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small bore on geese

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scarecrow243

32 Cal.
Joined
May 18, 2011
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Hi just a thought has anyone ever used a small bore ie 45 50 60 etc on geese useing light loads of shot 3's 4's say 21gram load as it travels faster and further if you still use say 70grns of fffg
 
Yes and no. I haven't tried it with muzzleloaders, but one area we pheasant hunt puts you right down in the brushy bottom of a winding creek that also holds ducks and geese. All shooting is really close with 15 yards being about the longest, so I'm using a modern 28 gauge double with skeet chokes and 3/4 oz of #6. Because of the probability of waterfowl, I'm using bismuth.

It's not unusual, in fact more common than not, to finish the hunt with a mixed bag of pheasants and ducks. On rare occasions Canada geese get down into that creek bottom. Twice now I've doubled on them with that little 28. WITH WITNESSES!!!! Just pretend their head is a straight-away clay target and splatter it. I have a perfect record on geese now with that little gun. Four geese in four shots. But is it a perfect goose gun? :haha:
 
Hi Bear i might give my 50cal a try this year shooting inland useing lead shot, but the 8 bore is first inline for the first goose shot of this season in the uk its 1st september till 31st january inland
 
Wow, I've never had close shots on geese that would make me confident with any open cylinder bore. I'd use a 12 or 10 ga on geese. It could happen that you'd get a perfect shot and are good enough to head shoot flying geese with a small bore. But that would never happen for me.
 
Probably not a lot of experience with this in the states as most use the bigger guns for larger birds due to the basic advantages of more shot per shot, I used a 410 when I was a kid but had to be pretty close to do any good, like open choke range or closer with a full choke.
 
Quite true Rifleman, I won't load steel in my own ML smoothbores. I can only add that so long as we are talking cylinder bore guns the actual bore size makes less difference than some may think. Going from one ounce of shot to one and one half ounces adds only about 5 yards to the sure kill range. I'm shooting one ounce of #6 shot from my .54 smoothrifle and the pattern would be murder on any small game at 25 yards. I've never tried a smoothbore so small as .45 or .50 caliber but there are lots of old guns with smoothbores and small calibers so they must have been good for something.
 
I've set my priorities when I bought my smoothbore. I had the money to buy a modern shotgun, in fact I sold my 1187 Rem. a couple of years back. I'm gonna hunt everything with my ML, including duck. I've got some #3 steel and some steel shot cups coming to me fed-ex. There unslit cups so I'll be trying a few way slitting them and working up a waterfowl load. Around here deer shot range with a ball is 20 yards so if the barrel gets scorn a little it is'nt going to matter much, but I don't think theres gonna be a problem. I did'nt pay very much for the gun so I can put it to work. In some places, it might be called a farm rifle. It's cost me more for the possibles than it cost for the rifle. If I had bought a really nice ML, I'd be worried all the time about it like my FAL. I don't take it out in rain, compared to what it was made for, I barely shoot it and a tear comes to my eye when I see a new ding or scratch. I get a little choked up just thinking about it. :v: Sorry for getting off subject.
 
If I had bought a really nice ML, I'd be worried all the time about it like my FAL. I don't take it out in rain, compared to what it was made for, I barely shoot it and a tear comes to my eye when I see a new ding or scratch. I get a little choked up just thinking about it.

I have the opposite view. I get to spend so little time outdoors hunting that I like having a custom muzzleloader to enjoy and appreciate. I currently only have one flintlock rifle - but it's a good one. We've been rained on, snowed on, sleeted on, fallen down creek banks, etc. Having a nice custom English fowler made at the moment. I'd rather make memories and beat-up a good firearm than have a nice wall-hanger when I'm too decrepit to go outside. What are you saving it for?
 
Rifleman1776 said:
I suspect very few of us will ever have experience hunting waterfowl with our ml smoothies because of the ban on lead shot.
I do not see the need to use steel shot, because there are several other lead substitutes that work much better than steel and which also are safe in all of our guns. Based on the way steel has worked (that is: poorly) for me in the past :( , I never plan to shoot steel shot again.
 
:idunno:
firearms002.jpg
 
Lee M said:
White Rabbit said:


Where do you put the cap? :hmm:

What cap? Dont you know that this is one of them new fangled rapid fire muskets? It acheieves its rate of fire cause you stuff a bunch of balls, powder, and flints in the doohickey in front of the trigger and shake it up real good to make sure you always have a new sharp flint ready every time you squeeze the trigger. I may have fired one of those a time or two, in a past life, in a land far away, and all that stuff. They work very well, even if they look somewhat unusual in the gun rack sitting between a GPR and a TVM Late Lancaster. :hmm: :thumbsup:
 
I had a similar one but it was a chore to get the patched ball down. They sold me these balls called "bull-ettes" (small bulls?) and they were WAY too tight.

Another feature I didn't like was the cap had to go in this bigger brass tube and then a finger-slammer held it before you could pour the powder down the barrel; otherwise it just leaked out into the box that held 20 (or 30) more capped brass tubes. Unsafe.

BUT WAS WAS TALKIN GEESE WITH SMALL SMOOTHIES!!!
 
Stumpkiller said:
more capped brass tubes. Unsafe.

Dont those little annoying tubes will never catch on! I mean, who in their right mind would actually want to mess with them?

Sorry, back to the proper hunting topic, and using proper methods.
 
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