doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Canada Goose loads

Is there any consensus on who makes a good Canada Goose load for relatively close range using IC/M chokes and a 3" chamber? The gun is a good quality Spanish O/U (not mine).

I was looking at Kent Bismuth and it appears they do not make it in larger shot sizes (#4 is the max I can find).

I use B or #1 for close in geese

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/12-gauge?ss=1&sl=3

BUT you can get larger size bismuth here

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/12-gauge?ikw=bismuth&sl=3

Mike

Thanks Mike, that looks like a super useful site. That should help a lot. I'm a little worried about the size of shot to send through her M choke gun if it was steel, but with Bi, that should not be too much of a problem.

I've been using #2 Bi with blackpowder to very good effect so far in my guns, but this time it's not my gun.

I have some old Bi BBs left over from the old Bismuth Cartridge gun to use up as well.

Depending on the gun, I'd probably look for some Kent tungsten polymer. I bought some years ago and it's so good that I save it for special hunts. Don't know if it's still in production.

I don't know about a consensus, but the last close range geese I killed were at the tail end of a woodie shoot in a beaver pond. I was using 3" RIO Blue Steel #4s, and a -.005" "choke" tube (that is five thousandths more open than CYL) for the woodies. Heard a flight of geese coming up the creek and waited. When they cleared the trees I was ready, and had two big Canadas dead in the air at the same time, with their heads and necks flopped back over their backs. When I say close range I mean 25 yards or less. At 25 yards you can kill them dead as a hammer with most anything that is legal.

You lead a goose's head, not it's body. Doesn't take much to kill a goose's head at 25 yards or less. If I had been goose hunting I would have had more choke, but the aforementioned proved to me that we often "over choke", for the game.

SRH

What's the size limit for steel shot through a modified choke? Why not just run a little steel through it.

I do not know if there is a general rule, but when I had Briley put tubes in one of my doubles, they made it clear, =#4s was the max size for their chokes and the max choke for ANY steel was Modified.

Of course those are thin walled tubes and the steel in them is different than in the other chokes in the same set.

In this case, however, the chokes are fixed. I've always applied Briley's rule to all other guns, but I do not know if it is valid.

Bismuth is for longer shots. Steel 2's will serve at close range. Number 2 steel works fine in my modern guns with modified choke...Geo

I don't specifically target geese but I will take them if they decoy to my duck decoys. I shoot 7/8 oz of ITX 6's and 1 oz of Bismuth 5's, they have worked just fine.

I guess the question of what size shot for geese really depends on what range you are willing to limit yourself to.

These were taken with 7/8 oz of ITX 6's as the came into my decoys.

As per usual, my "Jawja" amigo- you are right on the money. I try to use 2&3/4" 1&1/4 steel loads (No. 2) in my full choked M12 12 gauges- But I have also used the same loads in my Mossyburgh 835 Ulti=Mag, with the Mod. choke tube installed. Pattern testing at- 30-35 yards shows almost identical density of patterns from these guns. But, IMO anyway- patterning on paper at measured distances at a static target is waaay different from actual field conditions- wind, weather and "eye-ball" measurements for distance and height.

You can kill geese in the air "dead-nutz" with head shots, I prefer incoming shots, and if I stand up to shoot as the bird(s) approach my hide- they tend to flare, which slows their forward momentum, places their heads in a somewhat upright mode, then the old "Butt-Belly-Beak- Bang principal works well-

Being somewhat of a cheapskate at heart, I seldom use 3" steel loads in the Sept- Dec bonus seasons here in our flyway- I may use them in the later Winter "bonus" seasons. Love to hunt geese- and a few mallards are "extra frosting on the cake--" Since steel shot became the law, I pass up teal and woodies--if I were to hunt those smaller birds, I'd opt for 1 oz. Steel no. 6 shot-- RWTF