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goose hunting on a budget?

Benellijake said:
Wild Wings
If you were shooting steel BB loads what would you choose? Plain steel, zinc coated or copper coated steel shot?

Thank you
Click to expand...
If they are in range of steel BB's it makes no difference. Steel shot is coated for corrision resistance, coating does not improve patterns or penetration. If you want a long range load, forget steel.
 
I can hand load steel 3.5's. However, I will buy a case of shells and a choke if needed. Whatever you suggest. I would be interested in a good recipe as I have all the stuff to handload.
 
Benellijake said:
I can hand load steel 3.5's. However, I will buy a case of shells and a choke if needed. Whatever you suggest. I would be interested in a good recipe as I have all the stuff to handload.
Click to expand...
In handloads there are several options depending on what you want to do:
1) Hevishot. Use 3-1/2" Federal hull, #2 Alliant steel powder, TPS wad, 1-7/8oz shot, mica dust on wads and 15grs buffer, with a mylar shot wrap. 1290fps. Gets decent patterns at 100yds with about 3' of drop you have to account for. Use a Briley unvented extended choke Improved Modified. Downside, Hevishot has very long shotstrings due to very uneven pellets. This is a good thing out to about 70 yards. Will kill Canadas over 100, but they have to be going straight away. Cripples badly over 70 yards due to this. Load data from Ballistics products. Their book shows this to be actually a turkey load with smaller shot, but it is a proven killer on geese with 2's. Do not use larger shot. Cripples badly at long range.
3) ITX shot. Load data also available from Ballistic products. Very uniform pellets fly like steel. I use ITX original 10 in BB and BBB in 10 ga. Cost effective to ITX 13 and Hevishot. The 10gm/cc will out perform 12 gm/cc Hevishot on long crossing shots. The 13 gm/cc is off the chart and largest available is #2's, which they are always out of.
4) Factory loaded HeviX is the most cost effective factory load out there. Pattern both 3 and 3-1/2" in your gun with the Briley choke. The 3" may outshoot the 3-1/2". Not as good as handloads
 
Last edited:
Dear Orange Dust

I will take your advice and order the Briley choke and Ballistics manual tonight.

I did some snow goose hunting last weekend and we shot lots of snows with steel out to 50 yards. Heard and saw my neighboring hunters shooting at geese that were 80 plus yards and thought there wasn't anyway they could drop. When I saw the geese drop at amazing distances, I was very impressed. That's why I reached out to you.

I'm looking forward to taking your advice and reloading the goose loads.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience.

BenelliJake
 
Tricky part is you have to learn both holdover and lead at the same time. That's the tricky part. Do some long range patterning with really tall paper to get an idea. You will be amazed what a shotgun is capable of. Sooner or later you will get hooked and get a 10
 
I thought I was a decent shot and then I hunted with a friend who CAN shoot. I hear about the 10 gage a lot when geese are involved. I will practice and probably get one for next season. I like semi's over pumps. will most likely get one for next season.
 
Benellijake said:
I thought I was a decent shot and then I hunted with a friend who CAN shoot. I hear about the 10 gage a lot when geese are involved. I will practice and probably get one for next season. I like semi's over pumps. will most likely get one for next season.
Click to expand...
Get a browning gold light 10. Run it almost completely dry and keep it clean. I shoot about 40000 Clay's a year with a gun that is 2 oz heavier. Near perfect waterfowl gun for ducks and geese. Shoot he I metal bb's at ducks and he I metal bbb at geese under 100 yes. Use tungsten for the far stuff. You can kill ducks with HM bb's to about 80 or a little more, mallards bbb to 100. Beiley invented IM choke in this too.
 
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