So, I shot standing up and brought the gun to my shoulder each time, just as I would hunting from a blind, and gave each shell an honest shot (if I pulled left/right or shot low/high, I re-shot). Well, that will give you an idea of how your gun patterns in optimal conditions, but as any waterfowler knows, that’s not how we shoot ducks. Most duck hunters pattern their shotguns from a bench on a 30-inch paper target. On the Range The author tested four different shotshells at four different distances at the range. He will spray the entire gun in one solid color for $350. The stuff just doesn’t chip off, and it protects the exterior of your gun from the elements, giving it a longer shelf life. Cerakote is a great option for duck hunters because it’s nearly bomb-proof. I went with a distressed look because I’m not big on camo, but to each their own. There are an endless amount of color options to choose from. He does it by hand, so no two guns look the same. To ensure my SX4 would never rust or corrode, Roberts applied a Cerkote finish to the entire gun. We know how steel, bismuth, and tungsten shoots through different guns and can customize a client’s shotgun to that ammo.” Smooth Ride Roberts cuts the forcing cone ring inside the bore to create better patterns downrange. “We will cater to where you hunt, the species you hunt most, and how long your shots typically are. “We do a lot of pattern analysis to find out what shoots best through your shotgun,” Roberts said. And, if a customer has a particular load they like to shoot, Roberts can tweak the gun to that shotshell. As new guns and ammunition are released, they determine which combinations of guns and shotshells pair best. They have also spent countless hours pattering shotguns on paper. He was able to turn around my SX4 in less than two weeks because he and his staff have so many years of gunsmithing experience. Roberts has dedicated his life to making long guns supremely accurate. A new trigger, lengthening the forcing cones, adding a choke tube, and a Cerakote finish, and you’re done. On the surface, it may seem like there’s not that much that goes into making a shotgun more durable or shoot a little better. You can’t beat a new 3½-inch gas-operated autoloader for that price. The SX4 has an MSRP of around $930 but you can find them for $750-$800 when there’s not a gun shortage going on. Beretta makes great gas guns, but they are pricey in comparison to Winchester. The gun also had to be affordable, which took the Italian manufacturers off the table. It’s not an indictment against inertia guns or those companies that manufacture them.
These experiences are based on my personal use and preferences. The inertia guns need you as a backstop to drive the action, and if there is nothing for it to work against, they won’t fire properly. By comparison, when you are shooting multiple shells through an inertia gun in one volley, they can hang up in the action if the buttstock slips off your shoulder. In the past, I’ve hunted snows extensively with the SX3, and the gas system on the SX4 is similar (if not exactly the same). That being said, I want to share with you five tips from things I have learned throughout the years of successfully hunting from a kayak.I have also found that gas guns cycle better (as long as you keep them clean) on high-volume snow goose hunts. Luckily, new kayak hunters now have a fair amount of content to consume to help them get into the game of hunting with a kayak. A few “die hards” have learned that this is an incredibly effective way to get to unpressured areas, and it’s piqued the interest of people across the country. These days it seems there’s been an uptick in interest. For me, everything was learned solely by experience in the field, or I guess… on the water. It made it very difficult to prepare for my first season of kayak hunting when there weren’t really any experts offering advice. I searched and searched, and often came up empty handed with the exception of a few duck hunting articles. When I first started using a kayak to hunt, there was practically zero information online about it.