12 vs 10 guage

D

Departed402

New member
In terms of ballistsics is there a huge difference between 12 guage and 10 guage? My dad always said, "I don't think the shot goes much further, but the thing is usually deader."

And is there a difference when using either for hunting water fowl and turkeys?
 
What weighs more a pound of lead or a pound of feathers????

A 1 ounce charge of 7-1/2's @ 1200 FPS will travel the same distance if it is fired from a 410, 28ga, 20, 16ga, 410, 12ga, 10ga and or a howitzer. It is all physics. Just because the "pipe" is bigger doesn't mean it will travel further.
 
No, there isn't any difference balistically, if you have the shot coming out of the gun at 1275 fps ...... its still X number of pellets @ 1275 fps.... ( and if they are all # 2's - they will all go the same distance, and hit just as hard.

The difference is in the amount of shot coming out of a 10ga ( in terms of quantity is higher typically than a 12ga ) - with 10ga loads common up to 2oz of shot and a lot of shells available in 1 3/4 oz / and a typical 12ga load at 1 1/8 oz or that extra 5/8 oz of shot is a lot of pellets at the kill range.

Now in terms of recoil - 1 1/8 oz of shot at 1275 fps / vs 1 3/4 oz of shot at 1275 fps - will give you a lot more recoil in the 1 3/4 oz shell - almost 115 % more - if you are using a shotgun that weighs the same ( say 8 1/4 lbs ). So shooting that 1 3/4 oz shell - whether it comes out of a 12ga tube or a 10ga tube is going to smack you 115 % harder ....and that's a bunch ....

I'm not a 10ga fan / I've owned them - and frankly didn't like them .... In order to compensate for the recoil - some mfg's make their 10ga guns a little heavier - and that makes them tougher to carry, etc / but that's how they get the 10ga to be shootable ( by adding 2 lbs to a gun / getting the gun up around 10 1/2 lbs ) the recoil on the example I showed above at 115% more recoil --- goes down to 65% more recoil ( probably manageable ).

If for whatever reason you think you need a 10ga / go with a heavy gun or a semi-auto - so it doesn't beat you up. But a 12ga has always been more than enough gun for me on Watefowl. The 10ga was more macho .... but I don't need to prove that anymore ...
 
The only thing I've ever found the 10 to be better at than the 12 is the rare time when loading 000 Buckshot. It stacks in 3s in the 10, won't in the 12.

DC
 
Keep in mind today's guns and loads. A 12ga or a 10ga with a 2oz load is effectively an 8ga shotgun - just with a smaller diameter bore.

If you're in such need of a big payload, today's 3-1/2" 12ga's can do the job. But think of this though, everything from mice to elephant have been taken with late 1800's blackpowder 2-1/2" 12ga shells.

Magnumnitis is a disease that usually afflicts the shooter or hunter more than it effects the quarry.

My 28ga has been killing squirrels, turkey, ducks, geese, rabbits, dove, and pheasant just as dead as a 4 bore with 4oz of shot would.
 
joneeman, as noted by the previous responders, an ounce of the same size shot will perform pretty much the same no matter what gauge gun it's shot from. However, everyone has assumed you're going to be shooting lead shot.

You mentioned hunting waterfowl where non-toxic shot is required. Your 2 3/4-inch 12s with 1 1/2-oz of lead are no longer legal. If you choose to shoot steel, which is cheaper than the high-density non-toxics, then it's a different story. You can get only about 1-oz of steel in a standard 12-ga shell. Which is pretty wimpy compared to the original lead load. This is where your big 12 mags and 10-ga guns come into play. With their increased capacity, they get the steel in the sky for less money. Bismuth 12ga 2 3/4-inch are more than $3 each, or you can get 10-ga 1 5/8-oz steel for around buck each.
 
my remington 870 express super magnum with 3 1/2 in. 00 buckshot will make you never want to shoot it ever again..i cant imagine ever wanting or needing anything bigger than that..
 
qwman68
my remington 870 express super magnum with 3 1/2 in. 00 buckshot will make you never want to shoot it ever again..i cant imagine ever wanting or needing anything bigger than that..
Click to expand...
Your buckshot is lead. It's a different world if you're after geese with less dense steel shot.
 
I think Zippy13 is correct

My son uses his 10 for waterfowl and says he just got tired of making hits and then not getting the bird.

His precentage of retreaval is much higher with the 10.

Keep em coming!

CDOC
 
maybe

There are a lot of folks who believe that the 10 ga, w/ its bigger tube (dia) has more room for the shot column, and thus distorts less shot down the bbl and through the choke, and therefore, shoots more even, or denser patterns if choked tightly, w/ its 2 -1/4 oz of shot than a 3.5" 12 ga. w/ same payload.

This is theory, I've never owned a 10 ga, or compared same.

I came very close to buying a Browning BPS, with a short bbl, aftermarket space finish, custom choke tube, nice gun. We nicknamed it the turkey bazooka! It was shear terror on birds w/ #4 lead shot at distances you should never shoot at gobblers. But......the dang thing was HEAVY
and I passed on it.
 
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