Shell lenght ???

[Catfish]

If your looking for the heavest load you can get I have seen no difference between 10 ga 3 1/2 in and 12 ga 3 1/2 in shells as to weight of shot offered. I looked in my Layman loading manual and found that of all loads listed with 2 1/4 oz. of shot the fastest one listed is a 12 ga. load. I see no need to carry the heaver gun around. This is with lead shot. With steel shot it looses velosity so fast that you will run out of speed befor you run out of patteren, and you can load or buy 3 in 12 ga. steel that is faster than the heaver 3 1/2 in loads in eather 10 or 12 ga. My goose gun is an old model 12 with a polly choke. Last year I had 1 more goose on the watter than shots fired untill the last goose which took 3 shot so I got 1 less goose than shot fired with Rem. Heavy Shot. I Killed 37 geese last year. I will not shoot at a goose in the air with steel, all I can get is feathers.
Afew years back I ran the numbers on 12 ga 3 in and 3 1/2 in loads and found that the extra killing range of the 3 1/2 over the 3 in way an extra 3 yrds or something like that.
My personal oppenion is that anything over a 12 ga. 3 in. shell is a waist of money.