On 9/8/2008 at 1:34 PM, South FLA said:

Darn a .410, that is a great gun I just looked it up, it must quick to the shoulder and whippy.  If you can consistently hit doves with that thing past 20 yards, than your in another league  .

I take my .28g for kicks, but it gets a bit expensive shooting since I am not a reloader.  I may be out of luck if the range goes non-toxic with the little 28, unless I get into reloading.  Anyway here is my quiver.

12g Beretta Urika 2 (Workhorse, duck)

12g Browning BPS Stalker Model (First Gun I bought using my own money back in High School, keeping it as a Turkey Blaster)

12g Beretta Silver Pigeon III (Pull!)

20g Benelli M2 Field (Favorite Dove/Duck Gun)

20g Benelli Montefeltro (Kind of like above but with real wood, but selling it to my brother)

28g Browning Citori 525 (Sweeeeeet)

Had a Browning Sweet 16, but some crack head stole it from my buddies house  >

I have had the M2 for about 3 years now since I bought it when it first came out.  I love the stealth black look and not having to worry about beating it up too bad and getting it wet.

.410s are nice, but IMO the 28 is THE sub gauge to have.  Ive got 2 1148s that are over 60 yrs old and they don't miss a beat.  The only gun that comes close is my Auto 5 light 20, its hard to miss with it. 

I use steel over decoys, but have a few tungsten, or Heavy Shot in my pocket for cripple's when hunting over water.  Tungsten is expensive, but not as expensive as using a whole box of steel trying to dispatch a cripple, quickly swimming out of steel shot range, that could be stopped dead in the water with one shot of Heavy Shot.  Field hunting cripple's are not a problem for a dog to run down, so I only carry  steel when hunting on land.  Jump shooting I use Tungsten because I usually wont use many shells, so the extra cost is not great.  I use an 870 12 gauge for all waterfowl and upland birds.  When I miss which is more often than I like to admit.  The fault is not due to the gun or ammo. 

I use steel shot when hunting waterfowl because I must.  I could use a bismuth or tungsten load but I can't justify the cost.  I'm very selective when I hunt waterfowl and I won't even raise my gun at anything further than 30 yards.  I only hunt over decoys and I don't shoot until they are getting ready to land.  Skybusting is not in my strategy because all it does is educate the entire flock and waste ammo.

 

I still use lead for pheasants/grouse and wild turkeys because its legal.  Lead is very dense and the velocity is much faster than steel so it results in a higher kill rate.  Winchester Longbeard XR kills turkeys at 65 yards.  I shot one a few years ago at 61 yards.

 

I don't hunt upland or turkeys on public land where non-toxic shot is required.  If I did, I would likely use steel.