Are 3.5" worth the pain? ????

[Browning4140]

I shot some Winchester supreme HV 3" no. 5 today at 40yds and it put 99 pellets in a 10" circle and 13 in the brain/spine area. I would like to have a few more hits on target but I'm not willing to fork out the extra money for some HTL loads and I'm not really interested in going to the LBXR loads b/c they pattern too tight inside of 20yds. So my question is, is it worth the extra pain to step up to the 3.5 mags as far as recoil?

[Hook hanger]

No not worth a flinching problem!

[born2hunt]

I have a combo that puts up about the same pattern and ain't a turkey one ever escaped it. Sometimes I wonder if 3 inch is worth it...heck, 12 ga period.  I can easily get that from my 20 and it's a whole lot more pleasant to shoot.

If I were you I'd call it a day and hit the woods.

[MShillhunter]

I hardly feel the kick of 3.5 while shooting a bird. Shooting at a target is a different story. So I prefer to have them just in case. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I did take a gobbler at nearly 65 yards Tuesday afternoon with 3.5" longboard XR. I don't like shooting that far but he didn't leave me much of a choice.

[MK M GOBL]

My Vote would be "No"

I have never needed it, have more than 225 birds now taken under the 20 yard mark and to date exactly 1 bird over 40 yards... and that was with my 12ga 3"...

MK M GOBL

[perrytrails]

Most of my birds have been taken with lead, under 30 yards, 2 3/4 inch shell.

[mudhen]

I'll take the extra pellets for now...


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[tha bugman]

Just depends on the gun.  I use a lead sled sighting in and when I shoot a bird I never feel recoil.


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[SEMO]

Do you wanna know why I shoot a 3.5" shell?.............cause they don't make a 4" shell!!!

[Jacobson]

Do you wanna know why I shoot a 3.5" shell?.............cause they don't make a 4" shell!!!

That's funny. The only time 3.5 are a pain is on the bench. No person feels the 3.5 shooting at a turkey. Good Luck this season.......

[hotspur]

I've been shooting. A 31\w shell for long time. I'm now patterning and buying 3 inch.

[wvmntnhick]

They're not necessary. The extra payload is nice for the times that you misjudge yardage a bit but otherwise not necessary. Heck, I've had a couple guns that have patterned better with the 3" than they did with the 3-1/2". Maybe all the extra shot trying to cram itself into the tube blew the pattern. I don't really know but they're certainly not necessary.

[Big perm2]

Every guy has his own preference and mine is a bps 10 ga! If a guy wants to shoot a
.410 that's his choice.. But anyway I like the 300 pellets in a ten inch circle at 40 yrds


Talkem into given up!!!

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

99 pellets w lead in the 10" at 40 indicates to me that you should really only be shooting at birds 35 yards and in.  13 pellets in the head and neck is a very low  number considering that some of your pattern will be consumed by branches/leaves/etc unless you're shooting at birds in a field or completely open timber.

I don't understand why guys will pay 800-1500 for a shotgun and pull the cheap card on the price difference between a box of lead and a box of hevi shot. As far as longbeards go, why can't you just bring your aiming point down into the feathers below the base of the neck to avoid missing?

I may be way of course here but I would personally never carry a gun that shot less than 200 in the 10" at 40.

[hookedspur]

NO not in the case of my 3.5' guns .
Both will throw a better pattern with 3" shells.
1187 Rem. SM and a SBE2 .