Does anyone here have a 10 gauge shotgun?

Yes, I owned a BPS Stalker 10 gauge many years ago. I was out at the DeKalb range on Goddard Rd. attempting to pattern it, and getting the **** kicked out of me with every shot.
Click to expand...

I see I'm not the only one whose experience with the BPS was punishing. The recoil was bad, but the BPS 10 gauge I had whacked my cheekbone with every shot. After half a box of shells it looked like my face had gone three rounds with a professional boxer.

It was a gorgeous gun, deep blue and with nice wood, but it didn't fit me for anything and the 10 gauge kicked much worse than I could stand.

That gun is the only gun that made me truly angry to shoot. I had ordered it, paid for it, and bought a bunch of ammo, so I felt obligated to shoot it, and it just made me madder than heck to do so. Finally traded it off. I still have half a box of ammo laying around here somewhere.
 
I used an Ithaca Mag 10 with 30" barrel for several year for waterfowl and turkey. In the early days of nontoxic shot it worked well with course shot, about the same as a 2 3/4" 12 gauge with lead shot. It was consistent on ducks at 45-50 yards. As nontoxic shot loads improved it was not much more effective than a 3" 12 gauge. It was great with heavy loads of copper plated #5 shot on turkeys but just to heavy to walk the woods with.
 
I've got a Browning Gold 10 auto. I bought it years ago for goose hunting, but only took it out it a few times. The recoil really isn't that bad. A 3-1/2" 10 ga will put more shot in the air than a 12 ga, but the increased effective range is offset by the unwieldiness of the gun. Mine has a 28" barrel and it's a big heavy beast that I just can't shoot as well as a 12 ga.

I also had a rather bad experience with mine that soured me to it. I was cleaning it after a hunt. Rather than pulling the barrel to clean it properly, I put a saturated patch on a brush and ran it down the bore from the muzzle end. The patch came off in the action, so I stuck my finger in the ejection port to put it back in place. I somehow managed to trip the bolt, which smashed my finger and jabbed the extractor under the base of my fingernail. I instinctively yanked my finger out and spent the next 5 hours at the ER. My nail eventually did grow back and I learned a valuable lesson: I no longer stick my fingers in the ejection port of an autoloader for any reason.
 
My father-in-law collected Brownings and Winchesters. He had a Browning BPS in his collection. Thinking it would give me another 10 yards for turkeys, I borrowed it for a season. It didn't pattern well with the chokes he had and I got real tired of having my thumb slam my nose with each shot. I did manage to take a turkey but told him he should sell it, it was not worth the punishment to shoot it. I honestly dont see an advantage over a twelve gauge for turkeys.
 
Over the years I have had several 10 gauge guns. Still have the Beretta 10 ga double. I reloaded using components from Ballistic Products and had loads that would print 70% patterns of #2 at 80 yards, down to 2oz of #12 with a spredder card. the only way I could hit a Dove. I remember one trip to Kansas Pheasant hunting. Cold and snowy and birds were getting up 50 yds away. After lunch I broke out the 10 with some long range #5 loads. While the guys hounded Me about that heavy hog I was carrying, They shut up at days end when I had My limit and They were skunked. I still love the 10 gauge and even have a muzzle loader 10 gauge that I hunt grouse with.
 
I own a New England Firearms 26" barrel, single-shot 10 ga. that shoots 3 1/2 magnum shells, I've rolled turkeys at 50 yards with it, that and the $129. price tag was the reason I bought it.
It is also my loaner gun, people that borrow it do so only ONE TIME :eek: !
 
My brother has a Marlin 10 gauge break open single shot with a 36 inch barrel. I shot it twice about 30 years ago and that's enough for me.
 
I have got a 10 ga AYA double with 32" bbls both choked full,

nice gun with case colored receiver and nice walnut. but

and all it needs is a caisson and I would have a twelve pound towed

artillery piece, I have used it turkey hunting and shooting 3,1/2" high

brass turkey loads and you can bet it will wake up all the nerves in your shoulders

I would not even want to think about a 10 ga single shot with one of those shells in the pipe
 
I shot my first gobbler with my brother's H&R 10 ga. when I was still a teenager as I recall, so early 1980s. I was so excited I didn't think much about the recoil, but remember the Jake flipping @$$ over tin cup and rolling down the mountain side, with me running after him trying to break open that hand cannon to chamber another round. Man! Good times!
The 10 ga. will definitely pole ax what you shot at and I have seen it's effects on geese as well as turkey, but I think the 3 1/2 in, 12 ga. may well have matched it.
 
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Me and a buddy bought Brn, turkey guns back in late 80s. I got
the 10g, he got 3 1/2" 12g. The kick from 3 1/2 12g was bad.
The 10g was stiff but tolerable. He traded off his and got Ithaca
Auto in 10g, it had softer recoil that mine. I traded mine for a
3" m12 and lived happily ever after.
I did fire a H&R single 10g, once was enough, with 10g slug.
 
ColbyBruce said:
Yes, I owned a BPS Stalker 10 gauge many years ago. I was out at the DeKalb range on Goddard Rd. attempting to pattern it, and getting the **** kicked out of me with every shot. Some fellow the size of a Sasquatch asked if he could shoot it, so I let him. He wound up buying it from me.

It was heavy, but the recoil was still brutal. I turkey and predator hunted with it three times before I sold it. That gun liked an open choke, as there was about a water glass full of shot blasting down the barrel each time you fired it.

I imagine a single barrel gun would kick lots worse. Ammo was ridiculously expensive way back then, and likely has gotten higher.

If you MUST have a 10 gauge, buy a repeater so you can use and enjoy it.
Click to expand...

Couldn't Agree More ^^^^This is Spot On

I owned a single shot once for a very brief period.
Not Fun at all.:eek::D:D:D
Couldn't say for sure but i doubt a 10 could do anything
more than a 12 can.
Get an auto loader if you just have to scratch that itch.



Chuck
 
Picked up an Ithaca Roadblocker in the late 70s. 20" bbl with only 3 round capacity: 2 in magazine, one chambered. Haven't seen or fired it for decades. I recall the recoil being manageable for a guy in his 20s. :)

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
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Had a squirrel hunting buddy whose family had an old double barrel. The thing was lose and worn out. I was offered a chance to shoot it, but chickened out. His brother, a marine home on leave took us out and shot a rat nest out of a tree. Shot both barrels at the same time. Thought the whole Officetree was going to coming down after that thing went off...

Sent from my XT1034 using Tapatalk
 
I have the " family " 10 ga . It's an Ithaca double barrel with external hammers . My great grand father was one of those guys that thought anything " off the rack " wasn't good enough for him . The factory sent a rep right to his farm , measured him and built the gun special for him . Even the chokes aren't std . My father hunted for yrs with it using magnum shells in Iowa .
For years , every 4th of July I would get it out and shoot it . I ordered just the std shot shells for it . I have hunted and killed with it just using the std length shot shells , 2 7/8 " . Yes , it is quite heavy but it doesn't kick as bad as some 12's that I have shot . Magnums do have a lot more punch to them , but the gun is so heavy it absorbs a lot of the recoil . It will pass onto my son , when he is settled in and can enjoy it .
I just like the older shotguns . I have an 1897 Winchester that was built around then . It hung in my uncles beer joint back behind the bar for years . It got was taken down several times as I understand to " settle " things . I also have a double 12ga , with exposed hammers built by Hunter Arms , the co. that bought out the L.C. Smith Co . It was built before 1933 . It's a real fun gun to shoot . Again I use lighter field loads .
 
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