My dad shot competitively. He said "if you want to be a really good shot with a heavy caliber pistol, practice with an identically weighted 22 cal. The kick on a big gun will make you flinch instinctively and you will not be able to hit anything. The 22 will not, so your aiming instincts will be honed. Then when you are using the heavy caliber gun in the heat of battle you won't flinch out of habit."

With that in mind, I bet dad would say to practice with a gun that operates the same way as the 870 and hunt with the 870. Or since it is a shotgun I suppose you can practice with light loads and hunt with the cannon shells!

My uncle used to hunt geese. His goose gun was a 10 ga. and it was longer than he was tall (it seemed). He was a small man but I imagine when he shot geese it didn't hurt because he most likely was well numbed with some type of alcohol.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.