Good things come to those that wait

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I bought a St. Louis Browning A5/Remington 11 in 16 ga. about 15 years ago. The barrel had been cut down and rifle sites installed. It wasn't a priority search, but I'd been looking for a plain barrel, mod choke , since I'd bought the gun. I'd located a barrel for it about 5 years ago in Texas, but the guy wanted crazy money for it($450.00). I'd look at gun shows and had my Lgs, who I bought the gun from originally, put it on his "search" list. Well today I went to that LGS to get a scope mount for another rifle and was looking through some stuff he'd bought from an estate sale, and was just pricing. There amongst the other barrels and guns was a like new 28" plain barrel in 16 ga. I asked him if he was going to call me about that barrel and he said "why do you need one? It had been about 6 years or so since we'd last talked about it and of course he'd forgot about it. He sold me the barrel, base and a set of 1" med weaver rings for $120.00. I reminded him I was still looking for a S&W mod 631. LOL
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I know that feeling!
I waited 20 yr for an A5 . When the timing and money finally lined up it was for a silvered receiver 1974 Belgium Magnum. Top of world .
 
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freebullet

Guest
I'm glad you got one.

My father had a sweet 16 for some time. He bought 2 Belgium 12's and gave one each to my brother & I. I have the og barrel & a special steel shot barrel.
I can still remember when we belly crawled 400 yds with them to get in position for Canadian goose hunting. The snow was 2' deep up in South Dakota where we were hunting outside Pierre. So long as it's oiled it won't fail.
It's still heavy today but, at 12 it seemed even heavier after a half days walk for upland birds.
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I don't have any 3" A5's anymore. Traded my last 3" 20 for a Charles Daly (miroku) 3" 20ga. field grade. Still have it and shoot it quite often, but have regrets about letting the A5 go. I have several A5's and mod 11's. I most often shoot my Lt 20 A5 unless it's windy, and then usually shoot a Lt 12. My dad had the twin to my Daly 20, in 12, and I traded him out of it a couple years ago. I shot my first double on Mallards with the Daly 12 when I was a kid and figured I'd need to have it for memories sake (as good an excuse as any). The 16 had been delegated to a house gun for about 12 years, and the new barrel will get it back in the field on my next pheasant hunt. Had to run a couple shells through the 16 today, for a test run. Didn't cut any feathers but it sure patterned well in the snowbanks in the driveway. Felt so good I had to go load 4 boxes of heavy 4's for next year.:)
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I cut my teeth on M12s but being a lefty it was always a distraction when the case crossed my line of sight . A friend had a BPS (also a lefty) ,it was a match made. The next season I owned 1 the 2nd season of nontoxic only for water fowl. Man I hated life . It felt like I couldn't hit jack . I beat myself to death with the heavy mags and big shot . 3rd season I was loading steel shot and the volumes learned in minutia ,good grief . The end result was that the steel had 3 quirks I had to overcome (none of which came in a factory boxes then but do now) the easiest was learning that the field special steel bbl patterns more like a turkey choke than than full. Imagine the geese that would have been done in by hunters with every pellet hitting inside 30" at 40 yd even in the 50s.... 97%inside 27" with 1s . The suggestion of up 1 shot size is golden but only if you add 100 fps . At the apex I had 2 3/4 loads at 1 1/16 of Bs knocking on 1500 fps and placing 105 of 115 inside 27" at 40 yds . I doubled honkers once with that and doubles on ducks became common . Glory days indeed .

The A5 isn't a big deal now since my left eye has let me down but it was always on the wonder lust list and in the little shooting I've done it has lived up to the lust.
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
We've been on the same path a couple times. I was so disapointed in early steel, I didn't hunt ducks in the US for three years. I can be in Canada and sitting infront of dekes in about 2 hours. My dogs got quite a workout chasing cripples. Was common to make feathers fly and the ducks just kept going. I have several duck ponds with high banks and am shooting straight down on the ponds when I jump shoot them. It was obvious when the ducks were centered in the patterns and just kept flying. Canada allowed lead longer than the US so that's were I went. I've cut way back on my waterfowl hunting, and now spend most of my time chasing pheasant in SD. The Federal waterfowl production Areas require steel usage, and it is common for my dogs to catch cripples in those areas. Usually broken wings and shallow penetration in the breast areas, steel shot still present. I avoid those areas as well.
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I was shooting all factory steel then and the manufacturer didn't seem to matter much. When Estate came on the scene they had a good fast 1 1/4oz #2 load I used with good results. The early federal and remington offerings here were pretty sorry.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I very rarely hunt ducks anymore since I lost my Gus dog, the greatest Boykin that ever lived. But I still use the Ithaca 16. I prefer not to state what I shoot out of it, but any duck hit drops right there. All here in the farm in my swamp.
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I understand that Bret. I have an old lab here that will surprise me if he makes spring. His body is failing him, but he's 15, and that is old for any lab. He got to hunt and retrieved three birds this fall. Heart of a lion. I still have his lady and four of their offspring. Still going to be a tough day when it comes.
 
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freebullet

Guest
Couple tips for steel shot that helped me.

Use a tighter choke. I use a full choke for steel shot. Patterning several shotguns proved steel won't act the same as lead from the same choke. Not all are rated for steel either.
Steel needs high velocity to work. My 3" magnum steel @1550fps provide complete pass throughs.
I had to do quite a bit of testing with steel shot as most public ground in these parts require it. By finding a good load that works I can use it all the time. The lead required to make make hits is reduced too.