Ridiculously heavy loads

[Jeff S]

I found this box in the basement. A couple shells are missing so Dad must have used a few. Maybe he took a poke at a high flying goose, but this probably explains his rotator cuff surgery later in life.

[Silvers]

JME Steggy but it depends on what you're shooting them in as well as number of shots fired. Yes we know the 12g Super-Fox in 3 IN, was set up and chokes regulated for the heaviest HV 1-3/8 ounce loads. When younger while hunting often on James Bay in Ontario, I and some friends shot a lot of 12g/1-7/8 ounce loads with 2's and 4's in Remington 1100 Magnum gas guns and I also used my Model 12 Heavy Duck pump gun. Recoil was stiff of course but those extra pellets versus regular 1-1/4 ounce loads sure made a difference on follow-up shots and when the range stretched out. Prior to the lead shot ban Number 2-shot in particular was excellent for geese and it still is nowadays for foxes, coyotes and (where legal) for turkeys. Fast forward to today and I’m thinking of the growing group of 8-gauge enthusiasts with their heavy double-guns. Many of them are shooting 1-1/2 to 2+ ounces of lead for clays and that's often with 30 shots fired. No complaint there. Now, let's say lead shot and 8-gauges were somehow made legal for waterfowl; I'd bet many of their duck hunting owners would be loading 2 ounces of lead for classy fowling with those vintage 8 bore guns.

Lastly let's keep in mind when your shells were made, butcher shops and meat counters were the norm and most hunters were out for food, not as nowadays with supermarket chains, nicely packaged meats and fast "protein" foods. The Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas goose were typically hunted with the heaviest loads, and that’s what I’d be doing with your shells if time reversed. frank

[eightbore]

I believe it was Nitro Cartridge Company that marketed 12 gauge loads well in excess of 2 ounces and 10 gauge 3 ounce loads. I owned some Nitro loads but can't remember what they were. I don't know if I ever shot any.

[Researcher]

Those 1 7/8-ounce 12-gauge 3-inch Magnum Super-X loads first appear in the January 2, 1958, Western Catalog. The 1 5/8-ounce loads were introduced in 1935 along with the introduction of the Winchester Model 12 Heavy Duck.

[Jeff S]

At the time those shells were manufactured, Dad’s only gun capable of handling 3” shells was the infamous Marlin goose gun.

[44whiskey]

being scoped i was wondering what it was used for

[Stan Hillis]

Very long barrels and extra weight help attenuate the recoil on the very heavy loads. The longer a barrel is the less violent muzzle flip you have. The less muzzle flip you have the less the comb beats up your cheek.

A fairly soft recoil pad doesn't hurt, either.

[Sporrns]

When we first started serious Canada goose hunting it was out of field pits primarily and very rarely out of a water blind. This would have been c. 1967. We bought a couple of boxes of these exact loads, certain they would be the ultimate for pass shooting the big honkers. They worked, but were brutal! My Remington 870 3-inch mag began "killing at both ends". as the saying goes. The recoil out of a fixed breech gun under 10 pounds was mind-numbing. One morning at our local diner before setting out to the field, a young guide must have overheard us ragging about the Roman candle loads. When we got to the cash register to pay our bill, he reached behind the cashier and brought down a box of Federal 2 3\4 magnum copper plated BBs, buffered lead loads and said, try these. After shooting the box up, we never used anything else. If I recall the buffer material was called Grex and the shot was a high antimony content (c. 7%). They threw great long-range patterns and killed decisively with very few cripples. We used them exclusively for Canada geese until the insanity of the steel shot only regs for waterfowl took effect. Kevin

[Stan Hillis]

Did your Dad ever do card shooting, Jeff? That's the only thing I can think of for having a scope on a long barreled, tight choked gun like that.

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[ROMAC]

Did he shoot Foster style slugs like Brenneke?

Deer hunt in a slug area?

[Jeff S]

being scoped i was wondering what it was used for

Michigan has a rifle zone and a shotgun only zone. This was his solution for the shotgun zone. Very awkward to carry through the woods.

[fox-admin]

A trained retriever is better than any 1 7/8oz load.

[44whiskey]

Stan, i dont have access to facebook, is card shooting closest to x target the winner. i never shot shotgun events in local turkey shoots in days gone by. my fav events were turkey clay heads on a stick at 100 ysd shot freehand standing.also enjoyed swinging ham event, this was a shot bag hanging on a string at 25 yds that had to be severed with a handgun while standing. i think there was a shotgun event called pot luck that had x on back of target unseen by shooter..cheers fred ps these events were always in the fall in unimproved field, thus tall grass was usually behind targets making it impossible to see misses and adjust accordingly. i learned full wadcutters gave shooters an edge on swinging ham as round nose may sever some strands but not drop shot bag. urban sprawl and liability has put and end to almost all of these events that were the harbinger to hunting season , they are very missed

[Jeff S]

He never did card shooting and only used old fashioned slugs in our backyard, just in case a buck strolled by.

[Stan Hillis]

I'm not sure how they score those shoots, Fred. I've never been really interested in them.