Doves Sept. 1st.....who's taking the ML challenge?

Yep-er, I had the thought of that loaded tube, just sitting there - waiting, while I would be loading the empty, in the back of my mind too :shocked2: ! Thanks for the advise. I guess I need to shop arround some.

 

[jethro224]

The IL dove season also opens at 1/2 hour before sunrise Sept. 1st. Unfortunately, I'll be working all morning.
I do plan to get out either Sat. evening or Sunday morning tho.
I gotta get out tomorrow and try out my unfired GM .62 smooth barrel on a Renegade stock. I'm punchin' shot cards out today. If I can come up with a load that it'll shoot decent, I'll bring it dove huntin'. Otherwise it'll be my SxS CF 12.

 

[roundball]

If I can come up with a load that it'll shoot decent, I'll bring it dove huntin'. Otherwise it'll be my SxS CF 12.

I've tested a couple .62cal bird loads in my GM Flint barrels and they all pattern very well.

16 yard Trap load / Skeet load
70grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke wonderwad
1oz # 8 or #9 hard shot
OS card

Dove load
80grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke wad or 1/2 Circle Fly cushion wad
1+1/8oz #7.5 hard shot
OS card

Late season doves / crows over decoys
80grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke wonderwad or 1/2 Circle Fly cushion wad
1+1/4 oz #6 hard shot
OS card

 

[jethro224]

Thanks for the tips roundball. I'll be trying stuff out tomorrow. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Thanks for the tips roundball. I'll be trying stuff out tomorrow. :thumbsup:

Now remember...set your expectations...those GM barrels come wide open cylinder bore, no choke at all.

So usable patterns for small size dove / squirrel game gets thin pretty quick...7.5s for doves might work as far as 25 yards.

Take a couple dozen large sheets of paper with you to pattern test things.

Use an aim point sticker in the middle to be consistent.

Shoot offhand standing like you would be in a dove field.

NOTE:
The "slot" in the rear sight on the GM barrel may out of habit grab your eye, and momentarily disrupt your concentration enough to mess up the wingshot...it did me.

"Arcticap" gave me an outstanding suggestion which was to cover the rear sight with black electricians tape, and sight in with the bead just showing on top of the rear sight, using the rear sight as a "raised rib" like many shotguns have...works perfectly.

You'll have to peel up the tape every couple shots to adjust the rear sight up or down, then leave it covered for the rest of the shooting.

I remove/discard the tape for cleaning, then wipe the rear sight with Acetone to remove any oil, and apply a fresh piece of electricians tape.

 

[Mad Professor]

No season here on doves......

First time working up gobbler/duck w/12 ga here. X full (made in the barrel )seems to give a happy pattern

 

[roundball]

No season here on doves......

First time working up gobbler/duck w/12 ga here. X full (made in the barrel )seems to give a happy pattern

What kind of shot for ducks...steel...hevishot...tungston?

 

[jethro224]

Thanks for the tips roundball. I'll be trying stuff out tomorrow. :thumbsup:

Now remember...set your expectations...those GM barrels come wide open cylinder bore, no choke at all.

So usable patterns for small size dove / squirrel game gets thin pretty quick...7.5s for doves might work as far as 25 yards.

You called that one right.

I got out yesterday for a little shootin'. I'm getting good patterns out to 20 yards but, by 25 yards they start to get pretty thin.

Until I get time for more patterning work I've pretty much settled on 60 grains of 2F under 1 1/8 oz #7 1/2 shot. 3 thin shot cards over the powder, a post-it shot cup with a bore button inside, and one thin card over the shot.
I don't have any .62 wads or thick cards to work with yet. I found that a .54 felt fits good inside my post-it shot cups tho.

With any luck I'll get to try it out on some doves tomorrow evening after work.

Good luck to everyone else tomorrow! :hatsoff:

 

[roundball]

Today was basically a bust!

There were not many birds to begin with and the occasional single or double that did fly followed flight paths along treelines, etc, that did not include my location in a cut section of a corn field.

Got up at 5:30 this morning, met my party, drove 100 miles down to this particular farm, got there at 9:30 this morning to try and get a good spot and had to fight for parking space...must have been 150-200 people there today.

After sitting in a bad location for hours with other shooters 40-50 yards around me in all directions, I shot at a total of 5 high flying doves out of plain frustration, streamed a lot of feathers off of one and he glided down into corn 100yards away, didn't touch a hair on the other four...just got home...gotta go clean the smoothbore.

Anyhow, got down and back without any wrecks or tickets, and it was good just to get the hunting season started...later

 

[Dave K]

Today was a bust for me as well. I saw a total of 7 birds, but well outside my range. I did go to an area where the state is having a youth hunt on doves. I wanted to see how they were doing. It was awesome! The state planted about 40acres of sunflowers and then bush hogged rows through it. I never saw so many birds. The kids were having a great time. They were limited to 3 boxes of shells each and they could hunt till noon. I didn't know this was legal to bush hog through food crops, but the state district manager was there and we talked about it and it certainly is. Now, you can't go out and throw or drop grain, but you can mow through crops for doves. But, not for waterfowl. Man, you have to KNOW the laws and not assume anything.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Today was a "blast" fer me. Hunted at a large farm that has a yearly opener with lots of hunters but is very organized. Lots of birds, sounded like a war zone. I was not in a great location but got in some shootin and killed 3 birds with 8 shots. I limited my shots to the "easy" ones but did make one shot at 30 plus yards. EVERYBODY was talking about the guy with the ML. :grin: GW

 

[roundball]

GW, sounds great!
:thumbsup:

 

[Runner]

I have a broken Kia frontend to fix this weekend, so I will not really be hunting until Tuesday. Monday night I will bushhog a small patch of oats. That should give me some good shooting for a few days.

 

[jethro224]

I saw a very few doves this evening. Too bad they were 60-150 yards away...
Never even got the chance to pull the trigger.

 

[Joel Lehman]

I got 1 dove for two shots. There were 5 hunters. I was the only one that fired a shot.
Most of the few doves we saw were far out of range.

This afternoon it rained from about 4:00 PM till dark. Another bad day for dove hunting, but there is bound to be some hot dry weather in Texas soon.

Joel Lehman, Austin TX