I am taking up duck/goose hunting after 30+ years of pheasant/quail, deer, antelope,elk etc. hunting.
All my shotguns are nice older guns not suitable for diets high in steel. I started looking for a 3" barrel for my 870(slug gun) but stumbled onto a good used Browning BPS 3.5" ulti-mag with 24" special field barrel, invector-plus, choke tubes.
Now let me admit:
1)I never met a Browning I didn't like.
2)I really like shorter barrelled guns and I shoot them pretty well. I've always found longer tubes a bit awkward.
My question is:
with modern wads and choke tubes, is there any reason why a duck/goose gun should have a 28 or 30" barrel other than sighting plane??
I haven't patterned this BPS yet but, shouldn't the gun be capable of patterning close to a 30" tube if the shooter does his part??
This whole waterfowl thing is new to me, as is the 3.5" shell. My only other concern is weight of this piece of ordnance. Seems to me, any gun heavier than a good truck bumper, should come with wheels on one end. Since I only have to carry this to-from the blind, I can probably tolerate it.
Any thoughts on this barrel length?
Was I wrong to go with a 24" tube?
Actually, the short barrel was what brought the price of this gun low. The seller said everybody looking for a 3.5" wanted a "goose barrel". I figured if I liked it I could always get another barrel if I needed.
Thanks for any help.
All my shotguns are nice older guns not suitable for diets high in steel. I started looking for a 3" barrel for my 870(slug gun) but stumbled onto a good used Browning BPS 3.5" ulti-mag with 24" special field barrel, invector-plus, choke tubes.
Now let me admit:
1)I never met a Browning I didn't like.
2)I really like shorter barrelled guns and I shoot them pretty well. I've always found longer tubes a bit awkward.
My question is:
with modern wads and choke tubes, is there any reason why a duck/goose gun should have a 28 or 30" barrel other than sighting plane??
I haven't patterned this BPS yet but, shouldn't the gun be capable of patterning close to a 30" tube if the shooter does his part??
This whole waterfowl thing is new to me, as is the 3.5" shell. My only other concern is weight of this piece of ordnance. Seems to me, any gun heavier than a good truck bumper, should come with wheels on one end. Since I only have to carry this to-from the blind, I can probably tolerate it.
Any thoughts on this barrel length?
Was I wrong to go with a 24" tube?
Actually, the short barrel was what brought the price of this gun low. The seller said everybody looking for a 3.5" wanted a "goose barrel". I figured if I liked it I could always get another barrel if I needed.
Thanks for any help.