I hunted ducks & geese thru the late 70's and 80's with lead in a couple of different guns, that I mostly sold off in the late 80's.
I kept a Valmet 220 for grouse and pheasant, still have it. I'd got more interested in big game hunting, thru the late 80's and up til around 2003, with rifle and bow. I got interested in ducks again for something to do in the middle of the day, jumping beaver ponds and the like. I picked up an IC barreled 870 for that. In 2006 I lucked into a retriever, over the next couple of yrs, got back into ducks and geese. I used to shoot the Valmet for the most part, but didn't want to mess with the chokes for steel, it is full/mod. Still use it for upland.
Sort of glad I mostly missed that period, as the steel ammo is a lot better than it was. The guns I bought over the last few years are all rated for steel, and the last couple are rated for the new CIP spec for the higher pressure, high speed steel rounds. Granted, I have to use 3" and 3-1/2" to get the same loads as I used in lead, and they are only 120 to 220 fps faster than the lead rounds were. And in the 20ga, 1oz steel loads are about all I can get,and they are only 75fps faster, but, it still kills ducks just fine. I guess a person will just have to see how well the guns hold up to these loads over time. You can use smaller loads in the older guns, open the chokes, use smaller shot, or ITX and Nice shot, but, I see that as limiting myself when I don't really need to. It looks like the mfgrs are coming around to the idea of doubles needing to use steel now, and there are some decent guns out there, if you want to use them.
