[Lucky13]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">I'm looking to pick up a case of 3" #2's of Kent Fasteel.&nbsp;&nbsp; It appears that the following are my options:</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">1 1/8oz.&nbsp; @ 1560fps</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">1 1/4oz&nbsp;&nbsp; @ 1425fps</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">1 3/8oz&nbsp;&nbsp; @ 1300fps</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Is speed or #of pellets more important, and what would you recommend?</P>

 

[Ducksmasher]

<P>speed kills, but I will tel you this. I use the 3.5 1 1/4 oz 1625 FPS #2's and they don't even penetrate the breast meat. They knock the bird down, but most often have to put another shot into them. You want a great round for geese, use BBB. As far as speed VS pellet count. Sure the number of pellets help some times but it shouldn't be your deciding factor on buying or not buying the ammo. As long as your aim is true, then use what your gun and choke combo shoot the best. Everybody gets hung up on speed, choke tubes etc. You shoot what is best for you and your gun set up. Hope that helps.</P>

 

[deadduck6]

buy hevi-shot.

 

[ignantmike]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">lucky13.....not sure what kind off gun you shoot but, i have found that my beretta 390 shoot's the 1400 and lower load's better......i have read before that the skinny bore&nbsp; gun's shoot slower better&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P>

 

[Duckdude]

<P>my experience it really doesn't make much of a difference. i just go on the principal of "the faster the better." with steel you will probably need a kill shot regardless half the time. i like heavy shot but i honestly would rather take 2 shots at 40 cents than one at $2.00. just isn't economic</P>

 

[tripleb]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">You can cut way back on the swatter shots you need to use by using a decent patterning load/choke combination.&nbsp; I have to fire very few swatter shots at birds I have hit during the course of a season.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">When I did some pattern testing for Drundel on The Refuge,&nbsp; he was using Kent 3" 1 1/8 oz. #3 steel shells.&nbsp; He was dissatisfied with the patterns he was getting from them with his factory and&nbsp;Briley chokes in his SBE and since I was posting about the improvement I had seen in my Nova's patterning with the .675" Terror, he sent me some shells to test with&nbsp;it before he layed out the money for a Terror choke.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">If you go to his website, click on his underlined name, which will bring you to the patterns he shot. Look at the&nbsp;Kent&nbsp;3" 1 1/8 oz.&nbsp;#3 patterns he shot at 40 yards with his chokes, including a Briley IM.&nbsp; Then, click on my name and go down&nbsp;the page about 3/4's of the way to the notation, "April 22, 2004", on the left side of the page&nbsp;and there are five&nbsp;patterns I shot with the same load at 40 yards, but with the .675" Terror.&nbsp; The&nbsp;improvement is&nbsp;quickly apparent.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The Terror chokes were initially developed by a couple of fellows who&nbsp;liked the way the Italian guns&nbsp;felt to them and functioned, but were dissatisfied with how they patterned fast steel loads.&nbsp; With the Terror chokes, they came up with a solution to the probem.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">I had been trying to convince Big Mexican to spend some money on a .675" Terror choke for his SBE and buy some decent fast steel shells instead of the Cheap Mart afterseason clearance sale shells he normally purchased, to cut down on crippling.&nbsp;&nbsp;After finally springing for one, and using some Kent fast steel 2's for a season, he admitted that he had&nbsp;to fire considerably fewer swatter shots and, in spite of the tighter patterns, did not miss any more than he would normally have, shooting a modified.&nbsp; </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Of course,&nbsp; Big Mexican is a good shot.&nbsp; A Terror choke would not be of much help to a bad shot, except to allow him to make his misses more cleanly. But buying decent patterning fast shells with shot sizes #3 or #2, instead of #4 steel (except for teal), will go a long way in cutting down on cripples.</P>

 

[Bshive]

<P>I don't understand why everyone recommends a full choke tube.&nbsp; Isn't that a little too tight for under 30 yards?&nbsp; I have shot the Winchester Xpert shells for a year now and haven't had one complaint.&nbsp; If you do your homework, you shouldn't need to use a full choke tube and take shots at 40 and 50 yards.&nbsp; </P>

 

[tripleb]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">It depends on where you hunt.&nbsp; I hunted opening day last year with Big Mexican in a public marsh, probably about a quarter section in size, or less.&nbsp; There had to be at least 20-30 other guys in the same marsh with us.&nbsp; Lots of people moving around in an open area&nbsp;makes it necessary to have the&nbsp;equipment and shooting skills to make the&nbsp;longer ranged shots.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Big Mexican hunts Grand Lake St. Marys a lot.&nbsp; When I started shooting with him, he couldn't believe that tight patterning chokes were necessary to take ducks, as an IC and later a Mod had always been satisfactory on GLSM.&nbsp; Of course, he admitted that they probably had to fire swatter shots at about 25 %&nbsp;birds they dropped, even when using a retriever.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">When I took him hunting where I normally hunted, he discovered those 15-25 yard pud shots he got at GLSM were the exception after the sun came up and a&nbsp;good patterning load/choke combination for shots in the 35-40 yard range might be better choice.&nbsp; He later bought a .675" Terror choke and found his swatter shot requirements were much reduced, even at GLSM.&nbsp; </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The choke shoots duck loads at 40 yards about the same size pattern as a standard modified choke, but with increased pattern density (pellet count)&nbsp;and more even distribution with most loads.&nbsp; So it's not really any tighter than a modified in performance, but tends to put 12-20% more shot in that pattern with many fast steel loads in Italian guns.&nbsp; With goose load shot sizes, it often will produce a more center dense pattern, however.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">We all tend to become parochial in our view of how waterfowling should be done, having done it for years in the same locations and with the same equipment.&nbsp; It's not done the same way throughout the state, much less throughout the country.&nbsp; When I hunted GLSM for the first time, I was as surprised at the 15-25 yard pud shots being presented as Big Mexican was at the longer ranged shots required where I hunted less than 75 miles away from GLSM.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Take a look at Drundel's patterns with fast steel at 25 and 40 yards using his chokes.&nbsp; Many of them are pretty sorry, even at 25 yards. That's why he wanted something different.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">http://www.shotshell.drundel.com/patterns/</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P>