred yards where as lead would have folded them. My 10ga 1 5/8oz of BB drops them though

Most of my duck hunting in jumping mallards in ditches and blue bill and rudy ducks over decoys on the lake. I get a lot of shooting at bluebills and 2 3/4" #2 works well for them to about 35 yards. Steel after 40yards produces to many cripples
 
VLT79 very good post with points based on experience. I used that federal load in the early days ( let's see, my lab was a year old and she just died at age 18...) It was devastaing out of my Ithaca 37 on geese and big Manitoba mallards. Strange I did not notice the standard velocity shell loads being dropped but they are gone! In any event good post.

Darryl
 
Spend some time patterning with quality extended chokes and you can make your big or smaller fast steel stay together at 50 yards. If you can get 90 plus pellets in a 30" circle at 40-50 yards your laughing.
 
VLT79 said:
A 2 3/4" shotgun will most certainly do the job...even with steel shot...as long as you do your job of putting the pattern on the bird!

When steel shot use became law in Canada there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I would even go so far as to say steel shot was better back then than it is today! The problem was that people used the wrong shot sizes (too big just as often as too small) and didn't pattern their guns at the distances they expected to be shooting waterfowl at or any distance for that matter!!! The smaller sizes crippled birds because of a lack of penetration and the larger ones (BBB, T, TT, F) did the same because of a lack of pattern density! That is where the big push for longer chambers came from. However, even in the 3" and 3.5" 12ga. and the 10ga. guns, the larger pellet sizes still didn't give you the pattern density required to make clean kills beyond 45yds. Fast forward 10 years and the "speed kills" craze hits the shotgunning world! The problem is that hi-speed loads don't pattern very well at longer ranges (some don't even make the cut at 30 yds) and payloads are reduced to make the speeds possible. To make matters worse the best shot size, #1, is damned near impossible to find.

For the last 14 years my go to load has been the factory Federal 2 3/4", 1 1/4oz, #1 steel shot @ 1275fps shotshell. Fortunately, I stocked up years ago because it is no longer produced. With that load I have knocked birds down as far as 62yds!

Whether I'm using lead, steel, bismuth, tungsten-iron, tungsten-matrix...I have yet to notice any difference in killing efficiency when the bird is centered in...or missed with a pattern that is shot using a 2 3/4", 3" or 3.5" 12ga load or even a 10ga 3.5" load!
Click to expand...

This post reflects my experience also, with the single exception that I do prefer fast 2-3/4" loads, since I do get decent patterns with #1 Fast steel 12 ga. 1-1/16 oz loads.
 
I buy the Federal "low" velocity 2 3/4" steel whenever I find it, though I haven't seen #1 anymore either. I find they're dirty shells, seems like the powder doesn't burn thoroughly, but damn do they work and pattern nicely. I actually prefer them to lead and have used them here and abroad. Also used and have the Kent Fasteels in 2 3/4", I like the Federal loadings a little better but the Kent are clean and certainly work.
 
Crap! I guess I fell for all the marketing and hype. My old 2.75" Wingmaster (mid 1960's)
was perfect for me... wish I'd never let it go. The newer one looks fancier, but just doesn't have the same comfortable feel about it. Anyway, I am pleased to hear that there are still lots of 2.75" shotguns seeing regular and effective service in the hands waterfowl hunters.
 
2.75 steel is just fine for ducks and early season smaller geese. I move to 3" heavier steel loads for big Canadas and have no trouble dropping them. I did have a weak moment a few years ago and bought a 3.5" magnum pump thinking bigger is better and was soon brought to the reality of the greater recoil with no better results. I'll stick to 2.75 for most hunting if not for the fact that it works just fine and it is far cheaper than the cannon rounds.
 
I have gone back to 2 3/4" the last year or so because I am using some older SxS's. But I also use 2 3/4" in my semi auto and it works fine and the ducks fall down when I pull the trigger, well most of the time.
 
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