# 10 gauge Firepower



## stolenbase

Yes, I am getting greedy and always looking for more power and pellets even though I do just fine with a 12 gauge 2 3/4 inch! I need more pellets and punch for those blue bird days!!! What do you guys reccomend?? Even 10 gauge 3 and a half inch sounds nice!!! I am left handed though. 
 thanks nick!


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## Leo Porcello

Rem SP-10 all the way!!! You will crush them. My barrell is 26.5 which makes it a little easier to swing. Not sure if they come in left handed.


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## dblkluk

If your doing just fine with the 2 3/4, stick with it. A 10 guage isn't the cure-all for shooting more birds. All you'll end up doing is skybusting more! Thus educating more birds, making them much tougher to decoy! My advice is work on your hunting techniques, if your decoying birds, you should be able to get them in close enough to kill 'em with a pellet gun. Even on the bluebird days, heck 95% of our hunts this year took place on sunny no wind days. If you insist on getting more power,I don't see the point of going any bigger than 3 1/2" in a 12 guage. This way you can use the gun for more than just goose hunting too. Did I mention skybusters make me sick??? uke: 
Just my :2cents:


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## GooseBuster3

3.5 in 12 gauge will bust high flying snows just as easy as a 10 gauge. With a custom choke in a 12 it is killer.


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## win4win

If you are concerned about those blue bird days and want more slap down power consider trying some of the non tox shots other than steel and see if it fits your needs.


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## Leo Porcello

Not all 10 ga owners are skybusters. I use my 10 because the first time I shot it I got a triple. It just fits me. I don't like screwing around. Short barrel, open choke, close shots is what works for me. I guess I just like getting bloody. And yes I am a head biter as well. Maybe I am just blood thirsty who knows. I just like my 10!


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## dblkluk

Sorry Chopper, I didn't mean to imply that everyone who shoots a ten is a buster. I guess I'm still a little fired up after the display the guys in the field next to us put on last Sat. :eyeroll: I have just seen too many guys who think because they carry a ten they can reach out at every bird that comes over. Lots of gun = lots of ego for some guys. Tens do have their place, but its a 3" twelve for me, the shells are cheap too!


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## Leo Porcello

Trust me I know what you talking about. There is a place here that I pass shoot at and there is one guy with a single barrel 10 and another guy with a 12ga and you would pass out if you saw some of the shots they are taking. It is gross! I hear ya about the price of shells. But for me that 10ga gets my blood flowing. I love the way she kicks my arm. She turns me on!! :lol: If my wife only new she would be jealous!!!


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## tb

I've had 10 gauges for a long time. The first was an Ithaca Mag 10. My brother was shooting one on the firing line one day years ago and when I saw what they can do, I became a believer. I used to shoot Federal Premium buffered lead loads, and that unit really kicked butt. I figured that it easily gave me an extra 15 yards over a 3" 12 ga. Then I switched over to Federal steel 1 5/8 oz BBB's and it did the job just as well. When that pig (most unreliable gun ever made) wore out, I got an SP-10 with a PatternMaster choke. Worked good. Then one day a couple of years ago in the spring, a flock of SOBs came right in on the deck and the damn thing jammed. I was so po'd that I haven't shot it since. I may never shoot an auto again. I got a 3.5 inch BPS and put a PatternMaster in it. It might not have quite the range, but its more reliable, a helluva a lot easier to lug around and works pretty decent. But, I'm probably not as blood-thirsty as I used to be either.


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## tb

P.S. I'm lefthanded too. You can get a lefthanded trigger unit from Remington for an SP-10 that reverses the safety. Works fine for a lefty, just gotta get used to the emptys flying by.


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## stolenbase

what other brands make 10 gauges


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## tb

Remington and Browning make autoloaders; Browning makes a pump (ouch) and there's a few oddball single shots. Might be a few others.


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## GanderCommander

I bought an ithica MAg 10 for my first 10guage and hated it it was always jamming on me and i felt i could hit ducks with rocks easier then with that hog, but i was 13 when i did this after looking at the history of the ithica mag 10 and finding out it was made to shoot lead shot when they first came out that the gas ports in my gun were not made to shoot steel and bismuth so i took the gun to a local gun smith had the ports opened and it hasnt jammes yet. NOW about the not hitting them with it I changed that to i sent my 10 to the Briley factory and had it Threaded of choke tubes now i can shoot I wide varity of chocked MAn when put the X-tra full choke tube in it and get some BBB bismuth is a goose killin son of a gun its like an anti aircraft gun. I will never part with it and for the ppl that think an SP-10 is better just to let u know ithica sold the design to remington all remington did was make it look better and changed the ports GOOD LUCK HUNTING AND WHACK EM


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## GooseBuster3

348 honkers and snows that fell in front of myself this year, only one guy was shooting a ten gauge in our group. It didnt matter, the 12 3.5 were making just as long of shots. You just have to know how to lead birds a certain ranges. If seen a many geese pounded at 70 yards with 12 2 3/4 2 shot.


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## gandergrinder

I think the number one thing you can do would be to spend more time shooting at the gun range. Your success will go way up.

I agree with Dblkluk, work on the other stuff and you won't need to shoot long range.

However, I shoot an Sp-10 on alot of days but there are also alot of days that I shoot a 12 gauge even when hunting honkers.

I know alot of guys that shoot 12gauges that shoot when they shouldn't. One guy in particular shoots on average 2 to 3 times more shells per outing than I do and we shoot about the same number of birds. You know who you are.

A ten guage does not give you a license to shoot at everything, but it can and does have its place. I like having the option of my ten guage when I need it. If everything comes in under 35 yds I like a 12 but some days they just don't, especially snows. At long range I shoot my 10 gauge better than my twelve maybe because I feel more comfortable shooting at birds at longer range with that gun and have become better at it. I just don't take the longer shots with my twelve gauge.

Alot of guys say buy a 12ga 3.5 inch and you can shoot everything. I say buy five guns and use each one for whatever situation you have. I shoot three different guns all fall for waterfowling, 1100, 870 and Sp-10 but I understand that isn't possible for everyone. But if you can afford it I say buy a gun for each situation.


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## GooseBuster3

GG, I may like to shoot but I still kill more birds. :wink:


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## honkerhntr

I have a Browning gold 10ga have shot it for 7yrs. It is a great gun, No matter how close a 12ga will come it will never surpass a 10ga untill they make a 4inch shell. I have both guns but perfer my 10ga.


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## gandergrinder

Thats because I don't ground ball honkers and because no matter how many you have shot your always the first out of your blind. I might have to force train you on that little problem when I wrap that X2 around a fence post.


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## GooseBuster3

LOL. It was only only one GG, give me a break look a BenilliBlaster !


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## dblkluk

GG... I discovered a little trick for guys who jump out of their blinds before everyone else, ie: quick reflexes :lol: Before the action starts in the morning, or during a break in the action, when they are taking a "rest", bungee cord their blind doors together. Its hilarious!! Works good for the guys who like to spend all morning sleeping in their blinds too!!


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## djleye

Oh Oh Mav!!! :lol: :lol:


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## gandergrinder

I don't think its a matter of quicker reflexes I just think the boy wonder is a little greedy.


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## GooseBuster3

Greedy??? I just like to shoot!!


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## fishhook

gb3.....348 freaking geese!!!! Holy cow batman. In the glory days we used to get 50-60 snows every once in whil and 15-20 every time out, but the last few years have been rough on me.

Enjoy it now, cause i'm assuming with that much time you do not have any kids or a wife? And if you do...it's even more amazing. Either you shoot a gun like rrrrreeeeeggggie shoots a basketball or you go through a lot of shells. Someone enlighten us!!!


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## dblkluk

I use the word "reflexes" very loosely!! :lol: :lol:
I've hunted with guys with real quick "reflexes"...BOOM, Take em!!! :beer:

Fishhook, I think its a little of both! Wasn't it you GB3, that said you might as well shoot em all, because you have to reload anyway???? :beer: :lol:


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## gandergrinder

That was the total while he was out hunting. He didn't shoot all of those geese himself.


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## GooseBuster3

I guess I should have ststed my self alittle clearer. That was the total between all the hunts I was on this past fall. Not to mention the 125 we shot last spring.....But I I love to shot. As DBLKLUCK said Why relead whren you have to put one shell in the magazine, Its a waste. :lol: :lol: :lol: I get alittle trigger happy at times!


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## fishhook

and the truth, the truth shall save us all ----jim carey---liar liar....stolen from billy graham, but whatever

Apparantley the hunting is still good in some areas of nd!!!!!


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## dblkluk

Yeah its good. But it takes lots of hard work to be a true playa!


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## GooseBuster3

Hard work? It becomes a second Job scouting 2-3 times a week so you can find a really good spot to with your buddies on the weekends :wink: .


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## ccaton

I always love hearing the old wive's tale that a 10 gauge shoots farther than a 12 gauge. The truth is that couldnt be farther from the truth!! The only advantage that a 10 gauge gives you is more pellets for a denser pattern. Downrange energy is directly proportional to muzzle velocity, and shot size. As a matter of fact, a 2.5" .410 shell shooting 1/2 oz of BB steel shot at 1350 fps will shoot as far as a 3.5 10 gauge shooting 1.75 oz of BB shot at the same velocity!!! The only difference is the pattern density. Im not saying a 10 gauge is overkill, because many a old honkers have fallen at the shooting end of one, I am simply saying that they do not reach up farther than smaller gauges, and that is a fact!


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## esox07

There is another consideration with regard to a 12 vs 10ga. The ten is slightly bigger bore and has been shown (all else being equal) that it patterns slightly better since the 12 tends to cram the shot coming out of the barrel. Studies have shown that a 12-2 3/4" load patterns much better than a 3.5" load does. The 3.5" however usually puts more as much or more hits in the 30" circle since it is pushing out about 35% more shot. That being said, if the bird is in range and you aim correctly, he will drop...regardless of the gun.


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## Rosendal

Anyone know what a Zabala Hermanos 10 gauge side by side with double triggers and 32" barrels would be worth in good condition? The last time I looked in a Blue Book it only made a vague reference to them.


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## Bob Kellam

Zabala Hermanos shotguns are Spanish made. Side by side Field grade Charles Daly's are made by them.

$500.00 and up DOC and Model.


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## adokken

Why not shoot some of the heavy shot or tungsten Matrix, Hell of lot more range then steel and as I reload my own its affordable. we use # 4 HEVI SHOT FOR THE LOCAL HONKERS AND IT REALLY DOES THE JOB.


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