What gauge for all around shotgun?

What gauge for all around shotgun?

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  • Poll closed .
With the Aguila minishells loaded with 5/8 ounce shot, the 12 gauge even overlaps the .410 shotgun, and kicks even less than that load would in a .410.

With 3 inch magnums, it's a goose gun, with Aguila mini shells, it becomes a garden gun or snake killer. And there's loads for everything in between.

No other gauge has that kind of flexibility.
 
I voted 12 gage...if I want a bit of pinache I carry my Marlin model 19 with its 2 1/2 inch shells if I want still more pinache I pull out my BP 16 gage.
 
I voted 12 gauge as a good all around shotgun. The only 12 I never liked was a Franchi 48 autoloader. Light as a feather...until I fired a 3 inch load out of it. I am not recoil sensitive but a few of those would have pounded me into the ground like a tent stake
 
Here's why the 12 is the best all around, do everything gun.

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And why the 16 gauge isn't.

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12 ga. Nothing else is the same

Being as all shotguns operate in the same velocity range (for best patterns), the one that throws the most shot is the best, balanced against your ability to manage the recoil.

If everyone had maintained shooting 16s way back when, it would have the ammo offerings instead of the 12.
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So, why didn't they?

Do you think the buying public conspired with the gun and ammo makers to avoid panache?

The simple fact is, the more shot you throw, the better your chances. youthful experience with the 12, 16, and .410 taught me a number of things.

The .410 is often thought of as beginner's gun, due to its light recoil. And its a great small game gun at short range. But its not a good gun for wingshooting, for a beginner. In that use, its an expert's gun.

The 16 ga. is a fine shotgun, but its not quite the equal of the 12ga. Yes, a 16, built from the start as a 16 is lighter than a 12. But really, so what? If the small difference in weight between a 12 and a 16 is vital to you, I suggest the Viking answer, "grow stronger!" :D

Seriously, every gun is heavy at the end of the day. If you have a nice 16, I won't say put it away and get a 12, that's just foolish. But if you have neither, get the 12, don't bother with the 16 unless your passion is the oddball. I happen to have that passion in rifles, so I know how it is.

A lot of people favor the 20ga, with the 3" shells. Their points include, the 3" 20 throws as much shot as the 2 3/4" 12, and the guns are much lighter.

Quite true, but not all the truth you need to know. 20s are lighter than 16s, and quite a bit lighter than 12s. They do swing easier than heavier guns, which is a plus. But shooting the same weight as a 12 in a light gun means more recoil. There's no free lunch.

And, while the smaller bore shooting the same weight of shot makes no difference for some angles, for anything passing across, it does. The smaller bore means the same weight of shot has to be a longer column, so it is actually less dense in cross section.

I have 12s, ranging from my Grandfathers Ithaca double (bought new, made to his specs in 1909), Win Model 12, Ithaca 51, Rem 870, and a no name Chinese made coach gun. I also have a couple .410s, a bolt action and a Contender pistol. One, or more of these has always met all my needs.

You probably have some similar and some different needs, so your best choices might be quite different.

I do not own a 20 ga. I will not own a 20ga. Because I have 12ga. Ever notice the colors of the shells? There's a reason. Safety.

I have good color perception, but not everyone in my household did, so no 20ga. Also, no need for one.

The 28 & 32? again, experts guns, niche rounds very good at what they do but not good for everything.
 
The demise of the 16 was two-fold - idiot makers who put it on the heavier 12 frame, and the introduction of the 3" 20 gauge.
 
Heavy is not always a bad thing. Trap, skeet, and sporting clays are sports where you carry the gun very little but shoot a lot. Here the reduction of recoil due to weight can be quite welcome.

Lightweight 20 and 28 gauge guns are great for hunting, where you carry the gun all day but shoot very little.

I just shot 100 7/8 ounce rounds out of my 12 gauge trap gun yesterday in the course of maybe one hour. I'm glad that 12 gauge trap gun weighs 8.3 pounds. I could have gone on all day.
I could just as easily have shot 7/8 ounce of shot at the target with a lightweight little 20 gauge, but it would have kicked quite a bit more and I doubt that my scores would have been as good.
 
In my view ...the demise of the 16ga...was because of 2 factors:

a. Development of screw in chokes more or less in the 1980's - because you could now use one gun for all of your hunting needs ( Pheasant, Quail, Grouse, Ducks, etc...) .../ ...the "need" for a gun that was good for Grouse or Quail ( and the 16 ga's typical 1 oz load - with a Modified choke ) was no longer as big a factor.

b. Development of a lot of very good 20ga and 12ga shells...that overlapped into the 1 oz of shot range that in the 1940's - early 1980's was pretty unique to the 16ga .../ so you could download a 12ga ..or upload a 20 ga ( typically at 7/8 oz ) to one ounce.

The 16ga got squeezed out between the 12ga and the 20ga..../ and it was never used as a competition gague - where the 12ga and the 20ga ( and 28ga and .410 ) have traditionally had specific events for each of them.

This issue of weight /size of the receiver - and all that is interesting../ everybody has a favorite weight, length, size of the grip area, stock type that we like to hunt with ..../ but you can get what is considered a typical 16ga sized gun - today in a 12ga or a 20ga ( not at big box store prices ) - but there are a number of high quality guns out there - that can be ordered in whatever dimensions you like for a price probably $5k - $10K.....

Nostalgia is great...I love some of the old guns / but we used to think we had to have a 12ga or a 10ga with 32" barrels to hunt ducks and geese with too...especially in the 50's and 60's when I grew up...and I sure as heck don't need those anymore either ! I keep one old 16ga ( bolt action gun - a Westernfield ) ...in my collection / 30" barrel full choke and its really light ( 6 lbs I think )...great for a kid when I was about 8 or 9 probably...../ but I'll shoot a light load in a 12ga or a heavier load in a 20ga today.
 
The 16ga got squeezed out between the 12ga and the 20ga..../ and it was never used as a competition gague - where the 12ga and the 20ga ( and 28ga and .410 ) have traditionally had specific events for each of them.
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I would say that alone is a large factor. The 28 gauge pretty much owes it's popularity to it being a skeet competition class.
 
I would say that alone is a large factor. The 28 gauge pretty much owes it's popularity to it being a skeet competition class.
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The only folks I know who hunt with a 28-ga were skeet shooters first. All my 28s are tubed 12-ga O/Us -- a little heavy for the field.
 
I went the stand alone gun route vs a tubed gun ( but in hindsight - a good tubed gun with a carrier barrel would have been a better option )....but I was able to purchase a set of 4 guns about 15 yrs ago - all Browning XS Skeet models with adj combs and 30" barrels...one in 12ga ...and the 20ga...and a 28ga and a ...410 ...( the 28ga and the .410 are all built by Browning on the 20ga receiver - so the 20ga, 28ga and .410 all feel exactly the same ) where the 12ga is about 1lb heavier.

28ga and .410 ....are also competition guns / at least in the bigger tournaments - in sporting clays as well as skeet.
 
I voted for 12 ga but my favorite gun is a 14 ga. Yes, it's a muzzle loading single barrel made in Birmingham England around 1850 but it is light and points nicely. Great for trap and skeet. Need to practice more and take her to Friendship next Spring.
Sorry, just my inner"smartass" coming out.
 
.410

Well, I'll bet my vote is the only one for .410. That's OK. I am used to taking flak for it. I am not a shotgun collector. I have only owned one shotgun and it is a cheap Hawthorne Monkey Wards bolt action, full choke that my dad gave me for Christmas in jr high school.

When I went out with the guys on past pheasant hunts and the like, I would catch a lot of flak about my "BB gun"from guys that had not hunted with me before. I developed a shooting style best described as quick draw. If I shot at the same time as someone with a 12 gauge, then automatically his shot brought down the bird. My only recourse was to get on the bird and pull off the shot before the guys with the cannons got on the bird. Usually the other guys that had been joshing me got real quiet after the second or third bird. I really wasn't that good....I think they were that bad.

I couldn't see any reason to change, though I was severely tempted to get a 20 gauge double. I used the .410 for rabbits, ducks, geese, doves and pheasants. I didn't shoot anything that I wasn't planning to eat (except for jack rabbits....there was a bounty and for that I am ashamed, because there aren't any more, nor the tumbleweeds that gave them shade).

I didn't like eating lead, so the .410 worked for me. But I realize how silly this is to someone with a collection of Italian custom shotguns. One for every type of game. I just worked on the theory that if I couldn't hit it with a full choke .410, I didn't deserve to kill it. I even think that it gave the game a sporting chance. Well maybe not.
 
12 GA because of ammo availability and cost. You can get a 12 ga shell that does almost anything you can get a 20 ga shell to do.

The only place i think a 20 ga wins on ballistics is slugs at deer in a rifled barrel with sabot at long range. The 20 ga shoots a lot flatter than 12.
It can be lighter, but I think some manufacturers use the same frames for 12 and 20s, so you have to be careful with that.
 
Sweet 16!
Guns are lighter than the 12, pack more punch than the 20

And I don't even have one..............
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Yup, that was the story over 50 years ago when my dad gave me a Stevens 311 double in 16 gauge. It was going to be "the" shotgun round to have.
Except for the fact that the 3" 20 gauge was waiting in the wings!!!
When popular, and affordable guns that were even lighter than tge 16 became available in the long 20 gauge chambering besting the 16, and approaching standard gield loads in 12 gauge, the "Sweet" 16 rapidly began to leave a sour taste in the mouths of the shotgunning world.:D
 
the one that throws the most shot is the best,
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No, it isn't - the one that PATTERNS the best, is the best.......tons of pellets with huge holes in the patterns are useless.......the 16 and 28 have always been labeled as having great patterns due to their "square loading". No matter what bore size, pattern is everything regarding payloads.
 
I suppose there is a "square load" for every gauge, whatever that means. Does it mean the shot column is as tall as the bore is wide, or does it mean the "gauge load", 1/16 of a pound for 16 gauge, 1/12 pound for 12 gauge etc.?

To the muzzle loading guys using black powder, a "square load" means using the same measuring scoop to meter the powder and shot charge. 82 grains of black powder (3 drams) behind 1 1/8 ounces of shot is a "square load".
 
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