One day and I have to listen to it forever?

Thats how he rolls.

Here's another novel thought. Learn how to decoys ducks and you can probably throw rocks at 'em and kill 'em!

nah I throw like a girl

I know some 'ol boys that used .410's last year and shot 3 limits. Rumor is it was one of their most fun hunts of the year. Although, there's no way in heck you can kill a duck with a .410!

I heard they were girlie men.

I've been shooting 3' #3's in Hevi Metal this year and have noticed that I use fewer shells to get my limit and when birds hit the water, they are usually dead. I would get away from shooting those Experts.

we get the mallets 20 yards with feet down. All i shoot is cheap xperts. We have been stacking them like cord wood all season. Huge holes in breast as result of number 2's. I think we had two cripples all season. Xperts work for decoying ducks just fine. Loose ducks sky busting no matter what shot you use. About the roundness of the pellets. What about all the new shells with square and diamond shapped bb's? Never had a problem with the experts 3" #2's

You can lead a horse to water......

I have shot xperts my whole duck hunting career. I bought some federals for replacements as they were pretty cheap. I ran out of the xperts early this season which lead to me finally killing my first duck.

I've been shooting xperts that last few seasons, and on my last hunt had kent with me. I noticed a difference in performance.

I just wish Academy would start carrying Kent.

No doubt xperts aren't as good as others. I've used 3'' #2's the last two hunts and was giving them a nice makeover, but if you can't shoot good or don't decoy birds, it doesn't matter what you use.

Fooshman gave the best advice so far... lead the bird a bit more... and someone else said water swat them if they are swimmin... I kinda like a wounded bird from time to time to watch the dog chase it.

on a side note... I have never shot anything but modified my whole life (whatever came with the gun) all the shells I buy are whatever is on sale... If I miss oh well... But I can assure you if you start overthinking you will continue to miss and make adjustments that will make you miss more.

relax, and when you miss laugh about it... it will make alot more fun.

I took up golf for awhile several years back and I found that after a few beers I hit the ball MUCH better... I attribute that to relaxing and not overthinking it.

finally last sunday I had a ringer buzz the deeks and came right over me about 20 yards up the first shot I hit him hard saw feathers and a leg break, He cupped up and was gonna coast 200 yards... in that split second I realized several things... he was gonna coast off several hundred yards and then would dive and the dog would never catch it, I also realized that I hit the back of the bird sooooo.... I never stopped the follow through lead him a bit more and shot him a second tim and he folded...

after shooting them for awhile you will know if they are gonna be a hard retrieve before they hit the water most of the time.

I also believe in relaxing but I must add, there is a responsibility as a sportsman to put the pellets on paper. If you don't know what you pattern is doing then how can you have shooting confidence? How can you make "leading the bird" adjustments if you don't even know what the pattern is doing?

Example: Your shooting and you find your wounding more birds than you should. So if you had put it on paper and you knew for a fact your pattern is good, you just cut out half of the equation before you got started shooting at birds.

It was putting pellet to paper that has lead me to be a whole lot better shooter than I used to be. The more knowledge you have about your equipment the more relaxed your going to be.

I think you're problem is your lead on the birds. Stop trying to aim at the ducks and let it happen naturally. Make sure you're continuing to swing through after the shot. I think that's one of the biggest mistakes people make.

The mod choke through the M3500 with #4 or #2 3" or 3 1/2" xperts will pattern well enough to kill ducks effectively. I honestly HATE xperts, but I've found the 3500 with the factory mod choke will shoot them just fine and patterns well enough to make me happy.

If you are having a consistent problem you may not be mounting the gun to your shoulder properly and not getting the right sight plane down the rib.

It depends on the type of shot. Were you pass shooting or was it ducks coming into the pocket?

Generally when you miss it comes down to fundamentals like gun mount, lead, and follow thru. I don't shoot skeet with my hunting coat on and I have missed before because I didn't have the stock fully crammed into the side of my face. Try this put your coat on then close your eyes. Mount your gun then open your eyes. Is your eye on top of the barrel? The other issue I have sometimes is that I practice with my O/U (thinner stock) and duck hunt with my 870 express mag with a thicker stock. I flubbed up some easy shots last year because of this.

Lead: remember station 4 out in the middle on a skeet field at 25 yards is a four foot lead which is roughly 3-4 inches barrel bead to bird. Some use a sustained lead and some pull through and string out the shot. Its hard to explain and I have had others ask me how much lead did you put on that bird. I couldn't say because it looked right from my 35 years of wing shooting and the sight picture looked right. I will say that in hunting situations I have had better luck with pulling through and stringing the shot pattern out.

Follow thru: You gotta keep that gun moving. Point and click doesn't work here.

I don't know anything about the expert loads. I use drylock #4 steel shot using Imp cylinder. On a steel load improved cylinder will throw a modified pattern and I have killed ducks out to 40 yards with it. Then of course I will flub up and miss the gimme pocket shot for whatever reason.

Good luck.

JT

Oh and keep both eyes open and focus on the bird and see the end of the barrel in your peripheral vision.

I like hypersonic and kents

20 and 40yard pattern board has best group with hs #4 with briley LM
Kents #4's IM

That's for my maxus


Will say hypersonic has improved my shot to kill ratio..probably has more to due with helping me not think so much about lead.

How much shooting do you do? You shoot clay in the offseason? Have you ever taken a lesson from a pro? If you can't put the pattern on the bird it does not matter what shell you use.

You got it JT, do that and everything slows down.