Hmmm...

Interesting.

I never considered "hunting" a sport. Most of the sports I know of, the competitors do not die. When I was taught to hunt, we were taught to learn and respect the game, and above all else know our own limitations and stay within those boundaries. People may talk about shooting sports, such as sporting clays or trap, but nobody I consider a good friend considers hunting a sport.

I believe this is a modern phenomenom, as most old-timers took the opportunity to kill game when it presented itself. If it was legal quarry then it either went home or, if the hunter made a mistake, lived to see another day. Sports were played either on courts or ball fields, but not in the woods...

If my gun can make clean killing shots at 50 yards, and I have a clear path, then it is a humane and lethal opportunity. If I've patterned my gun to 60 yards, and I'm sure there is enough killing power to down a bird, then it is a viable shot. Go read my post where I had patterned a bird, then belly-crawled through $hit to get a 55 yard shot at a henned up gobbler, because I was too intent on calling the bird instead of hunting the bird. Take a look at the picture I posted, and get a good glimpse of that gobbler's head...that shot gave him a serious headache...one from which he was not going to awaken.

Some of us do not have the luxury of being a "pro-staffer", and hunting every day of the week, waiting for the correct breeding transition stage to "call in" a bird. Sure, it's great to get a nice tom gobbling on the roost or fired up while runnin-n-gunnin, then call them in to the gun, enjoying every split second of the action and anticipation. We've all done it, and I won't say it's not what drives me to the woods every Spring. But most of us also need to make the most of every positive possibility to harvest an animal, ethically, and hence long clean shots may be an inevitable part of the hunt.

Sorry for the rant, Adrian, but you didn't answer his questions either. And if you couldn't tell, it really irks me when somebody frowns on the most critical aspect of ethically harvesting an animal, which is determining and accepting the hunter's limitationsincluding the gun & ammunition.

As a pro-staffer, I'm not surprised you want to call the birds in close. But I digress, what is the need for a 50 yard gun if you're only going to shoot birds at 25-30 yards? You could argue...misjudged distance. Then my answer is, instead of buying a gun and wasting the money on a new setup, spend $100 on rangefinders so you can learn how to accurately judge distance!!

To me, it's like buying a modern compound bow to possibly take 40 yard shots, then only taking 15 yard shots...incredulous to say the least, IMO.

As for the questions:

1) Yes. You can easily take shots with the new improved combination loads, such as Hevi-shot and X-tended Range, out past 30 yards. But again, it's not always about the load, it's always about the shot...

2) Yes. With the proper choke (so many on the market) fitted to your gun---with the proper load and adequate patterning---you can easily harvest a bird at 40-50 yards.

3) No. I would not shoot past 30 yards with copper-plated #6. I've seen too many people simply knock birds down past 30 yards, with lead #6s, only to have the bird recover and leave. Larger lead loads (#4 & #5) could be lethal, depending on your gun/choke/ammo and your shooting conditions.