Gauge Differences???

[lizziedog1]

A twelve gauge shotgun can throw more birdshot out then a 20 gauge can. They both have larger payloads then 28 gauges. A ten tops all of them. I realize, at least in theory, that more pellets translates into more hits on target and thus more damage to said target.

I also know that the shot velocity from one gauge to another is similar. If someone was standing at such a distance that a birdshot blast form a 20 gauge was harmless to them, a 12 gauge at that distance won't drop the person dead either. Also, from what I understand, the pattern sizes are more determined by the gun's choke then the bore diameter. The sizes of patterns in similarly choked guns are similar at equal distances. The difference is the number of pellets in the pattern.

Here is my question. Do the larger gauges really make that big of a difference for the average bird hunter? I have recovered dead birds that when field dressing I find only two or three pellets in. All the common gauges throw at least three pellets. Also, wouldn't larger birds be hit with pellets because of their size.

I am not a very good wingshooter. I do know some guys that rarely miss in the field. Some of them use 12's, but some of them use lesser guns. I know that I miss with any gauge. I doubt that an eight gauge would improve my field hits.

This whole thread is about birdshot. With buckshot or slugs then theie isn't much of a gauge debate. The twelve wins hands-down. But with small projectiles, how much real, pratical differnce is there? Can larger gauges make up for poor shooting?

 

[hogdogs]

when you had some dense bird populations, you could get several at one time.

Brent

 

[bcarver]

chokes and gauges

No. the 12 will not make a bad shooter good. great shooters can out shoot me with a .410 if I had a 10 gauge.
A pattern is either good enough or not.
The larger gauges only add range to the gun.

 

[Scorch]

Before 3-1/2" 12 gauge mags, the 10 gauge reigned supreme for shot payload. In the "olden days", indeed, if you wanted a larger payload, you got a larger bore. That is because the shot column was relatively short, and so you depended on the diameter of the bore to carry more shot. Then black powder disappeared, anything larger than 10 gauge was banned, and smokeless powder proved itself to be a lot more versatile and powerful than BP. The 10 gauge stepped up to 3", and for many decades it packed the heaviest shot payload you could find.

People being curious and inventive started palying around, and around WW2 the 2-3/4" shotshell displaced the 2-1/2" shell because of their heavier shot payloads, pretty soon the 3" 12 gauge magnum was born, then the 3" 20 gauge came along (and spelled the end for the 16 gauge).

Some people started saying the magnums weren't all that much better than the old 2-3/4" shells for pass shooting but they knocked decoying birds out of the sky like a tennis racket would. What people found out was that there is more to shot payloads than how many pellets you can put in the air. Shot string came into play, and as people started getting high-speed photos of shot patterns they found out that the old timers were right in a way, more shot does not mean a denser pattern, it means a longer shot string.

So if you swing through like you're supposed to, shorter shot strings kill fine for the average bird hunter, but longer shot strings are a lot more forgiving. If you don't swing through, it's really a matter of luck anyway.