Waterfowl Loads?

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ICDEDTURKES
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Waterfowl Loads?

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Seems we got a good group of waterfowlers here.. And it seems as if everyone takes their turkey gun serious, so what is your preferred waterfowl load..

I personally shoot the Federal Speed Shock 3inch 2s that can be had for 99 a case from Dunns or Rogers.. Either know I get into the turkey gun patterning waterfowl I am not as picky, shoot paper at 30 yards.. Go yup POI is good, no holes, lets go..

For me 2s are the best crossover load.. They are a honker grinder from early Sept to Jan and we are fortunate to shoot a bunch of field mallards.. I would prefer 4s on the field mallards as most times we are killing them at distances measured in feet and not yards, but the 2s allow me to not have to swap out flock to flock. Also prefer 4s on woodducks but I hate killing woodducks and only target them a couple times a year..

I have never understood the larger shot sizes on honkers for late season.. I guess for me I try to head and neck shoot them and that area never gets downed or fattened up..
jrseale82
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by jrseale82 »

My first choice is black cloud in #3 followed by hypersonics, then nitro steel
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by pullit »

I like the Hevi-Steel in 3" #2 or 3's (2's are my first choice). If I am running low my back up is usually Kent Fast Steel. Last couple of years I have shot a box or two of the Remington Hyper Steel and they seemed to work good for me. All my duck guns are 3.5" guns but I shoot 3" shells and perfer #2 shot and no smaller than #3.
I use a 3.5" gun just in the off case I run out of 3" shells and have to borrow some shells, I can shoot anything going. It only happened to me once and everyone in the blind that day was shooting 3.5" shells and I had a 3" gun.
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ICDEDTURKES
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

pullit wrote:I like the Hevi-Steel in 3" #2 or 3's (2's are my first choice).
If your talking the original stuff that stuff was the deal.. IMO it was the best "affordable" alternative ever offered.. They should have never discontinued it.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by toasty »

The hevi steel 1 1/8oz #4 load is what got me addicted to tungsten shot. Loved that load.

I reload 1700 fps+ 7/8oz and 1 1/16oz fast steel #3 and #4 for a lot of my duck hunting in 12ga. But lately I've been using the 20ga and 28ga more often. When I use small bores, I usually use hevi shot or similar tungsten shot. I've already got a case if 7/8oz HW15 #7s in the 28ga loaded up for this season. I have been considering not using the 12ga this year and just hunting with the 20 and the 28. We'll see if it holds up when things get tough and if I can force myself to take the 20 or 28 on a goose hunts.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by Grumpy »

I like the Black Cloud shells, limit here is 4 dark geese daily so I only take four shells and hope I don't double up, so a box of 25 lasts me for about 4 seasons.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by savduck »

I think its more about the right choke than shells to be honest. Combine a good choke with good shells and it even makes it better. When I can afford them, i like Hevi metal 3s and black cloud 3s, but I also still use the cheap winchester expert #2s. Im running mine through a SRM 700 terror choke. It made more of an impact than the type of shells. They are sweet chokes.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by Treerooster »

Early teal...regular steel, Win Expert 2 3/4in 1 1/8 oz loads in 6 shot. Tried the 1 oz loads but have better kills with the 1 1/8.

Ducks...regular steel, Win Drylock 3in 3's. The 3 shot seems to work best for me with more in the air kills. Sometimes in late season my 3rd shot might be 2's.

Geese...regular steel, Win Supreme HV 3in BB's.

For cripple shot I use the Win Expert 2 3/4in 1 oz loads in 6 shot.

I like to get em in close and decoying them. Mosy always have an IC choke in my gun, once in a while I will put in a Mod choke for geese.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by tiggere »

ummm...duhhhh...TSS...a 3/4 oz of #9 in a 2 3/4"...got some to try so will keep you informed once the season opens...

Hevi-Metal #3's is what I normally shoot later in the season and Win #4 or #6 early...
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by Shooter »

HW-13 6s in handloads of diff weights for all my ducks and geese.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by SumToy »

all this high end stuff. Yall shoot better then I do. LOL
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by Hoobilly »

tiggere wrote:ummm...duhhhh...TSS...a 3/4 oz of #9 in a 2 3/4"...got some to try so will keep you informed once the season opens...

Hevi-Metal #3's is what I normally shoot later in the season and Win #4 or #6 early...
Please keep u informed on this load! I would love to hear how it does.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

SumToy wrote:all this high end stuff. Yall shoot better then I do. LOL
No kidding Sal and I will go through 2-3 cases a season.. Could not imagine 2-3 bucks a round.

Although I would love a 2.25oz load of TSS 8s or 9s for waterswatting :D
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by toasty »

ICDEDTURKES wrote:
SumToy wrote:all this high end stuff. Yall shoot better then I do. LOL
No kidding Sal and I will go through 2-3 cases a season.. Could not imagine 2-3 bucks a round.

Although I would love a 2.25oz load of TSS 8s or 9s for waterswatting :D
My HW13 #6 loads are are $1.15 a round. Not much more than you guys are paying for hevimetal or black cloud. Not saying you can't kill ducks with steel, but once you've shot the "high end" stuff, you'll never want to go back. For pattern density and penetration, the stuff is key on tough days. A few years ago I shot 90% steel 10% high density, not it is closer to 50-50 and I have a feeling I may be shooting more high density than steel this year.

If you're shooting 500-750 rounds a year, why not try reloading? My steel reloads are between $5-$6 a box depending on what load I reload. You could save $500 a year reloading, pay for all your equipment real fast, however, that is assuming your time if free.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

toasty wrote:
ICDEDTURKES wrote:
SumToy wrote:all this high end stuff. Yall shoot better then I do. LOL
No kidding Sal and I will go through 2-3 cases a season.. Could not imagine 2-3 bucks a round.

Although I would love a 2.25oz load of TSS 8s or 9s for waterswatting :D
My HW13 #6 loads are are $1.15 a round. Not much more than you guys are paying for hevimetal or black cloud. Not saying you can't kill ducks with steel, but once you've shot the "high end" stuff, you'll never want to go back. For pattern density and penetration, the stuff is key on tough days. A few years ago I shot 90% steel 10% high density, not it is closer to 50-50 and I have a feeling I may be shooting more high density than steel this year.

If you're shooting 500-750 rounds a year, why not try reloading? My steel reloads are between $5-$6 a box depending on what load I reload. You could save $500 a year reloading, pay for all your equipment real fast, however, that is assuming your time if free.
Way way back when I used to shoot the Remington loadings of hevishot in 4s for everything.. Undoubtedly the difference is amazing.. Took me half a season to get back to head and neck shooting geese from the body swatting allowed by HTL loads when the prices soared and I went to steel..

1.15 a round is not bad for 13 g/cc loadings and much better than the premium prices on high end steel.. If I ever did reload, I would most likely just reload steel.. 5-6 bucks a box is cheap and steel is ample for 99 percent of the waterfowling I do.. Now ya got me thinking :banghead:

As for the equipment which I dont know squat about, one of my hunting buddies has 2 or 3 of the "Progressive" reloaders as well as a handful of other MECs of various models. So I would be set there.. We have talked about reloading our fowl loads but have never gotten around too it.
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by pdqt »

My duck hunting is limited, but I also going to try a 3/4 oz load of tss #9, in a 20 ga. May pattern a 1/2 oz. if I can get it to cycle my auto. :roll:
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Re: Waterfowl Loads?

Post by ArkansasDon »

when I was waterfowlin, I shot 3" Winchester DryLoc #2's
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