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Thanks for the tip on the 6 shot Hawgsquatch--wow what a username hehe.
So #6 will work good for mean stray dogs and not travel far?
My daughter wants a target thrower for her birthday--she has a 12 gauge single shot...
I was thinking to get her regular loads instead of target loads so they would be dual purpose--can someone educate me on this? What would be the shells to buy.
 
Thanks for the tip on the 6 shot Hawgsquatch--wow what a username hehe.
So #6 will work good for mean stray dogs and not travel far?
My daughter wants a target thrower for her birthday--she has a 12 gauge single shot...
I was thinking to get her regular loads instead of target loads so they would be dual purpose--can someone educate me on this? What would be the shells to buy.
I would practice with trap and skeet loads # 7-1/2 and these will work just fine for varmints. If you wish to kill a stray dog and not maim it, you should shoot magnum BB's or #4 buck. I would not recommend shooting anything that isn't threatening you or yours as we live in a very litigious society and you don't want to be responsible for such an issue as a shot family pet.

Oh, the screen name is because I live in Bigfoot's back yard.
 
slugs while not much cheaper are more available for 16

I see slugs getting harder to find also , about half of Wisconsin was slug only until last year now just a few small pockets are , 650,000 deer tags issues for the 9 day season hear if 250,000 to 300,000 people had to use slugs and no longer that's a chunk of the slug market do, Ohio the hole state was slug only for deer this year they approved strait wall rifle cartridges like 45/70 , and pistol cartridges like 44mag

it will of course take time for people to switch and some never will but there are a lot of reasonably priced shotguns in southern Wisconsin new because many have put them up for sale to buy a rifle

I thinl that some of these slug only areas had people using shot guns when they would have not otherwise and may have been keeping 16 alive for slugs any way
 
A small note about buckshot.....its very limited in its effectiveness. It bounces off of windshields and hard surfaces, it deforms and leaves holes in the pattern. It fails to penetrate on thick skinned targets. It reduces its energy into .22 sized projectiles which being spherical transfer less energy. It is really outdated. The only thing it's good for is penetrating wallboard and killing your kids in the next room when half the pattern misses the bad guy in the kitchen. If I had to put down a rabid coyote or fox a load of three inch BBs' will kill it dead with no potential collateral damage. If the bad guy is behind a tree a 1 ounce copper Brenneke slug will kill the tree before it kills him. I think the ultimate home defense round is a load of #6 lead. It will devastate and attacker yet leave the family and neighbors safe. I do like rubber buckshot for ***** and skunks under a house. It kills em and doesn't risk safety.
there is always potential collateral damage but smaller shot reduces it

there are a bunch of sizes of buck shot #4 is becoming more popular because it has more but smaller about 20 22cal or .22 inch balls in a single shell , this provides penetration yet limits it in range while giving more projectiles on target

the way #6 works at very close distances inside 20 feet is that it is still traveling as one mass in the wad , but very shortly past that it spreads and becomes ineffective

if it worked that well i would be short a co-worker who was shot at close range just across a room less than 15 feet with a load of #6 , they had to reroute his stomach for a while, it produces a gruesome flesh wound but often won't reach vital organs when needed to , he has lived 20 some years after being shot , he was shot by a schizophrenic room mate in college.

several swat teams have moved to #4 buck and that would be my first choice

but i know my grandfather used #4 shot for most everything on the farm , it was cheap and worked at inside the barn distances but he also used a 12ga with a full choke for everything , it patterned very tight i shot one of my first squirrels with that gun at nearly 40 yards and #6 the pattern was about 3 feet at that distance but adequately dense that i had 6 pellets in that tree rat i had to pick them out so we could eat it for dinner.

part of why you need to pattern any gun with any given load at a few distances to know where your going to hit and with how much shot
 
My two cents on shot size selection.

For rats, small birds and such I use 7 1/2.

For rabbit and larger birds I use 6.

For general/large varmint control (feral cats, ***** and dogs at close range) I use 4.

For defense against larger critters I usually keep it loaded with two #4 buckshot followed by two 00 (double ought) buckshot and the final round is a slug.
 
A few thoughts,

Green Country Pete talks about putting the right ammunition in a shotgun. The size of the chamber is stamped onto the barrel. Always use shells of the gauge stamped on the barrel. A 12 guage barrel may say for 2 3/4, 3, or 3 1/2 inch shells. A 20 gauge barrel for 2 3/4 or 3 inch shells. You are not limited to the length of shell stamped on the barrel. You are limited to the length stamped on the barrel or shorter. For instance, it is perfectly OK to shoot 2 3/4 inch shells from a barrel stamped for 3 inch.

I like GCP's idea about personalizing your gun. When I teach gun safety I stress that you have to know your gun intimately. When you are sitting in a deer stand or duck blind in the dark and waiting for the sun to come up, you want to make the noise loading your gun and putting the safety on in the dark, not just before legal shooting time. When I was in college my best area of study was "the human female anatomy by the brail method" and this is similar.

I am not a fan of racking the action of a pump as a warning when someone is breaking into your house. If you do that it means that either the chamber was empty or you just ejected a live shell. In either case you have just reduced the number of shells your shotgun holds by one. I do get that you might want to keep an empty chamber for safety if you have other family members that could get their hands on the gun. If you have a home invasion with 4 or 5 perpetrators you will need every round the gun will hold. This is also why I can't recommend a single shot as an all around gun.

I have always used Hoppe's # 9 to remove the gunpowder residue followed by gun oil to prevent rust. I like the smell of #9 almost as much as the smell of burned gunpowder. This has worked well for decades until I picked up a couple guns that needed something else. I bought a 1962 Browning Superposed 2 barrel set that had quite the build up of plastic in the full choke barrels. The T17 Foaming Bore Cleaner and a wire brush removed the plastic with a bit of elbow grease. I have shot a lot of trap, with other guns, without the plastic build up when cleaning with the #9 so I don't know what the previous owner was using. I also got a Smith and Wesson 586 revolver with a nickle coating. I happened to discover that if you leave a coating of #9 on this gun it will cause the nickle to separate from the gun. I have started cleaning it with RemOil instead and it seems to work OK.

I like #4 buck for self defense. Each pellet is like a 22 bullet. It will defiantly, "git er done". I don't have to worry about shooting other members of the household because I live alone. I also happen to have about 20 pounds of it sitting in a coffee can from back in the day when they sold it by the 25 pound bags for the same price as any other size and I was loading it for pass shooting geese.
 
I would practice with trap and skeet loads # 7-1/2 and these will work just fine for varmints. If you wish to kill a stray dog and not maim it, you should shoot magnum BB's or #4 buck. I would not recommend shooting anything that isn't threatening you or yours as we live in a very litigious society and you don't want to be responsible for such an issue as a shot family pet.

Oh, the screen name is because I live in Bigfoot's back yard.
Thanks for the info...
I know the law very well---I'll just leave it at that...The law in Indiana is very specific that you can kill a dog that is injuring or harassing your livestock. My chickens have been wiped out twice this summer, and both dogs also threatened/tried to bite me when I tried to chase them off. I have also been trapped in my barn on MY OWN property by loose pitbulls where the sheriffs department had to come with guns drawn to rescue me (luckily I had my cell phone in my pocket to call for help but no gun drats!)...unless it is a friendly dog that is lost that is not killing my animals ..well,,,you can surmise the rest of the story. These however are not stray dogs--the strays that come around here are scared of people and usually run when they see you--they often eat out of the dog food bowl I leave on my porch--I have no problems with them coming around as long as they dont kill animals or bite me. I have never (so far) had an incidence with a stray/wild dog...these are dogs that are owned by people that regularly let them run or they have escaped their pen or whatever....again if their friendly I have no issues and try to find the owner--but I'll be danged if a dog on my property is going to kill my food and try and bite us...
 
Nimrod-"I am not a fan of racking the action of a pump as a warning when someone is breaking into your house. If you do that it means that either the chamber was empty or you just ejected a live shell"
This particular gun was empty at the time--but was the closest/quickest to grab and load.
 
Watcher--can you explain why you do this? "For defense against larger critters I usually keep it loaded with two #4 buckshot followed by two 00 (double ought) buckshot and the final round is a slug."--do you eject what you dont need to get to the one you need? Is that the idea of loading them this way?
 
Watcher--can you explain why you do this? "For defense against larger critters I usually keep it loaded with two #4 buckshot followed by two 00 (double ought) buckshot and the final round is a slug."--do you eject what you dont need to get to the one you need? Is that the idea of loading them this way?
You could eject the one you didn't need. I load them that way because each following has more range, less coverage but more individual punch than the other. I figure if a furball starts its most likely to start up close and if possible I'm going to try to get farther away from where it started ASAP but I still want to be able to reach out and touch any thing which has other ideas.
 
My vote would actually be for three weapons, with very different uses. I know you said one, but guns are tools, and just like you wouldn't drive a nail with a pipe wrench, you really need the right gun for the job.

1) As others have said -- a shotgun. My favorite shotgun is an antique 16 gauge breech loading single shot that has been in the family for generations. It's dead simple to operate and, for a shotgun, doesn't weigh or kick much. Can't remember the manufacturer at the moment. Unfortunately, it's also my father's favorite gun, so *my* shotgun is a modern pump action mossberg 12 gauge with interchangeable barrels -- short and long, short for when I need a wide pattern and long with a choke for hitting things at a distance.

A 12 gauge with buckshot will pretty much stop anything you want it to stop short of a grizzly. My mossberg is generally loaded with one round of birdshot, then two rounds of buckshot. I'm most likely to need it for dispatching a rattlesnake or a coyote, and the birdshot will work for that, but if I need to shoot a bear or a lion, that's what the buckshot is for.

I also have slugs for the 12 gauge in case I need to put an animal down. I've been in the unfortunate situation of needing to shoot a goat that had been mauled by a dog and not having any suitable ammunition on hand. I never want to listen to an animal scream in pain like that again and not be able to end her suffering quickly. (I had just decided to slit her throat with a knife when she passed.)

We have a couple .177 caliber air rifles for varmit control. They're good for target practice (great guns to learn on), and are great on anything up to about jackrabbit size with the right kind of hunting ammo. I routinely dispatch squirrels, gophers, and the like with them. They're very accurate and very light, and the ammo is really cheap. Get one with a scope if you have vision problems like I do (severe myopia and astigmatism) -- the scope makes a huge difference.

As a side note, it IS possible, with a lucky shot, to kill a large animal with an air rifle. I've killed a large dog (GSD) that was going after my goats with a lung shot when I had no other weapon handy. I was actually aiming for his head but he was running and turned at the last second. (And then I literally bought my shotgun the very next day.) A gut shot will generally kill a large animal too, but it's a long and nasty way to die and not something I'd deliberately do. However, you're not likely to make a humane kill that way, and there's no stopping power. I just want to note this because some people think air rifles are toys and they are definitely NOT. They should be treated with the same amount of caution and respect as any other rifle.

I'd like to upgrade to a .22 air rifle, but a good one is a bit spendy. I like air rifles because they're quiet (the noise they make is about like a pneumatic nail gun), and in my area, they're legal to shoot around buildings. I can't legally shoot squirrels in my yard with my shotgun but I can with an air rifle. Even if I could shoot the tree rats with a shotgun I'd still use the pellet gun -- it's less likely to put holes in my veggies, and the noise doesn't startle the neighbors. (In Arizona, except in emergencies, "firearms" can't be fired within 1/4 mile of any sort of building or trailer, including travel trailers. A pellet gun is not considered a firearm.)

I would also suggest a sidearm of your choice. A long gun is hard to carry around all the time.

If you live in the country, there WILL be times you will want to be armed. For example, last summer, we had a (suspected) rabies outbreak here and both my father and I had our guns pretty much glued to our hips.

I carry my pistol when I'm berry picking or hiking, particularly if I have the goats or dogs with me when I'm hiking. We have bears and lions here, but I'm actually more worried about rabid critters. The human element is a distant concern and I'm not really that worried about critters coming after me (unless rabid) but I do worry about the safety of my animals. Dogs are on the menu for some lions, and everything bobcat size and up considers goats tasty.

If I could only have one weapon, it would be a sidearm of some kind because it's pretty hard to carry a shotgun on your hip, but I would REALLY miss my air rifle ...

ETA: Before buying a shotgun, be sure to try that model out. I wish I'd gotten a different model of shotgun. That 12 gauge has a heckuva kick and I don't shoot it nearly as often as I should because it makes me sore. The last time I took it out and practiced with it, I had bruises later. If I were actually hunting something that I needed a shotgun for, I'd probably borrow my father's 16 gauge. It kicks less, and it's lighter, so my arms don't get fatigued as fast. My 12 gauge is perfectly serviceable and is the "right tool" for a lot of jobs, and I just suck it up and deal with it when I shoot it (I'm a big girl, a few bruises aren't that big of a deal) but it's definitely not my favorite gun by a long shot.
 
Cygnet--I was actually looking at an air pistol yesterday--again, just handling it made me nervous and sick to my stomach...I just cannot use a pistol.
I love my 410 pump--it is smaller than the 12 g and easier for me to use as it kicks less and weighs less. It does need a new barrel and I have looked everywhere with no luck...:(
 
Walmart had 100 rds of #8 (game and target) on sale for $19.99--would the #8 be O.K. for shooting clays? or should I get the 7 or 7 1/2?--they only had small boxs of these.
#8 is a 1/2 size smaller than 7 1/2 and is common for shooting clays

clays are fragile and all your looking to do is make a noticeable split or break so that you score , if one pellet hits it it will break so these are good practice but not good for much else but really small stuff at close ranges like dove small check your pattern with sheets of cardboard to see what your range will be if you r looking to kill small game with shot you need the pattern dense enough that if you were to cover that small game with it it would be hit by several pellets
 
Bluerose--another idea for you is to visit the ammo/fishing dept at Walmart--with hunting season coming up I occasionally talk to the men (never any women around???) there for advice on some things...they have always been very nice (watch out for weirdos however and dont give any personal information). In fact one yesterday told me to buy clays and 12g now as there is a tournament coming up and they will be sold out by next week. I love asking questions on here also so as to not drive my BIL crazy :)
 
Size 7 1/2 pellets are .095 inches in diameter, 8s are .090. The difference is minimal. There is a game called handicap trap that is shot at longer ranges than regular trap. Some folks feel that the 7 1/2 work better for that. Here is a chart of what size shot to use for every occasion.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/shot_info.htm

If you get into it, you will want to pattern your gun with different sizes of shot. My 870 patterns everything beautifully except #4. That size produces patterns with holes you could throw a cow through.

Countrytime, The 410 needs a new barrel? What's wrong with the old one? The price of new barrels has gone nuts. When I replaced the barrel on my 870 with one with interchangeable chokes and a vent rib it cost about $100. Now they are about $300. You can just about buy a whole new gun for what a new barrel costs. Maybe you should just buy a new gun? You might want to consider moving up to at least a 20 gauge. The bigger gauges throw out a lot more shot and result in cleaner kills on game. A clean kill is a primary objective when I go hunting. Also ammo is cheaper and easier to find.
 
Well to make a long story short....when I bought my place the neighbor told me he was an ex State Policeman who worked on guns--since I needed mine cleaned he offered to do it for me...my gun came back with a bent barrel at the tip..I didnt even notice it at first--I was busy that day--just paid him and put it in the case...I got it out about 4 months later to show my BIL something, and when I looked down the barrel I noticed it bent the last 3 inches of the barrel. I was crushed..I have had this gun a loooong time--it is my favorite. The next time I saw the neighbor I mentioned it and he said he didnt notice anything...so I just let it go...I have since learned he is a liar, untrustworthy, and the whole family is nuts (he was never a LEO). :( There was no way it got bent after I got it back--it was in a case the entire time...I dont even know how he could of bent it--I really suspect he swapped mine out and sold my barrel. For 2 years I have looked and looked..nothing, and the last time I was in Bass Pro I even broke down crying at the counter explaining my predicament trying to find a replacement to a nice gentleman showing me an 870...and believe me--I rarely get teary eyed.....I just loved that gun....I was told you cant get a "new" barrel--they dont make them anymore for my gun (46F)
The gun is now with my BIL in Florida who is going to look down there for a replacement barrel--I really really hope he finds one and I get my good old gun back the next time I see them....I know he will do his best for me. I know it sounds silly, but no other gun is the same for me.
 
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