i dont get to duck hunt too often but sure a lot of ducks this yr.
i have a nice moss 835 3 1/2, but would preferr a side by side that didnt weigh a ton kick hard . any advice

If you are going to use a 20-gauge for ducks, be sensitive to your yardage, choke it properly, shoot the right load/pellet, and if you do your part it will do its job.

Here are some pattern numbers from my 20-gauge Citori O/U w/ 28" Investor-Plus barrels and Briley flush chokes shooting 3" 1-ounce steel loads and my preferred 20-gauge chokes for duck shooting (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

30 YARDS – SK
Fed. #4s / 134 (72%)
Rem. #3s / 122 (80%)
Rem. #2s / 101 (86%)

40 YARDS – IM
Fed. #4s / 127 (68%)
Rem. #3s / 114 (75%)
Rem. #2s / 99 (84%)

For early teal season shooting (small ducks), I mostly shoot 2 3/4" 3/4-ounce loads of #6 steel. At 30 yards my 20-gauge will put about 150 pellets in the pattern with a SK choke. Now that's a dead teal!

For early regular season ducks (a mix of small and medium ducks) I usually move up to 3" 1-ounce loads, #4s work good for close decoying ducks of all sizes. My 20-gauge will put about 130 pellets in the pattern at 30 yards with the SK choke for the first shot and the second shot with the IM choke will put about 130 pellets in the pattern out at 40 yards.

For late season duck shooting (a mix of small, medium and large ducks) the #3 steel is a great pellet in the 3" 1-ounce load. My 20-gauge with a SK choke will put about 120 pellets in the pattern at 30 yards and for the second shot the IM choke will put about 115 pellets in the pattern at 40 yards. This combo would be my choice if I could only shoot one load at ducks!

When it is mallard only shooting, steel #2s are a good choice, too. My SK choke put about 100 pellets in the pattern at 30 yards and my second shot with the IM choke again puts about 100 pellets in the pattern at 40 yards.

Pattern your loads so you will know what they can do, keep your shots inside 40 yards, and if you can put the pattern on the front end of the ducks he's dead!

Good luck!

I have shot several ducks with my 20ga Blaser Combo guns. I use 3" No5 Bismuth.

Hell, just check the other thread where the guys are killing mallards with a 28g. As already stated, if you limit your range and use the proper choke(full), you oughta be fine. If you can use heavier-than-lead shot, you're all set.

I shot some snow geese in SD a couple of years ago with a 20 . They were very close and coming head on into the decoys. The 20 worked fine on the close birds anything beyond 15 yards the 10 got the nod. If the birds weren't so close and coming head on I would never have used the 20.

20 ga is about all i use anymore on both ducks and geese. you know when you're decoying the birds and they have their feet down and are landing in the blocks, you really don't need a cannon anymore, and just watching them come in and talking to them is half the fun anyway

If you can afford hevi shot, it is devastating.

I hunt in timber in ARK. so I probably get closer shots than you; 10 - 40 yds. I was using #7 1/2 hevi shot I bought on sale in a modified choked Rem 1100 and killing mallards very dead out to 40 yards. No cripples swimming off or even flopping around.

That load out performed mybuddies 12 ga. 3in. loads with 1 1/4 oz. of steel shot. His 35-40 yd. shot ducks seemed to always hit the water flopping a little or swimming off. And he is a good shot but still misses some. The Winchester Xpert steel loads just don't seem to penetrate well past 35 yds. Merg

im glad im gettin some input, im gettin tired of carying a cannon

quote:

Originally posted by wetdog2084:
I shot some snow geese in SD a couple of years ago with a 20 . They were very close and coming head on into the decoys. The 20 worked fine on the close birds anything beyond 15 yards the 10 got the nod. If the birds weren't so close and coming head on I would never have used the 20.

That certainly hasn't been my experience on geese with the 20 ga. For about 6 years all I ever used was a Winchester 101 20 ga for decoying geese. Our geese are the Great Basin Canada variety and weigh 9 to 11 pounds. All my hunting partners were using 12 ga with 3" shells. I had no problem killing these big birds out to 40 yards. I used Federal 3" 20 ga with #3 steel shot. Chokes were Imp Cyl and Mod.

465H&H

That was the first time that I used the 20 on geese and thought that it worked quite well on the snows with lead #4's I haven't shot any canadians with it ye but I am quite sure it would work fine over decoys. I just hate wounding birds so I usually use my 10 or 12 when shooting steel.

I spent 7 days hunting in Sask last month and only took my 20ga. 3 of the 4 guys in our group shot nothing but 20's. We shot ducks and big canadas. i shoot 2's at geese and 4's at ducks all through a Carlson light modified sporting clays choke tube. We all used Kent Fasteel, 7/8oz at 1500 fps.

I've never used anything except a 12 for ducks and geese in roughly 40 yrs of chasing them. Until the '80s it was always in 2 3/4 chambered guns, then one day I got on the 3" bandwagon and stayed there.

Regardless of that I have to say the best shot on ducks I ever knew carried a Win Model 12 in 20 ga. I won't describe all his accomplishments, but he was the runner-up in the Stuttgart duck calling championship competition, and was a professional guide in his younger days, and by the time he and I started hunting together, his reputation as a caller was such that he virtually had a standing invite to hunt almost anywhere just for his calling ability.

Typically he didn't even raise that 20 ga until everyone else in the blind/pit/boat etc had fired and missed...hard to believe I know, but I was there. The others who hunted with us always carried 12s, usually 870s or 1100s, and I never asked why the 20, but just assumed in his earlier days he had used heavier guns and now simply preferred toting a lighter weight.

Anyhow, having said all that and it having been established beyond doubt that one can take waterfowl with the 20 ga, I think on this the more important issue is really between the 12 and the 20 which can do it better overall.

quote:

Originally posted by GrayDuck:
I spent 7 days hunting in Sask last month and only took my 20ga. 3 of the 4 guys in our group shot nothing but 20's. We shot ducks and big canadas. i shoot 2's at geese and 4's at ducks all through a Carlson light modified sporting clays choke tube. We all used Kent Fasteel, 7/8oz at 1500 fps.

Love to hear all the happy tales on Kent ammo. I shoot a 20 gauge Teknys, but I cheat and use Kent's Tungsten matrix ammo. That stuff in 5 shot will kill a goose from a long ways away. As a former sales rep for the company, I bought what I thought at the time was going to be the lifetime supply of 20 gauge matrix. Guess I should have bought a few more flats.
They had a clearance on an upland pheasant load in 12 gauge 1 1/8th oz #6 shot in TM so I bought that as well and is it ever a great duck load, ah the former perks........... FS

A 1oz load of #6 Hevi-shot is deadly on waterfowl in a 20ga. It will hammer mallards at 40+ yds. I use a CZ Bobwhite 20ga for most of my waterfowl hunting. For geese, I'll change to #4 Hevi-shot.

quote:

Originally posted by anukpuk:
i dont get to duck hunt too often but sure a lot of ducks this yr.
i have a nice moss 835 3 1/2, but would preferr a side by side that didnt weigh a ton kick hard . any advice

I sold my 12 gauge ten years ago, now only shoot 20 gauge.

Questions about the hevi-shot. I haven't used it so far but did look some over at the local store. I don't remember the price but it wasn't cheap. And it came in less than 25 to a box. Anyway, what I'm used to buying and using is approx one case or flat per season of Win Dryloks in #3. So how much would that run me in hevi-shot for the whole 250 rounds I would need and does it come in the 25 round boxes?

The last time I bought the steel shot it was about $12 for a box of 25 rounds.

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
Questions about the hevi-shot. I haven't used it so far but did look some over at the local store. I don't remember the price but it wasn't cheap. And it came in less than 25 to a box. Anyway, what I'm used to buying and using is approx one case or flat per season of Win Dryloks in #3. So how much would that run me in hevi-shot for the whole 250 rounds I would need and does it come in the 25 round boxes?

The last time I bought the steel shot it was about $12 for a box of 25 rounds.

Well in Canada Hevi shot is about $4.00 per shell, like the same in the USA, so you'd be looking at $1000.00 for 250.
They make a newer product called Hevi Steel, which is good but nothing like the original. Kent make a similar product called Tungsten Matrix, might be a little cheaper, just as lethal. FS

I'm using a Benelli M2 in 20 ga. over decoys with 1 oz. #6 Hevi-shot IC at about 35 yards. Kills em VERY dead, they all seem to be completely gone before the splash. Never even move on the way down.

The Hevi-shot is darn expensive but worth it to me. Fasteel is what I was using in a 12 but I think the the 20 with Hevi nails them even further out.

I love my 686 20ga. I used it to kill my limit of scoters today with 3" #4 steel. I did have to tap my single cripple but that is the norm with seaducks as I prolly used 10 shells tapping birds crippled with 12ga.

Good shooting. How are they for eating?

We'll make jerky out of sea ducks but these are now in dog training service. I took my limit plus one other to renew the dog training birds in the freezer and that rest went to friends for the same purpose.

Great thread guys. Glad to hear how seriously some of you are taking your 20s. Joe Hunter, thanks for the detailed patterning info.

Personally, I will stick with my 12 Ga. for ducks and geese. I did shift back and forth hunting (blue) quail and dove. I would start the season with my 20 Ga. and as the birds got wilder I would start carrying the 12 Ga.

For pheasant, I found too many birds were hit with a 20 but not dropped. Turkey, I never use less than a 12.

My experience has been that the better the shot, the less gun that can be carried. I had a friend years ago that could shoot dove with a 410 and outshoot the rest of us no matter what we carried. He was just that good.

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
Questions about the hevi-shot. I haven't used it so far but did look some over at the local store. I don't remember the price but it wasn't cheap. And it came in less than 25 to a box. Anyway, what I'm used to buying and using is approx one case or flat per season of Win Dryloks in #3. So how much would that run me in hevi-shot for the whole 250 rounds I would need and does it come in the 25 round boxes?

The last time I bought the steel shot it was about $12 for a box of 25 rounds.

Hevi-shot comes in boxes of 10. The great thing about shooting a 20ga is that the shells really are cheaper (unlike lead loads).
Macks Prairie Wings has decent prices on Hevi-shot: $15 a box http://www.mackspw.com/Item--i-ENV4102S

You will also probably notice that you get cleaner kills with hevishot so you will shoot less!

Thanks for taking the trouble to post that. I actually looked at the same site and have shopped at Mack's even when they were back at their old location.

The thing is, I duck hunt with the 12, not the 20. If I was going to use the hevi-shot in the 12, I see they have a load I'd be interested in..1 3/8 oz of #4. But, it's $25 a box which puts me back in the market for steel. They also don't have it in the 25 round boxes that I want.

Overall, for those who do prefer a 20 ga for duck hunting I'm glad to see all this success with it. But for me, I'm just stuck in the past on ga selection. I prefer short shot strings and lots of large pellets. The 3" 12 ga magnum with 1 3/8 oz has done it for me some 30 years now and I've never found it lacking. It's a real killer.

Clean kills with this load in steel are not a problem when the shooter does his part.

What is a problem is that Arkansas ducks and Tennessee deer open on the same day, leaving many of us torn between the two...

20ga is fine. bunch of one-shot kills yesterday with 3" steel #4s.

I usually select the heavier charge (full ounce of shot, vs. 7/8s) because they have velocities more akin to the standard field loads I shoot and therefore don't have to screw with changes is POI/pattern.

used a modified choke, but would usually opt for IC, didn't feel like screwing with it.

Ducks, turkeys, upland birds... the ONLY thing I wouldn't try a 20ga on is big geese. otherwise, just put it in the boiler room, it'll do the job.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
if you limit your range and use the proper choke(full), you oughta be fine.

eh... no.

IC or M would be all the choke you want. and I'd use steel out to 30yds without concern.
Steel, and many of the other "exotic" shot recipies tend to group MUCH tighter than lead.