waterfowl double barrels?

B

bowhhunterjeff

New member
I was just wondering what some of you seasoned goose/duck hunters would reccomend as far as double barrel shotguns for waterfowling, ide prefer something in 12 guage. I dont know much about double barrel brands and qualities of each as we only own a stoeger coach gun for home defensive purposes

thanks for looking and hunt safe


jeff
 
Hi Jeff,
My impression of a double barrel shotgun is of a sleek O/U with fine wood and lovely blued steel. It would feel most at home trained over a pointing setter or in a sporting clays pit...
The conditions that I hunt waterfowl in (salt marsh and open bays) are NO place to bring such a firearm. Where I hunt, my shotgun is subjected to mud, salt spray, & ice and ineviatbly gets banged around on the ride out when crossing open water...
If I were shooting decoyed puddlers from a heated pit blind while sipping coffee warmed on a camp stove, then I'd maybe consider using an O/U...
Come to think of it, nope. I'd still be carrying my SBE...

Just my $.02...
 
There are other things to concider than just the "niceness" of the shotgun.

One being the ease of loading and unloading. You need alot more room to break open a double. If you're crammed into a boat blind or a pit blind with a party of hunters, it becomes a "pain" to load and unload safely. There are, in fact, some who won't let a double in their blinds for safety sake.

Another factor is noise. Now I know you can get long barrels on a double, but the guys i've seen waterfowling with doubles usually have shorter barrels for ease of handling. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've had a 12 guage fire a foot from your ears. It hurts bad. I started my son, when he was 8 years old, with a youth model Savage. It's just as bad in the noise department and I've suffered permanent hearing loss from that "little" 20.

On another note, if I were hunting alot of flooded timber, an O/U would be nice. None of what I wrote about above would apply and it would be soooo much easier to maintain.

In respect to waterfowling, I'm alot like Knockemdown, my waterfowling guns get abused hard. I won't take anything out there that I'm going to cry about when it gets scratched or wet. You never know when you might have to use it as a paddle!
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I think Browning and Beretta made full camo dipped O/U's in the past. They may still do that, I just haven't taken a look at their websites lately. And of course you could always send the gun to a camo dipping company and have it done on your own if it meant that much to you.
 
For shooting ducks over decoys in fresh water I shoot a SKB 100 SxS 26" barrel IC/M with #4 steel. If it's a combo upland and some ducks I use a Browning Superpose Lightning 20ga IC/IM and Kent Matrix or Bismuth (everytime I find someone closing it out I buy a bunch). Out on the salt I use an 870 12ga or CD 20ga auto.

AWS
 
It would be a disadvantage using a o/u waterfowling.
It’s all about the 3rd shot. With the lethality of steel shot, the 3rd shot is most often needed to mop up the cripples quickly , either still flying or downed.
Some days you might only get one good volley, three birds are better than two. (that’s if you are on)
Faster and safer reloads with a pump gun or auto loader.
 
I very seldem ever use the third shot when I'm using a pump or auto and have a very nice retriever for cripples, alot easier than blasting away at swiming ducks and more effective also. We started using Steel in the late 70's(MN) and have never felt that I was at a disadvantage with Steel just have to wait until they are in range but we used 7 1/2 and 6 lead back in the day over decoys.

I don't ever hunt from fixed blinds just natural cover or my layout boat, I've even been known to just it on a buckket out in the middle of the salt flat look just like one of the other stumps as long as I don't move, the ducks just set right down around me.

AWS
 
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I think for waterfowl the cheaper the better. never now when it will get dirty or fall in to the lake wit hmy gun ( a nova) I only clean it at the end of the year might wipe some oil on it but nothing more and it alway works.
 
I had me a Baikal O/U a couple years back. It was good quality, though many thought it was "ugly." I paid $400 for it and used it primarily for trap/skeet. It was plenty accurate, dependable, and could take a beating. They sold out to Remington and are now sold as the Spartan. A little more costly, but still a great shooter that I wouldn't mind taking into the field.
 
Remington actually dropped the Russian guns and no longer imports them under their banner now.
 
Originally Posted By: Bucktail_BobIt would be a disadvantage using a o/u waterfowling.
It’s all about the 3rd shot. With the lethality of steel shot, the 3rd shot is most often needed to mop up the cripples quickly , either still flying or downed.
Some days you might only get one good volley, three birds are better than two. (that’s if you are on)
Faster and safer reloads with a pump gun or auto loader.





I say BULL, I hunt with a Beretta 686 O/U all the time for waterfowl and its not a disadvantage. I hunt out of a layout blind, a boat blind and a duck blind on a local lake, I'll take the O/U over a semi or pump any day. if your having cripples hit the water, then you need to learn to let them get over the decoys before you shoot. I shoot all my ducks and geese withing 30 yards and they all hit the ground/water dead with Winchester Dryloc #2's. the only place I can see a pump or semi needed in waterfowling would be hunting for divers.

I think if you look at the Beretta O/U's you will find one that fits you. as for the reloading and unloading, its easy if your the one on the end of the blind. and a over and under is safer then a pump or semi. an over and under will make you a better shot and if you get done waterfowling and decide to go upland hunting on the way home, you'll be in style
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Ruger Makes a nice Stainless over and Under. If you want to hunt Ducks or Geese for nastalgia ( spelling?) You could look into Model 21 Heavy Duck, Elmer Keith shoots I belive an Ithaca 10 Ga with # 3 Lead over the Snake River # 2 Bismuth should be about the same. Me I have a Ruger Gold Label SXS I may take into the duck blind but it will be cased to and from and kept a good eye on when in the blind. As for my serious waterfowl gun a Benelli M-2 Comfortech Camo. Wipe the mud off at the end of the day. When the bolt starts working a little sluggish, take it apart and clean it up with sum G-96.
 
I have used my Browning 12ga 525 O/U in the past. Using some of todays 3" shells it can beat you up. I have since went to a Benelli M2.
 
You haven't lived until you have been stomped into the ground by a 3-1/2" Mag over/under in a layout blind.........


I have a duck hunting buddy who slaughters ducks with his O/U. He has an SBE II but leaves it in favor of the stacker. It's camo and has sling swivel studs built in. It swings like a club and kicks like a mule, but I'd be proud to own it.
 
Originally Posted By: Bucktail_BobIt would be a disadvantage using a o/u waterfowling.
It’s all about the 3rd shot. With the lethality of steel shot, the 3rd shot is most often needed to mop up the cripples quickly , either still flying or downed.
Some days you might only get one good volley, three birds are better than two. (that’s if you are on)
Faster and safer reloads with a pump gun or auto loader.

I disagree. I find the third shot is often an excercise in frustrated futility! Of course, in the wide open areas that we hunt, after the second shot, the birds are usually out of range. I don't know how it would be in other areas.
 
my third shot gose to any crippls. I kill two in two shots and leave that last for back up. Unless I'm hunting divers then I might need that thrid shot for one bird most of the time I will only shoot twice. makes me feel better about my self. I think that a o/u would incresce you kill rate. Its a mental thing. same thing with a pump slows you down and makes you shoot better
 
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