Shotguns: Rethinking the 3 ½-inch 12

[HD]

Shotguns: Rethinking the 3 ½-inch 12
By Phil Bourjaily





In the past, I haven’t had many good things to say about the 3 ½ 12 gauge. The increase in recoil, to my mind, didn’t justify the increase in performance over the 3-inch 12. This season my views shifted a little. The problem with 3 ½ shells isn’t the shells, it’s the guns we shoot them out of.

The problem with the 3 ½-inch 12 is that hunters want lighter and lighter guns, or maybe the industry makes lighter guns and convinces us that’s what we want (3 ½-inch shells and light guns for turkey hunting are an argument for another time). Three and a half inch shells fired from light guns, especially light fixed-breech and inertia guns, kick hard. Heavy guns don’t recoil as hard. It’s physics.

But, try telling that to the goose hunter I talked to a little while ago. He asked me what he could do about the way the trigger guard of his Super Vinci bruised his middle finger every time he set it off.

“Why don’t you stop shooting 3 ½-inch shells?” I asked him. He looked at me as if I had suggested he wear blaze orange coveralls and a propeller beanie to hunt geese.

“You have to shoot 3 1/2s,” he said.

“Maybe you should try a heavy gas gun,” I suggested, but no, he liked his Super Vinci too much. It was light.

Having picked on the Super Vinci here, I’ll say the worst I’ve been kicked in a long time was when I shot a 3 ½-inch, 6 ¾-pound inertia operated Browning A5 on the Gun Nuts TV show. I loaded it with Federal’s hot 3 ½-inch, 1 ½-ounce 1450 fps loads and tried to shoot an easy triple with it. I tried it several times. It was no problem with target loads, but with 3 1/2s I could break the first two, but I could never recover from the recoil of the first two shots in time to shoot the third before it hit the ground. We filmed the segment in slow motion, and my face goes all rubbery and looks a little like those pictures you see of boxers taken at the instant they get punched in the jaw.

So the 3 ½-inch 12 has been pretty much dead to me, until this year when I picked up a 2003-vintage Winchester Super X2. It weighs 8 ¼ pounds, has a gas operated action, a Decelerator pad, all of which mitigate recoil. When fed comparatively mild (low velocity, higher payload) 3 ½-inch shells, it doesn’t recoil painfully, especially as most of my goose hunting occurs when I am bundled up like the Michelin Man. (The Remington VersaMax is another I’d consider if I wanted a dedicated 3 ½-inch goose gun). Shooting the X3 and 3 1/2s was a whole new experience. I could empty it and hit what I was shooting at with my third shot. That said, I’m not sure the extra pellets I sent downrange this season resulted in any more dead geese than usual, but at least the 3 1/2 hits them harder than it hits me now that I’ve got the right gun.

[Rebel SS]

I was gonna mention pick up a 12 Gauge Winnie goose gun from the 60's.... after carrying it for hours, ya had a permanent lean to one side. 

[Bobberineyes]

My thoughts on the story would be ( besides being a puss) it really doesn't matter on weight, your in a field blind. Dressed as the Michelin man as he says recoil shouldn't matter, besides when birds are in range who sits back and thinks about man I'm not shooting too many rounds Cuz it hurts. On a sunny summer day at the range in a t-shirt feels different.

[Auggie]

Never owned a 3 1/2" gun. Never will. I grew up in goose country near LQP Refuge and would venture to say my 30 + year old browning bps and even older A5, both 3" have killed more geese than most. Sky busting geese with a 3 1/2 has never interested me at all. The challenge should be pulling the geese in as close as ya can. Same with turkeys. Close is the fun of it! Research your loads and call them in close, and never worry about your shoulder

[The General]

My thoughts on the story would be ( besides being a puss) it really doesn't matter on weight, your in a field blind. Dressed as the Michelin man as he says recoil shouldn't matter, besides when birds are in range who sits back and thinks about man I'm not shooting too many rounds Cuz it hurts. On a sunny summer day at the range in a t-shirt feels different.

Hahahahaha.  My thoughts exactly.  What a candy a$$.   I've had a Browning 3 1/2 inch since the age of 18 and when hunting I couldn't tell you which load was shot as they are all the same when the adrenaline is pumping or your focus is somewhere else.  I still carry that same gun pheasant hunting at the age of 40 and never get tired from holding the gun.  Plowing through cattails can be another story but it has nothing to do with the gun.  If I ever get back into goose hunting I'm going to buy a 10guage for schmidts and giggles.  I think Remington used to make an auto loader 10 gauge. 

[snow1]

Well,the biggest factor this guy missed was the "Pattern",12ga 3.5 chambers have an issue with bore diameter,pushing 1.75 payload outof the 12ga bore of steel shot most often results in a blowin pattern,but most folks woul'nt know this unless they pattern a few different manufacturer's combined with different chokes to see what actually works best for the shooter.After reseaching and testing patterns of different ammo and gun manufacturers we cane to the conclusion that the best performance shootiing 3.5 ammo comes outof a 10ga shotgun,large diameter bore = great patterns

Also for the guy that is a little recoil sensitive I agree that gas operated shotguns shoot smoother the issue lies when hunting in cold weather,the gas does'nt compress and cycling issues occure.

I had a goose hunting operation for years in rochester,two man pits and when it temps dropped to 20degrees or colder we had a number of semi auto single shot shotguns and alot of swearing except for the benelli and beretta's...sx-1,sx-2's,browning gold,11-87's did'nt matter,now the newer sx-3 might be better but have'nt been around one.

I will say the beretta A400 xtreme (which replaced the extrema2 (3.5"chamber) with out a doubt is the softest shooting magnum gun I've shot with its built in kick off recoil system,its both inerhia and gas operated but only has two ports rather than 4,shoots as fast as my benelli SBE2 and flawless.

Further,I rarley shoot 3.5's out of my 12ga I like the idea of the magnum shotgun,sure its a little heavier but it can handle alot of shooting,1000's of rds every fall from sept thru april(we're on snow geese right now)

Thats my .02,oh and shot shell perference for my shotguns/chokes is 3" hevi  shot/hevi metal in duces with .025 extended choke constriction.(improved modified)

And if that does'nt do the job out comes the 10ga,usually for pass shooting,that sucker reaches out and touches'em real good.