20 gauge 3" in #2 buckshot...good for hunting what??

S

Southern Shooter

New member
I personally never hear of anybody hunting with a 20 gauge using 3" in #2 buckshot. Is it effective in taking game of any size? What size of animal? What choke would be used?

Thanks
 
The only real difference between a 12 and a 20 gauge is the amount of shot. The veloicty is about the same.

I love full chokes when using buckshot:). I never have but I think my 870 police or my M1 super 90 with a full choke and buckshot at close range would be good hog medicine.
 
Southern, the 20 ga load is good for youngsters hunting deer. Used to belong to a dog drive club and several member's kids used that load to good effect.

Impact, buckshot and hogs is a terrible combination. Tried it a couple of years back, full house load of #1 buck at about sixty feet with one of 16 pellets getting through the gristle plate and into the body. If it wern't for the slugs I had candy caned, it would have run off wounded. :barf:
 
00 buck not needed for deer?

One reason I ask this question about the 20 gauge using 3" with #2 buckshot is that several folks I work with claim that anything smaller than 00 buckshot will NOT have the desired effect on whitetail deer.

So, this is not actually true? What choke should I use with this combination? To what distance would this be effective on deer?
 
Southern I have never hunted deer with buckshot. I'm sure other people will chime in. But I would not try to take a deer over 40 yards with buckshot and a full choke. Now slugs is a hole different story.

I like to play at my IPSC and IDPA range with the shot guns. To knock over a popper with buckshot and full choke at 40 yards is easy. But at 40 yards the pattern starts to grow. At 30 yards! It's still pretty tight.
 
I have taken several black bear with buck shot. Two other people have used my shotgun to take a bear. I used #1 buck. The ranges were all very short, less than 100 feet. I chose the smaller buck because it offered more pellets and a better pattern in that shotgun. All the bears were head and neck shot, like a turkey. Not a one needed to be trailed or was lost. I do not use a shotgun anymore, but it worked for me for several years.
 
#2 BUCK? Not Birshot, but Buckshot? In 20 ga.?

Ugh. Coyote inside of 30 yards. Feral dogs and feral cats at the same range. Skunks, opossums, racoons, bobcat, fox. Javelina at 20 yards or less. Shoats under 50 lbs at javelina range.

Frankly, the single best use for it would be Bad Guys at Living Room range. 20 guage makes a nice home defense load, even if you don't have a lady or kids in the house. Most people control 20 ga. and are more willing to practice with it than 12 ga.

There is almost invariably something that is better for what you're hunting than a 20 gauge with that load. :)
 
Buckshot

i have only hunted on a few deer leases, mostly on public hunting land and the only thing you can use in most areas in texas is buckshot. i have never owned a 20g but 12g and i use 00 buckshot, i never go home without taking a deer. the only down fall to buckshot is; there are plenty of pellets to search for when cleaning the deer. i'm sure a 20g will work fine on deer, my suggestion is to use the magnum loads to get more pellets and to make sure they get up close and personal, anything outside 30 yards and you may be tracking that deer for some time.
 
Why dont they call it #2 burgler shot?? Hey King , where in Texas are you not alowed to use a rifle on deer??? Somebody had better tell me cuz i use the biggest dang thing i got . I call it my free long distance ,no roaming gun. Cuz itll shoot a long way , but you dont want to walk very far with it. I cheat though.
 
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