[MCgunner]

Anyone make a sub 1000 dollar side by side or over/under 12 gauge 3.5" or 10 gauge? I think Stoeger used to offer a SxS 10, but I went to the Stoeger site and couldn't find it. I'd prefer auto ejectors, but would settle for extractors. No trigger preference on this one. Hell, I'll probably get an auto like the 935 Mossberg or a Spartan 453, but I got to thinking about the simplicity of a double. I like doubles, hunted for years with a 12 until steel got mandated. Still have that old gun, still shoots good, but I don't use it for much anymore.

I'd been using hevi shot, but tungsten is getting rediculously expensive and hevi shot is $2.50 a shot now days. Ridiculous. I'd like to try some T shot in a bigger case.

[ArmedBear]

Go to CDNN http://www.cdnninvestments.com/

Download the catalog. They have a Fausti Stefano 12 Gauge Waterfowl O/U for $789, in Max 4, with 3.5" chambers and 28" barrels. Page 37.

Ought to work well, and with the camo coating it should be possible to keep it from rusting through in your salty environs.:)

[MCgunner]

Awesome, thanks! I need to save. Camo, too, love it!!! Just took another part time job, so maybe by next year....

Yeah, ya know, I know someone ss going to say I can buy a lot of hevi shot for 700 bucks and, well, I don't hunt geese THAT often, but truth be told, I love doubles. I get irritated when rusty shell jams in a pump or auto, gun's fault or not. I have been thinking of getting back to the basics with a double.

[Virginian]

I have been using a Stevens 411 (Baikal) with extended choke tubes with excellent results (when you take out for lousy shooting).

[MCgunner]

3.5" chambers? Hmmm, I guess it'd be a Spartan now? I'll look that one up cause I like my little 20 gauge Spartan.

[chas08]

Hey MC, That Fausti does look good, don't it? I don't know if I would like to shoot 3.5's in a gun that light. It might screw you into the ground like a trailer house anchor. :D Does Spartan offer a 3.5 chambering? Between my wife and I we have three Baikal SxS a 16, 20, & 28 and really enjoy them on dove. :)

[MCgunner]

http://www.gunblast.com/Stevens411.htm

Says it's 3" only. I want a 3.5" gun.

[MCgunner]

Anyone ever hear of an AYA Matador 10 gauge? I found mention of it, but can't find a site with it for sale.

[Virginian]

Sorry, I can't read. The Stevens is a 3". I used to shoot a Richland 10 gauge SxS (810?) some before non toxic shot better than steel arrived. It weighed about the same as an AYA Matador or an old Stoeger Zephyr Thunderbird; too heavy to handle really well. Worked flawlessly though. I found that excess weight problem with every 10 gauge except a Browning BPS synthetic 28" that I finally got the weight down under 9 pounds on. I am not a little guy (6'-2", 220 then) but I couldn't be happier going back to the 12 gauge 3" guns.

[MCgunner]

Well, hell, maybe this 3" thing will wear off of me. I'm going to try some Remington Heavy Steel in BB if I book a hunt this season. It costs the same 25 bucks as hevi shot, but you get 25 rounds instead of 10. At the moment, I don't have a goose lease, so I don't hunt 'em all that often except that I have a friend who likes to come down and seems infatuated with geese. I could take him duck hunting for little or nothing, but he doesn't care about ducks.

[Virginian]

Try some tungsten matrix or Hevi-Shot. I find I can get one shot kills on waterfowl at a 60% greater rate.

[MCgunner]

Yeah, I know, I've been using it and it's great if you can afford it. A few years ago I was giving 13 bucks a box of 10 for Federal Tungsten/Iron. It's now over 25 bucks! Tungsten must have gotten ridiculous. This is why I've been thinking 3.5" T shot, to save money and gain effectiveness over my 3" BB steel which sorta sux on geese past 35 yards. Get 'em close enough and it seems to work okay, but that's not always possible. Sometimes they just hang up there at 40 yards sticking their tongues out at ya.

[Virginian]

Yep. That 10 with steel T did more than just get their attention. Really came into it's own on swans.

[chas08]

MC, I know you've read some of my posts on defending why the 10 ga still has a niche in the waterfowl world, especially on Geese. What a lot of folks don't understand, that you and I do, is that by the time the Geese get this far south. They are pretty educated, and we have to be able to take them at longer ranges. I regularly take Geese at 60 - 80 yards with my 10 and T-shot. Sure a 3" 12 ga will do it too if you get the "golden BB" but the 10 will do it as consistently as your talent will allow, because of, for the lack of a better term, it's pattern superiority. And it costs 1/4 of what it costs to shoot Hevi-shot...etc.. I've used a BPS 10 ga for 20 years or so. This year I 'm going to try an SP-10 that I picked up during the off season for $675 used in good condition. It sure has a lot softer recoil than the pump. I hear all the time, "It handles like a 4x4" or "it's too heavy". While I wouldn't want to hunt quail with it, I find a heavy gun to be an advantage at taking distant birds, like Geese, that fly at a steady pace in a straight line. It follows through nicely. I say hunt for a suitable 10ga in whatever action you desire or can afford, otherwise stick with your 3" 12 ga and Hevi-Shot. :)

[Zip7]

What y'all need is the Waterfowl Widowmaker (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ghZwyI6jL._SS500_.jpg)

[chas08]

What y'all need is the Waterfowl Widowmaker

(LOL) I'll take two, just in case the first one breaks. :D

[MCgunner]

I hear ya 08. Skeet shooters and upland hunters just have no earthly idea about geese. :D I ain't gonna do anything rash. Maybe I'll stumble upon a good deal at a gun show or something, not around here. :rolleyes: Last gun show I went to in Victoria, I think the shotguns all had platinum insides or something. :rolleyes: I'll have to get up to GRB or something, sometime. There's a decent sized gun show occasionally in Corpus occasionally that's a little closer that I've yet to check out.

I was hunting out of Katy with Larry Gore's outfit one year, gun club had 12 spots with 'em, just call and reserve. The guide had a side by side 10, don't recall the brand, but I picked it up when he was out trying to get his dog to work (worthless dog). Danged thing felt like it was made of lead, but ya know, like you say, that's a good thing in a goose gun and especially in a 10 gauge side by side. I THINK that thing was a Stoeger, but I went to the Stoeger site and if they ever made it, they don't now.

I like the Browning BPS a LOT. I'll have to check into that, too. Love the old Ithaca action and tang safeties are better for lefties.

[chas08]

Yeah MC, I can testify to the reliability of the BPS. I bought mine in the late 80's. It spent two days under water in the flood of 98. I had it camo dipped four seasons ago and that worked out real well it's a very durable finish. I've seen them on Gunbroker and one at Cabelas on the used rack for under $400. Another good thing about a 10 is, most of the ones you run across haven't been shot to death. Their down side, for most folks, is they are "Mission Specific", but that's OK by me. I gave up searching for the mythical "one gun to do it all" That gun just don't exist in todays complex world. Maybe if we could still shoot lead on waterfowl or if Hevi-Shot weren't so expensive, it could come closer to being possible But.. jeez...$400 for 100 shotshells, that's the price of a shotgun.:cuss:

[LeonCarr]

I know this is kinda off thread, but I have a buddy with a Marlin 5510 Super Goose 10 gauge (Bolt Action, 34 inch full choke, 2 shot magazine), and that thing is an anti-aircraft gun. I'll swear on a stack of good books that my buddy shot a big big Canada Goose from about 100 yards away on one hunt we were on.

I started yelling "GET OUTTA THERE...EJECT EJECT" when the bird started falling :).

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

[TehK1w1]

Double for geese-sounds fun. I've hunted snows some around Eagle Lake, and my old 26" Stevens pump (12Gauge, 3") with steel T-shot has always worked well enough. Snow Geese just don't taste good enough to me to make Tungsten worthwhile. Ducks are a different matter :D

[MCgunner]

Yeah, I've got a little 20 gauge Spartan, a M1400 Winchester 12 gauge auto, an old side by side Sarasqueta 12, and a Mossberg 500. I have choices for doves and ducks. This will be goose specific. I might even get my goose lease back. :D

Leon, I believe the "super goose" marlin had a 34" barrel, was the 10 gauge. The 12 gauge goose gun had a 36". Had a buddy when I was a kid that had a 36" goose gun, was always hitting me in the head with it in the blind. :cuss: Had another buddy not long ago with a super goose 10 gauge. He gave a hundred bucks for it and was looking to sell it, but I didn't bite. I'd have had to have Briley chokes installed on it, anyway, was full choked. Probably wouldn't work with steel. I fired it, wasn't near as bad as you might believe a 10 would be. My light weight 12 Sarasqueta double is worse with 3" loads.

Yeah, I'd like to have a 10 anyway, just to one up my Waco buddy who think's his 835 Ultimag shoots a big load. LOL! He's always braggin' about those stupid 3.5" 12s. I always out shoot him, but that's really not a major feat. He likes going after geese cause they're big. If I could find a deal on a sandhill hunt, I'd introduce him to something bigger and a LOT tastier. :D I have had 'em pass over my place certain years, but I'm south of FM616 and can't shoot sandhills there.

[LeonCarr]

Thanks for the info on the barrel length MC...I fixed my post :).

LeonCarr

[Virginian]

If you get a 10, get the Ballistics Products 10 gauge book. Some of their loads delivered killing patterns at 85 yards with F steel and BBB bismuth. Some old lead shot comes in handy too, to put between you and the gun when patterning.

[Gordon]

10 ga BPS 30" with Modified steel rated choke tube and homegrown loads of steel BB in Ballistic driver wads works as far as you should be shooting ducks and geese. I drop to #2 steel for ducks over lots of decoys, and this year I'm trying #3 steel for close blinds. I used to shoot a 10ga AyA matador when until steel was mandated. Because you need to shoot something softer in those extra full old Spanish (and other) guns I sawed it off to 20" for HD purposes!

[chas08]

I used to shoot a 10ga AyA matador.....I sawed it off to 20" for HD purposes!

(LOL) Don't Cry MC, It was probably just temporary insanity. :D

[MCgunner]

Sheesh. Well, probably won't have to cap a round when he sees twin 10s starin' at him. :what::D Ah, 12s, even 2 3/4" number three fast steel, work great on decoyed ducks. I need no more. I even did pretty danged decent with my 20 on teal last year shooting 3" steel 4s. I'm going to try fast steel in that gun. It handles a lot faster on those little low flying buzz bombs you don't see on the horizon just after shooting time. The 10 would be for those 50 yard shots at geese when they just won't come down any more and that happens a lot, especially late season, with snows. Speckle bellies are kinda stupid. I've CALLED 'em down without deeks to 30 yards with a snow goose call at that. LOL Snows get pretty wary by the time they get down here, though, and one needs the reach on 'em.