Things you hear in a gun shop

[Gil Martin]

I was in a gun shop looking over the used shotguns and overhead several other folks talking about shotguns. They assured each other that a 2 3/4 inch or 3 inch 12 gauge shotgun was too anemic for hunting turkeys and small game. I will never own a shotgun with a 3 1/2 chamber, rarely shoot 3 inch shells and prefer 2 3/4 inch loads. It is amazing that some of us have been afield for a half century using 2 3/4 shotguns and never knew that we were under gunned. Here endth the lesson. All the best...
Gil

[powell&hyde]

I guess all the geese, ducks, turkeys, deer I shot over the years with the 12g 2 3/4" never told me that I was under gunned.

[jplonghunter]

Gil

Just think of all the beasties you could have taken if you had a shotgun with a 3" chamber,preferably 10 gauge.

jplonghunter

[skeet]

Well after guiding for all those years.. i did learn the 3 inch shell could add about 3-5 yards to your longest rang shooting the 3 1/2 inch a bit more..but only if you are a good shotgun pointer...and good is not a subjective word. Most accomplished shotgunners will do very well with 2 3/4 inch loads.. After being involved in over 23,000 goose's demise's I found the average range on geese was approx 30 -32 yards...maybe less. The average shooter was NOT equipped to shoot 50 yard shots on a regular basis. As far as long shooting a lot in all those years I also found that the mag 10 was really worth having for those long pass shooting occassions. I still own an old Ithaca mag 10. I also feel the 3 1/2 inch 12 to be very overrated on waterfowl.. On turkeys it does add to any advantage...but for the most part they are standing shots.. The 3 inch shell is not necessary for upland hunting at all except maybe on driven pheasants

[gold40]

While I use 12 gauge 1-1/4 ounce 2-3/4" shotshells on turkeys, ducks, and pheasants, I use 1 ounce loads for quail and dove. No need for heavier loads on most birds.

The 1-1/8 ounce loads are fine for bunnies and squirrels.

JERRY

[buckhunter]

Just like the claim that a 06 will not kill a elk. Sure, no problem. You much have a 300 Win mag. Everyone knows they have grown armor over the last 25 years.

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

Some of my 12 gauge guns have 3-inch chambers, but I use 2.75-inch loads in them all year round. I do have a dozen 3-inch loads for Spring gobbler. I have carried them afield for the last 4 years. Most of my 12 gauge loads are light 11/8oz. trap loads and upland game loads.

I have recently acquired a few nice 20 gauge guns and all have 1 ounce loads put by for our next woods trek.

Adam

[Rapier]

Perhaps the most misunderstood firearm in this country is the shotgun. In my opinion the reason is; that the vast majority of users learned what they know from folks that copied, in their mind, decades of myth, legend, fabrication and assumptions without knowing where one begins and the other ends when it comes to anything approaching a fact. It is amazing to me to listen to the absolute absurd ideas folks have about shotguns.

Here is a nice little story about absurd. My father in-law gave me his "hard shooting" shotgun to repair the broken butt stock in. It was his favorite shotgun that he lent to a nephew years ago who smashed a squirrel's head with it, breaking the fancy French walnut stock. It was a 16ga F on F, SxS he had "liberated" while in Germany on a walking tour, during WWII. A very nice gun, save the copper wire, wood screws and electrical tape. Know why it shot so "hard?" Well, it might have had something to do with the 2 1/2 inch chambers and the 2 3/4 inch hunting loads..... Boy that gun shoots hard..... as it goes, down in the country, in MS.
Ed

PS: I re-cut the chambers to 2 3/4 so he would not blow himself up, now that the gun is fixed. It actually patterns now, but, alas he has passed on.
Ed

[GoodOlBoy]

I shudder to think of all the game I must have eaten alive all those years I was shooting 2 1/2 and 2 3/4 inch 20 gauge field loads..... poor critters. Musta been my imagination that they dropped after one shot.....

GoodOlBoy