Alter deciding what footwear and clothing to bring too much of, the hardest task before any trip is deciding which gun to take. For those of us whose gun-.acquiring profligacy has overburdened us with choice, there are hard decisions to be made. It becomes even harder when you are going to hunt multiple species of game birds. Argentina provides just such a quandary. It is truly today's shotgunner's Mecca. In the northeast part of the country near the Parana River, your hajj can include shooting ducks, partridge, pigeons and doves all in the same day. Lots of them, too. Which guns do you bring?

May I suggest the 20-gauge autoloader as the all-around Argentine bird gun. I rea1ize that the word "auto" is often an anathema in these hallowed pages, but in this particular case it has advantages over other classier actions. On one mixed-bird trip at Los Ombues Lodge, it was with a half-dozen other writers as the guest of Beretta. It was a "been there, done that” crowd with a lot of experience in Argentina. The lodge had just gotten in a mother lodge of new Berettas in 12 and 20 gauge, both over/unders and autos, as loaner guns. Just about everyone went for the 20-gauge 391 autos. Considering that, we writers are genetically predisposed to avoiding pain and enhancing cocktail, time tales of shooting prowess, the choice wasn’t surprising.

For volume doves, a 20-gauge auto is a no brainer. Everything you hear and read about masses of Argentine doves is true. A 12-gauge O/U, that's just fine for a 10-bird limit in the US will whack you lopsided after a hot hour in Argentina. On a mixed-bird Argentine hunt, you may choose to shoot the evening flight of eared doves as they come home from the fields to roost. Shooting lasts for a couple of hours, but under the right conditions you can run through 1,000 rounds if you B put your mind to it. Trust me on that one. Even with the mandatory P AST or Reactar pad under your vest, recoil can become a real issue with the wrong gun. A 20-gauge O/U, can generate a surprising amount of discomfort after a couple of flats of shells. You also may have to raise and swing your gun 1,000 times in that two hours. Unless you are built like govenator Anold, the light weight of a 20 is a huge advantage over that of a 12. An extra pound swung 1,000 times means you lifted an extra half-ton. You may not choose to shoot all that many shells, but the 20-gauge auto lets you make that choice. The gun doesn't make it for you.

Doves are easy to kill but hard to hit. The 20 is plenty of guns. I never really settled on which choke to use for doves, and I'm not sure there is one answer. On the first evening of my most recent trip I used Improved Modified because my stand presented mostly longer shots, but close-range doves just laughed as they flickered by. On another evening I had the doves flying over a bunch of trees directly behind me, sort of like a gigantic skeet station High 1. Cylinder worked best there. And I was surprised at how far away that choke worked. A lot more choke doesn't buy you a lot more birds. Firing the moment the stock touches your cheek does.

On a mixed-bird trip in the Parana delta you also will be hunting perdiz, or partridge, a variety of local tinamou. I've hunted them in both open pastureland and eucalyptus groves. They are solitary birds and, though wild, fly something like singleton preserve chukar or Huns. The walking is generally on flat land and not physically demanding, but the light carry weight of the 20 is always nice. Pointers are used, and the average shot seldom exceeds 30 yards unless the dog bumps the bird. For a bird this size at this range, the 20-gauge auto with IC choke is about right. I prefer field shooting with two differently choked barrels and two triggers, but the auto is fine once you get used to the trigger -guard safety.

The third bird in the Argentine triumvirate is the duck. The Parana River area is just swarming with them. At Carlos Sanchez's Los Ombues we had a short car ride and then a chilly but picturesque 45-minute back-channel boat ride to the blinds. In the early morning we'd cruise past sleepy riverside camps of nutria hunters and sabalo fishermen. At Miguel Medus's Las Colas the drive was a bit longer, but the blinds were often within walking distance of the vehicles. Access to both was convenient and trouble-free, with the exception of 1998, when the Parana chose to stage its 100-year flood. Everything was under a sea of mud. We formed a chest-wader conga line to help each other over a hundred yards of thigh-high, boot-sucking slime to the boats. The Land Rovers behind us gave off strangled burbles as they sank well past their doors, with wheels futilely spewing rooster tails of mud. The reward was some of the best duck shooting I've experienced. That day the birds came in torrents, fleets and waves, but we did our duty.

The 20-gauge was perfectly adequate for the ducks we encountered. The 20 really isn't thought of as a duck gun, because most of today's waterfowl hunters have forgotten what Atomic No. 82 stands for. It's good old element Pb. That's lead, and that's legal in Argentina. We used locally made Fiocchi loads of 25 grams (7/8 of an ounce) of No. 5s. Compared to a 2 3/4" 12-gauge 1 l/8-ounce load of high-velocity steel No. 3s, that 20 gauge load has 25 pellets less (175 v. 150) but about the same individual pellet energy at 40 yards. Trust me, at 30 yards the ducks don't know the difference.

The key to successfully using small shot loads on ducks is being able to pick your shots. The ducks, mostly rosy-billed pochards, are thick as some at that Parana delta. There are so many that you may find yourself confining your shots to one species or drakes only, to extend the time it takes to fill even the very generous Argentina limits. Being able to compress a month's worth of US duck shooting into an hour in Argentina, it also was able to figure out the 40-yard shot pretty well. The 20-gauge was perfectly adequate at that distance. We had very few wounded birds, and they invariably were collected from the shallow lagoons by the bird boys. I stuck with Modified choke for the ducks and never felt that it was inappropriate.

Waterfowlers long have preferred advantage of the third shot that a pump or autoloader provides. In Argentina you don't use the third shot as a finisher. You use it to take a third bird out of the flock. Waiting for the boat after we'd limited out, we'd watch the gauchos pushing cattle in the distance or spy on the coots doodling along the marsh edges like black-clad old ladies shopping at the bazaar. It's the moments on the marsh when you aren't shooting that make duck hunting so wonderful.

There is certainly no shortage of 20-gauge autos to pick from. Currently, the most popular in Argentina are the Beretta 391s. They have the reputation of reliably handling a wide variety of ammunition. I won't say they never break, because everything does, but they are very, very good. The 391 also can _ a long time between cleanings, which is a big help when you consider that you can shoot four flats of shells in a couple of hours. I've used 391s in Argentina several times and, other than one loose stock bolt, have never had a moment's trouble. The previous Beretta auto models, such as the 302 and 303 from the 1980s, are equally durable, as is the Browning B-80. This latter gun is mechanically identical to the Beretta 302.

The Benelli M1 Field, Montefeltro and Legacy also are well respected. The short-recoil action kicks more, but in a 20' you won't notice it. What you will notice is that the guns seem to be able to go for months without cleaning, because sooty gas isn't used to operate the action. The good lodges will have someone clean the guns for you each evening, but it never hurts to have a gun that shoots clean. The Benellis are also excellent in rain, just in case you get a rare downpour.

You don't see as many Browning Golds or Remington 1100s, but they are good guns. If you have one of these and enjoy shooting it, by all means bring it. I think that they have less recoil than the Berettas or Benellis. This is particularly noticeable in the 12s, but it's also true of the 20s.

Another thing you'll have to decide is whether to bring two of your own guns, bring one of your own with access to a backup from the outfitter, or bring none and rent your gun from the outfitter. Whichever way, you'll have a backup gun. The big advantages of bringing two of your own guns are that you can have them set up to suit you and you can practice with them before the trip. If the doves are really swarming, you can have your bird boy load for you just the way they do on European driven shoots-but with far more birds to shoot than any princeling ever saw. Some shooters buy a second gun just for the trip and sell it on their return. On a 20-gauge gas gun you'll probably lose about $200 between the buy and sell. That's the cost of two flats of shells, or about one hour’s frenzied fun.

Relying on the outfitter for your backup gun isn't a bad plan, providing you check ahead and make sure he has something suitable. With that insurance in place, you'll probably be able to do the whole trip with your own gun. Chances are that any autoloader in decent shape can make it through 5,000 rounds without a problem.

Not bringing any gun at all and arranging to rent one from the outfitter certainly keeps things simple, but it does mean you'll be shooting something unfamiliar. That seems about as appetizing to me as renting shoes in a bowling alley, but many people do handsomely with rental guns. If you rent, the Beretta, Benelli and Browning autos are all shim-adjustable for individual gunfit, so that’s another plus.

One more big advantage of autos for a trip like this is that they are relatively cheap. I've never had the slightest problem bringing guns to and from Argentina, but loss can occur any time you ship anything. I'm a lot more sanguine risking an $ 800 gun than I am when there is another zero involved.

There are a couple of accessories you might consider when taking autoloaders to Argentina. Bring sturdy leather gloves. They are handy on chilly mornings in the duck blind but more important when in the throes of dove decimation. When you shoot doves, your hands can take tremendous abuse from the heat of the gun and jamming rounds into the magazine with your thumb. One shooter also suggested bringing medical tape and crazy glue in case you get a crack in your thumb from loading.

If you anticipate renting a gun and usually need more length than standard guns come with, pack one of those leather recoil pads that you attach with Velcro or a rubber one that you slip on. Even though the recoil from a 20-gauge auto is very light, some sort of shoulder pad also should be brought. This is likely the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy, and under some circumstances it can save your trip.

If you bring your own guns and are an 1100 shooter, experience will have taught you which spare parts to bring. With the other three brands, spare-parts needs are more of a lottery. Most autos respond to a good sloshing of BreakFree CLP when they get cranky. It's available in little peanut-sized squeeze tubes for field emergencies. A squirt or two on the piston of a Beretta or Remington gas gun usually will bring the filthiest miscreant back to life.

No gun is ideal under all circumstances, but the 20-gauge autoloader is an excellent choice when pursuing Argentina's four most famous gamebirds. It's efficient, versatile, soft-shooting and inexpensive. Just remember that all guns, whether O/Us or autos, break sooner or later. The farther you are from home, the more likely they are to break. Make sure you have access to a backup gun. As my close personal friend the Technoid likes to say, "Gas guns are like sheep. They know when they're alone, and they don't like it." Truer words were never spoken.

Bruce Buck is Shooting Sportsman's Gun Review Editor.

Taken from Buck, Bruce. “The Argentina Gun”. Shooting Sportsman, volume VI, November/December 2004. Down East Enterprise, Inc. USA: November, 2004.