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duck hunters advice please

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well gents, this duck season will be my first. Ive always kinda been an outdoorsman but mostly fished and hiked. lately ive been invited to go duck hunting from friends. I have a Remington 1100 chambered for 2 3/4 Inch shells that was my dads. It sat in my grandfathers basement for a while so it has alittle rust on it, nothing effecting its accuracy or function.but anyways, it works fine, long story short. Im not exactly in the market to buy a new shot gun. Sooo, what i need to know is, what kind of 2 3/4 inch shell would be best for hunting ducks( mostly wood ducks)? Ive heard that black cloud is a good shell, but i dont want to spend a arm and a leg. thanks for your help!
 

Jfire

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With a 2 3/4" shell you need to hit the clays at the range hard. What ever shot brand you go with it needs to be heavy and fast. But before that the shot is going to have to be short and accurate. I would try to keep all shots within 35 yards. Go with a nitro steel or something in that range. Never used Bismuth or some of the others but I tend to think if I cant get em at 35 yards and in out of the blind I don't skybust. I would go w a bb size if you could find it.
 

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Your first year I would suggest to go with a cheap steel shot. You will probably be going through a lot of shells. Wood ducks do not fly high at all so I suggest 4 shot, maybe 6.i
 

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With a 2 3/4" shell you need to hit the clays at the range hard. What ever shot brand you go with it needs to be heavy and fast. But before that the shot is going to have to be short and accurate. I would try to keep all shots within 35 yards. Go with a nitro steel or something in that range. Never used Bismuth or some of the others but I tend to think if I cant get em at 35 yards and in out of the blind I don't skybust. I would go w a bb size if you could find it.
Spot on advice.
 

r3db4r0n

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I usually shoot #6 for all my waterfowl, steel shot is the law up here in Ontario and as for the shells, sound advice has already been given but for the most part I find it is all subjective.

You may also want to give some thought to your chokes, improved cylinder or modified choke are generally recommended for wood ducks, but I'd take Jfires advice and hit the range clays to see what works best for you first.
 
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With a 2 3/4" shell you need to hit the clays at the range hard. What ever shot brand you go with it needs to be heavy and fast. But before that the shot is going to have to be short and accurate. I would try to keep all shots within 35 yards. Go with a nitro steel or something in that range. Never used Bismuth or some of the others but I tend to think if I cant get em at 35 yards and in out of the blind I don't skybust. I would go w a bb size if you could find it.
Great advice here. I have had good luck with the Faststeel, but I think that my first season I did just fine with Nitro steel as well
 

Jfire

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So would Winchester xpert Hi velocity steel be a good round to go with?
Yes just make sure its a bigger size such as double BB. Stay away from 4s 6s and such. I've seen guys shoot T size for ducks. But those guys will shoot a clay from 40 out all day. (but clays don't change direction 3X during the final approach)
 

itallushrt

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Yes just make sure its a bigger size such as double BB. Stay away from 4s 6s and such. I've seen guys shoot T size for ducks. But those guys will shoot a clay from 40 out all day. (but clays don't change direction 3X during the final approach)
What?? For geese yes, for ducks NO.

I hunt and guide for ducks over 55 days a year and while there has been some good advice given some things need to be addressed first.

Your gun is it a fixed choke gun or does it have screw in chokes? This is extremely important as steel shot is much much harder than lead and doesn't compress in tighter restricted chokes. Something has to give somewhere and you don't want it to the barrel. If it has screw in chokes make sure you are using a modified or improved cylinder. Most chokes are marked on the exposed edge with dashes. 1 for full, 2 for improved modified, 3 for modified, 4 for improved cylinder, 5 for cylinder.

After you make sure you are going to be able to safely shoot steel out of your gun your best bet is to pattern a few shell types at the local range. Shooting air born clays doesn't tell you much. It takes a single pellet to bust a clay. You want to know how many you are getting in a 30" diameter circle at various distances. 20 yards, 30 yards and out to 45 yards. The effective killing range of steel dramatically decreases after 45 - 50 yards so don't bother going further.

With a clean piece of paper with a 30" diameter circle drawn in the center at these distances take 1 shot. record the number of pellets within that circle and right it on the paper. repeat with different shells and different distances. Once finished crack open a shell of each type and count the number of pellets. Use this to determine the % of pellets you are getting in the kill zone.

I see you are in South Carolina and you didn't mention sea ducks so I can only assume you are chasing puddle ducks - mallards, gadwall, wood ducks with the occasional black duck will likely be the most common ducks you encounter.

The Xperts in 2-3/4" #4 1-1/4 oz would be a good starting point. Federal Speed Shok (blue box) offers a 2-3/4" 1-1/8oz #4 also. Also try up to a #2 in each. These should be good starting points and are both cheap and widely available ammo. If you have the time to do it buy a box of each and go pattern the gun. I spend hours each year prior to season patterning various guns for myself and others because it is the only thing that will tell you what you can expect in the field.

As for the hunting itself...As the FNG ... look down, shut up and don't move till someone calls the shot. Everyone wants to watch the birds work, but glowing faces flair birds. Have fun.
 
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i looked on the barrel on the left hand side of it. it has Imp Cyl ... i assume this means improved cyl. You think that will work with steel? yes im goin mostly wood ducks
 

itallushrt

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i looked on the barrel on the left hand side of it. it has Imp Cyl ... i assume this means improved cyl. You think that will work with steel? yes im goin mostly wood ducks
Steel will be fine out of it. For the woodrows I shoot 2 3/4" #4s. Try to find something at least 1 1/4 oz and if possible pattern the gun at the range one afternoon.
 
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