| Hunters who used the huge bores were professional hunters and supplied large amounts of ducks and geese to the markets. They also wiped out the passenger pigeon. I think that came to a halt in the 1920s or so. 5.56 can tell you more of the history end of the pro hunters.
__________________  “War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.” —John Stuart Mill |