Thinking about picking one up for duck hunting. Anyone familiar with the gun? Give me the good and the bad.
Thinking about picking one up for duck hunting. Anyone familiar with the gun? Give me the good and the bad.
I would say that that gun is to light for duck hunting and the use of 3" shells. The Feather models have alloy receivers to make them lighter in weight. In my opinion the Feather weight guns are more upland hunting carry gun, where you hike a lot and just shoot every now and then. I know i am not man enough to touch off any 3" duck loads in a gun like that. I you have your heart set on a Browning O/U for duck hunting, I would stay with the standard guns with steel receivers.
I found a really really good deal on a 725 feather. Recoil has never been a concern of mine, to be honest, I never notice it. If that is the only issue, I better go grab it.
Upland guns tend to point quickly but do not work as well when swinging through for a long shot on fowl. Nice gun for sure but I would pick an 870 before it for fowl.
Yeah I know. I've been shooting wingmaster all my life. I really believe that there is no better shotgun than a wing master. But, sometimes you just get an itch you can't scratch. LOL. I went ahead and picked up the browning today. $1100.00 brand new in box. I just couldn't pass it up.
I took my O/U duck hunting once. I prefer 3 shots for ducks. And, no that does not mean the third one was a prayer. Sometimes you have cripples you need to put down. Also, IMO the environment of duck hunting does not lend itself well to break open guns. To cumbersome in the blind or waist deep in water.
Bruce
2019 20 TRX Patriot
Mercury 250 ProXS Fourstroke
HDS 12 Live - Console
HDS 9 Live - Bow
You got a great buy! Congratulations!
I gotta say I love this gun. Shot some clay birds the other day and did well with it. I've never shot any other shotgun than my Wingmasters, so I kept trying to rack another shell on the doubles. 3 boxes of trap loads and a box of duck loads, just to get a,feel for it. I can't say I noticed the recoil any more than on my other guns.
We hunt small rivers, streams, ponds and fields over decoys 99.9% of the time, so, I don't think the smaller lighter gun will be an issue. We don't have a lot of long passing shots anyway. I just hope that the alloy receiver will hold up to 3 inch duck loads all the time. Fortunately, living in Ohio, we don't exactly wear out our guns shooting at ducks, lol.
cripples are a good point. I'm old and slow, so, I'm usually the one shooting cripples. I alway have a shell or two left. We rarely hunt more than 3 in a 16 foot jet boat or 5 in my 18 foot vee hull, so room isn't an issue. I won't use an auto loader. I tried my sons versa max and just didn't like it. It's a very long gun. Most autos are. I wanted a quicker second shot so, a double seems like a good solution.Originally Posted by berudd
don't blame you one bit for buying that gun at that price. I want a 725 in 20 gauge, but with the steel receiver, mostly for rabbit hunting.
I had two woodie land in the decoys. Second shot knocked one down, dead I thought. Collected himself and flew off. If I'd had a third shell I could have fixed that's
In a boat, or blind, is a place I really don't like a double. To reload you have to point the muzzle down and then swing it back up. Potential to sweep your hunting partners. With a slide action, the muzzle can remain up the whole time.
Last edited by berudd; 07-05-2017 at 05:35 PM.
Bruce
2019 20 TRX Patriot
Mercury 250 ProXS Fourstroke
HDS 12 Live - Console
HDS 9 Live - Bow
I own 2 Citori 725's and I never leave for upland without one but...I would never take one to a duck blind for all the aforementioned reasons. Cumbersome in a blind or with waders, want the 3rd shot and 3.5" shells, doesn't follow through as well and a duck gun must take a beating under the harshest conditions. For duck hunting I went with the new A-5 but there are plenty of other good "duck guns" out there.
5 Short of a limit
A SxS is easier in a duck blind than an O/U because it doesn't need to break nearly as far.. I dont duck hunt much but never had a problem with my O/U's in a blind when I did--definitely no issue with muzzle control and hunting partners, but that may depend on exactly the blind. As far as follow through and taking a beating, there's no reason a double can't do either just as well--providing you get one that fits the use. Long barrels on a heavier double will follow through just as well as any autoloader or pump--for me I far prefer the handling of a double for exactly this reason, becasue i think it does a better job than the fixed-barrel guns I own. And, my double gun that I've used for this has been used in a duck blind since 1913 (yes, you read that right) and is still going strong, so while I might choose a plastic stocked auto as a sacrificial gun I call BS on a good quality double not being able to take abuse just fine. For sure there's a reason why autoloaders and pumps are popular with duck hunters though, although I think a significant part of that reason is simply that you get a better quality gun for the money with a pump or autoloader, doubles are much more expensive to do well.
Not being able to handle it and not wanting to subject it to it are 2 very different thingsThe 725's are just too pretty for me to toss into a duck blind/ boat, lol.
5 Short of a limit
I do all my own woodwork on my guns, so I don't mind so much and I just cant get into plastic and even a 725 kind of leaves me cold--I just fix em and refinish as necessary! But I'm probably the only guy around with a custom-stocked exhibition-grade walnut 870-express.
But you are entirely correct, I think most people prefer to beat on a plastic stock at half the price.
The more I shoot this gun, the more I like it. It fits me well and is a natural shooter for me. I've put about 500 rounds through it since I picked it up. I think by teal season I should be shooting as well with it as I do my wingmasters. The blind and the mud will be rough. But when I buy a gun, I buy it to hunt with, not to look at. If it gets a little character, so be it.
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