Pattern master?

Back to the Patternmaster tube.......they have 4 very short studs that are positioned to catch the wad for an instant and help separate it from the shot column. Manufacturer claims shorter shot strings and consistent choke performance, they are not a constriction type choke. Those studs may have a tendency to wear more than a regular choke but I don't know that to be the case.

 

Man, I didn't know you were that old, NV! You must close to my age (62 )!

 

I don't want to hi-jack this post but; NV Ducker, is that a Yellow Lab in your ditch chicken picture?
I had a Patternmaster tube on loan for a while just to test and didn't care for the patterns it gave me. Didn't seem to be any better than factory flush mounted chokes of the cheap kind.

AIRBORNE

 

Is she a pointing Lab or just bring em back when down?
My BLF had the greatest nose, she could find live and dead birds from 40 -50 yards down wind. Lost very few with her along. A tumor got the best of her, a sad day at our house.

AIRBORNE

 

Okay, I'll allow myself to get sucked into this:

I'll choose the gas-operated autoloader for my argument:
A. I don't have to change shells when I hunt but about once every 10 years...but when I do, it takes about the same amount of time to rack the bolt three times and stuff two different shells in as it take me to break my O/U, try to grasp (with heavy gloves on) and pull out the two shells, insert two more, and close the gun.
B. I'll concede this point, providing you are talking about mechanical FTF's.
C. Cleaning my auto does take more time, but it is not excessive time and, besides, this is not a functional advantage for the O/U...call it a convenience.
D. I can make mine totally safe by simply pressing the magazine bypass button and pulling the bolt back. Call it a wash.
E. I can check my chamber, too, by simply pulling the bolt back half an inch or less. You have to open the gun at least 1/3 of the way, so one to the autoloader?
F. Changing chokes (between the first and second shot) counting as an advantage means I'm assuming I can predict exactly what the birds are going to do each time the first shot goes off. In my experience, I'm wrong at least as often as I'm right...and probably more often.

FF. Cost. An autoloader of equal quality will typically cost about 1/3 less than an O/U.
FFF. Only have to pattern one barrel, and buy/pattern only one choke.
FFFF. The auto is MUCH easier to load/reload in the confines of a layout or pit blind or brush blind than my O/U's.

As far as the third shot being a "typically wasted" one, so far this season (35 hunts/142 birds bagged) I've fired a third shot at flying birds 12 times. Of those 12 times, 9 of them resulted in a downed bird. (this doesn't count the three times I've needed a third shot to finish off a cripple on the water) I'd say the third shot, at least for me, is not typically wasted. YRMV, of course.

 

The only advantage a gas gun has over a O/U is less felt recoil as far as I’m concerned