what load do you prefer?

What load do you normally shoot with?

Besides when shooting geese how often do you find yourself grabbing for a 3 1/2 load?

I normally shoot 3 1/2" #2-4 for duck and geese. Sometimes I throw in some BB's if I'm feeling froggy.

2-3/4" 1-1/4 oz of #4 or #6 bismuth/hevi shot shooting around 1300 fps through a full choke

whatever is cheapest on the shelf from 6-3 shot 2 3/4 or 3inch.. no matter

if I was to pick one that i could find every time is the cheaper Winchester in 3inch 3s 4s fine also

3" #3 or #4. I have shot Kent Fasteel for the last several years. Gonna give Hevi-metal a shot this year. I never shoot 3.5" shells at ducks.

3 inch #4 for ducks
3.5 inch #2 for decoying geese
3.5 inch BB for non decoying geese

2 3/4" #7.5 for dove
3" #6 for teal
3" #3 for ducks
3.5" BB for geese

Had a conversation with a fellow work partner who Always loves to use 3.5
I figured besides geese/turkey why go with a 3.5

Just curious what everyone normally used.

I typically use 3" #2s for ducks. I prefer 1 1/4oz of shot over the 1 1/8 fast movers.

Only time I've ever used 3.5 inch shells was for cranes and probably didn't need them then.

2.75 #4s for Teal
3in #2s for Ducks and close Geese

3" #3 or #4 for ducks out of a imp or LM choke. Never understood the need for 3.5" for ducks. Not much of a goose hunter but I would foresee no issue using 3" for them as well.

2.75" #6 1 1/8 for duck. Killed 150-200 a year with them pass shooting mainly.
3" #4 1 1/4oz for those windier days
3" #2 1 3/4 for geese occasionally a hot 3.5" home load too

3 inch highspeed loads (1550-1560fps) for me, usually 1 1/8 ounce, have not shot 3 1/2's for ducks in 10 years.
With steel, speed kills.

I shoot Kent 3 1/2" #2's because they don't make a 4" #2

3" #3 for ducks
3 1/2" #BB for geese

This question gets asked a lot on this board. I used to chase the trends (Black Cloud) or buy what ever was cheapest ( Winchester Expert); it was according to how my budget was doing at the time. After spending some time with folks that compete at different types of clays sports and learning how to set up a shotgun to pattern at its best, I've come to the conclusion its more of pattern the shells you like as well as other brands you may be interested in and go from there.........shoot the ones that do the best for a particular gun. Also before you do the test make sure you have the barrel completely clean, because slag build up from lead and plastic can completely change the carecteristics of a shotgun. I swab my barrels withe Hoppes Number 9 real heavy and let them soak then I come back with the wire brush on the ram rod hooked up to my drill for a couple of minutes or so and then ram a few pieces of barrel patch cloth to clean it out. You might be surprised what you get out of your barrel doing this.......

2 3/4 rio or kent nr 3 or 4 for decoying ducks
3 inch heavy metal nr 3 for higher ducks
3 inch heavy metal BB for decoying or high geese
3 1/2 Inch nr 2 or 4 heavy shot for cranes

All with patternmaster duck and long goose choke

I like the 3" Rios in a 4 or 5 for ducks, preferably #5

fwiw, I've had FTF issues with cheaper brands such as Herters and Monarch. I get shells in bulk so the issues may have been isolated to specific batches. Rio's, Winchester, and Federal are my preference.

Winchester 2.75" #6 steel for decoying teal
Rio Bluesteel 3" #2-#4 steel for decoying ducks and geese
Winchester 3.5" #2 steel for cranes and pass shooting geese

Regarding "Hevi-shot" or any of the other magic shotgun shells, they are a waste of money. Spend enough time hunting with folks using magic bullets, you'll notice there's no quantitative difference in the number of birds killed compared to hunters using plain steel shells.

A solid foundation in shooting skills, patterning your shotgun, knowing the POI on POA, using the appropriate choke, are extremely important. Needless to say, anyone who's served in the military in combat arms and/or spent considerable time properly training with firearms knows that practice makes perfect. Magic bullets or not.

Dove loads.. cheapest I can find in 8 shot. The monarchs have worked pretty good for me

My favorite duck loads are the cheap 2 3/4" remingtons in 4shot. Also use the 3" Winchester Xperts in 4.. more for coastal ducks.

Heard a lot about Kent Fasteel so figured I'd give em a try. Great first shot at a redhead at 40 yards. Kent shell jams in the barrel, brass breaks off where the ejector grabbed it. Not a minute later the first time I've ever had a group of pintails decoy feet down at the coast.. had the barrel off trying to force the jammed shell out with a long stick. Never again!

If money's not a problem the Black Clouds do a pretty good job!

I shoot whatever 3" 1.25 oz 4 shot I can find for the cheapest price for all ducks. Have used Kent, Winchester and Federal the last three seasons. Preferred the Kents but not enough to pay more for them. Shot limits both days last weekend for teal with 4's. I use the same for big ducks and don't have any complaints.

3" 1.25 oz 1 shot for geese. On rare occasion will shoot 3.5" BB but haven't had the need the last few years.

Ive Been shooting 2 3/4 inch 3's and 4's for 3 seasons. Killed ducks just as dead as 3 or 3.5". Used to shoot only 3's because I felt like I had to from what everyone else told me. Negative. I noticed no difference in amount of dead ducks. And I save a buck or two per box.

+1

This.....nothing can replace or improve your odds like good solid practice. We shoot at a clays range that offers trap, skeet, and 5 stand. I focus mainly on the skeet shooting because it helps me build speed and accuracy. Before I started doing this I needed to buy shells by the case to keep up with my usage and I chased the gimmicks thinking it was going to improve my odds and it didn't. Now I can get by on just a few boxes.........I shoot Hevi Metal mainly because it was the last gimmick I chased and I'm set up for it, but I'd be willing to shoot anything that patterns well...........

Off the shelf: Rio Game Loads in 20 gauge, 7.5 shot.

Most of what i shoot I load.

To those of you that shoot 3" for ducks and 3.5" for geese...you're doing it wrong. Why do so many of you feel the need to shoot 3.5" for geese? You're gonna get more velocity out of a 3" shell and as we all know, speed penetrates geese, not quantity. You have a bigger target so more bb's are gonna impact on a goose than a duck. I refuse to buy into the 3.5" scam, but if you insist on buying em, shoot 3.5" for ducks since you're shooting a smaller target and 3" for geese since you need the higher velocity to penetrate more feathers & flesh.

So you buy into the 3" "scam" but not the 3.5" "scam?" You should only shoot 2 3/4" since apparently any change is just a scam. By the way, 3.5" shells are not inherently slower. I have no idea where you got that idea from, because logically it makes no sense. Factory loads with 1 3/8 oz of shot with a 3.5" shell are typically the same speed as 1 1/4 oz out of a 3" shell. Or if you want to compare the same amount of shot, 1 3/8 oz factory loads are about 250 fps faster out of a 3.5" shell than a 3".

Just read this again a second time, and it makes even less sense than it did the first lol. Love it that you say others are "doing it wrong" when you clearly don't even grasp the basic concept.

I stand corrected after I looked into it a little more, but I'm still gonna stand by my initial conclusion. Here's my reasoning. Every time I talk to someone about why they use 3.5" instead of 3", it's so they can have more pellets on target. It's not needed with geese. Even if you're buying them for higher velocity, 3.5" shells with the same load only increase the velocity by 150-200fps in the loads I looked up. Steel looses velocity so quickly, those small of gains are pretty much negligible by the time it gets to your target. Will you get slightly better performance? Sure. Is it worth the extra money? In my opinion, no. They cost around 20% more than 3" shells but I don't think they're gonna put 20% more birds on the ground. On top of all that, I think 3.5" shells are targeted towards skyblasters, which are the bane of every public land hunters existence
And yes, I do think 3" shells are a bit of a scam but I shoot em anyways. My old man shoots 2 3/4" & drops more birds than I do. But that's neither here nor there...