A friend is joining a duck club in No. Cal. where twenties are favored, and he has asked for advice on a suitable O/U with a single selective trigger. I know nothing about O/U's, twenties, or single triggers, so pass on his request to y'all. It would need to be recent enough to handle steel, of course.

Thanks

Some years ago, a friend hunted geese and duck in Canada a lot. He used a 3" Browning Superposed 20 ga. and really enjoyed it successfully.

The Beretta 686/687 series are reliable, tough guns.

Your friend might take a look at a used SKB585 20 ga. I use one in 12ga and consider to be my "go to" waterfowl gun. Though a tad heavy for upland, would make one fine duck gun, choke tubed to boot.

Tony Galazan's Inverness, 20 gauge, 3" chambers, single trigger, steel compatible, screw in chokes. I won't put mine in a boat, but maybe your friend would.

I'd look around and pick something middle of the road of what the other folks are using. Then after settling in shoot whatever he feels like. Fitting in at the club might be the short term goal if there's an etiquette to be aware of.

The best thing about the Beretta 686/687 series is that you can send it to Coles in Maine and they'll install double triggers and safety for $300. Then, your choke choice will become meaningful...Geo

Buy the Bretta and save a nice Browning from the abuse. Barrels can be replaced. Stocks are available. Cost is reasonable. Duck guns can get a used like few other guns. Wet, dirt, mud, ice the odd fall or drop in the blind makes a dedicated waterfowl guns a hard life.

Don't know the prestige factor at the club. A few years ago I picked up a CZ Bobwhite 20ga for my saltwater waterfowl gun. Here on the coast the salt mist in the air will start things to rusting. The black chrome finish on the CZ barrel works well and a good coat of Johnsons Paste wax seems to work on the action. I have nicer guns for inland waterfowling.

CZ makes a decent gun that wouldn't be a worry in the duck blind.

Here we hunt the incoming tide and stand alongside a big chunk of drift wood and move inland with the tide(we have up to a 14' tide change)so our decoys are right near the edge of the water. No shelter from the wind, rain(60+" during duck season)and salt mist. Plus we're constantly laying the gun down to move decoys.

Then I've seen duck clubs that have walkways from the clubhouse to the blind with heat and easy chairs in the blind.

Please insure a 3 inch chamber for flexibility.
I use the 2 3/4 ammo for early season and very cold days.
I use 3 inch for later season and also for the chance goose.

Please insure he tests the trigger guard opening with the gloves he will be using for hunting. I use the olive drab wool glove inserts.

http://sportsmansguide.ca/net/cb/4-prs-o...b.aspx?a=916805

Mike

could play it save and get a combo
http://www.gunsamerica.com/984267142/Browning_Citori_525_Combo_12_and_20_ga.htm

Will have to be used: 20ga 3-inch SKB Model 500 single selective trigger, ducks and geese, light and all you'll need with decoys.

If your friend wants to impress the sports at this club, show up with a decent SxS, like a BSS Sporter 20 with 28" barrels and slightly opened chokes.

I would avoid a Citori for ducks, even though my favorite O/U duck gun is/was a Citori. They have a tendency to get grit in the safety mechanism and become unusable. Didn't worry that much about it until my gunsmith told me he sees a lot of Citoris with that problem and recommends against using them in typical CA duck hunting conditions. Buy a Beretta, if it must be an O/U 20. Tell him to avoid guns with a scalloped frame, because they tend to develop cracks after a diet of duck loads.

I used to hunt one of those clubs when a friend had a membership, and there was a lot of pass shooting. Depending on location and density of clubs in the area, it may be tough to get ducks to decoy consistently.

Thanks very much for all the excellent advice.

When I hunt ducks with a 20 O/U it is a Beretta BL-3 with 28" barrels choked M&F. I shoot Kent Matrix and Bismuth, thankfully I bought it on close outs some years back. If I were to shoot steel I'd buy a CZ for sure.

Duck (and goose) hunting today is more about ammunition than guns.
Since the mandate of non-toxic shot, anything shy of the 3" 12 gauge Magnum with steel shot represents a real handicap.
My son started with 3" 20 steel shot on waterfowl and quickly put it aside.
Now with shells such as HeviShot, the 3" 20 represents an option for ducks and possibly geese at close ranges. I have killed both with an RBL 20 and HeviShot but don't reccamend it for everyone except for jump shooting.
I would first advise the member to determine what shells he will be using and then determine the gauge , then gun whether o/u or whatever.
t
The reason that autoloaders have risen in popularity is strictly on recoil from the 12 gauge 3" and beyond shells.
I have been contemplating for a number of years switching fro a 12 3" o/u to a semi auto for exactly that reason.-Dick

I think you have to have a certain mind set when using any subgauge. When I started duck hunting lead was legal and we started the season with 1 oz of 7 1/2 and switched to 1oz of 6's in our 12's later in season hunting public lands in WI. We did well. When I moved to MN in the 70's we had to switch to steel and again never had the problems that others had, we still used our skeet choked guns and the ducks kept falling we just let them in close enough to kill with steel or light lead.

I'm out on the pacific coast now and still hunt public lands and do just fine with 7/8-1oz of #4steel out of my little 20ga, 3/4 oz of ITX 6'd in my 2.5" 16 and 7/8 oz of the same out of my 2.5"12's.

The big thing is not competing with other hunters, pick places where the ducks want to be and let the marginal shots go. Small decoy spreads in back corners of the marsh will draw birds after they've been blasted at over the big spreads out on the open water. Hunt places that you can't get to with a 16 foot jon boat. Lose the boat blind, many times I will sit on a bare bank with a couple of decoys right in front of me and the ducks will drop right. Don't burn out a spot, I have a spot about a 100 yards down the beach from a very popular point with a nice natural blind on it, you can just watch the ducks come down the beach, swing out around the point and swing back into my decoys. I only hunt it on days with the correct tide and wind.

I'd rather go out and shoot at five ducks in a day and bag them than blast away all day. I read about guys laying in a few flats of shells for the season, I can't imagine having to have that many shells to hunt ducks and I eat duck steady through the season.

I can see where your son would be frustrated with the 20 if your shooting a 12 and dropping ducks out near the limit of the 12 and not letting them in close enough for the twenty, remember he's learning to judge distance by what he's seeing you do. I've gone on hunts with guys that had me outgunned and suffered through a day of never getting a flock in close enough to shoot.

My go to duck guns, 20ga CZ Bobwhite and 12ga 2.5" Husqvarna 51 IC & MOD