Thread: 20/12

Originally Posted by jakewire

Loads lighter, hum. are you sure? guns are often lighter which ,,,,,
also
seems to me that there is a stringing pattern with the 20, no personal expertise, just What I'm reading.

Don't worry about stringing, its pretty much not a problem, unless you are using a very small gauge and a very heavy charge.
Have a read about square loads, this is what, the fore fathers figured out, before magnumits screwed shotgun loads up,
Basically a square load, is a charge that as deep as it is wide, this is normally, were you get the most consistent, even patterns,
so in a 10ga 11/2, 12ga 1, 1/8-1 1/4, 16ga 1oz, 20ga 7/8 oz, 3/4 in a 28ga,
Generally if you need a magnum shell, or think you do, really you properly need, more time on the trap and skeet field, or a bigger gauge.

Got a 30 06 mate, considered selling all and keeping that,
However, then I bought a 9.3
dammed if I don't want to sell everything and keep that.
Still like the idea of a 20g

Originally Posted by jakewire

Got a 30 06 mate, considered selling all and keeping that,
However, then I bought a 9.3
dammed if I don't want to sell everything and keep that.
Still like the idea of a 20g

Ha, I got a husky in 9.3x62, love that old girl, funny enough not as much as a meat destroyer, as the likes of my .264 win and .270.
250gr accubonds and a stiff load of varget, boom, thump, down, near or far, and fast enough to 300 odd.
I am trimming down numbers of rifles and shotguns at moment. bought back ten from overseas.
I just find it amusing that in rifle's, guys will have several, for different tasks/game, and then say get a 12ga you can do everything with one,

The post from southernman pretty well says it all. Smaller gauges of good quality are faster handling guns. Trying to carry a massive 12ga magnum goose gun auto around the hill hunting upland game when a quality 20, 0r 28 ga is available , is a no brainer.
In the right hands and with the right load smaller gauges are effective on waterfowl as well, but in the waterfowl situation your average punter -hunter is far better off with a big bore boomer. I would not go so far as to say big multi shot guns are the best option from a game ethics or management aspect though.

I shoot most sub gs and a nice 20g sbs is a much better handling gun than a clunkly semi usually lighter and much better to get into action faster ,easier to use getting in and out of the truck allday in the forests and much nicer to carry allday in the field and you dont have to use super heavey loads 28 to 32g loads are fine ,heck i was shooting parries yesterday with the 16guage and used 1oz 4s got my limit and they all died in the sky nothing hit the ground flaping and trying to get away others were using 3inch 2 steel and were chasing wouned birds for two paddocks give the 20 ago youl love it

the fact that you have covetous eyes on a SxS 20 ga. tells me something. perhaps you are at a stage in your shooting life where you are pondering - is there more enjoyment in shotgunning than can be had by one shotgun? well yes there is. you don't play golf or tennis seriously with just the one club or racket.? the merit of 20 ga. has been well debated on this forum so no need to go there. i can tell you this, when you collect a double from that sxs 20ga. you will get a glow of satisfaction that cannot be duplicated by a semi-auto. but i must warn you more guns can be addictive. now some people like taking out a 135 year old hammergun, a brace of birds, oh what a connection to the past.

Originally Posted by lophortyx

the fact that you have covetous eyes on a SxS 20 ga. tells me something. perhaps you are at a stage in your shooting life where you are pondering - is there more enjoyment in shotgunning than can be had by one shotgun? well yes there is. you don't play golf or tennis seriously with just the one club or racket.? the merit of 20 ga. has been well debated on this forum so no need to go there. i can tell you this, when you collect a double from that sxs 20ga. you will get a glow of satisfaction that cannot be duplicated by a semi-auto. but i must warn you more guns can be addictive. now some people like taking out a 135 year old hammergun, a brace of birds, oh what a connection to the past.

Yep not much else to add

your .20ga will do what you ask of it and be easy to carry BUT so will a similar .12ga
the above posts mostly all mention a big heavy semi but what about a nice SxS .12ga using loads of 1oz or 1 1/8th oz you are firing same shot at same velocity when talking upland or clays, and as for ducks well if you spend the time and find out what patterns well in your .12ga steel ISNT the big hoohaah people make it out to be. trying to shoot parries up the gunga at 40 yards with load of steel #4s is like shooting irate stag/boar with the .22 magnum....yip you CAN do it if you are close enough and place shot carefully but something with a bit more weight behind it works so much better. for what its worth I don't have trouble KILLING parries mallards or close geese with steel #2s but I pick loads close to 1550fps.
oh and Im a fan of .410s incase anyone thinks its .12ga or nothing.

[QUOTE]

Don't worry about stringing, its pretty much not a problem, unless you are using a very small gauge and a very heavy charge.

i beg to differ a load that doesn,t string to much is preferable again its trial and error patterning wise.
but if you want to see the 20.s stringing compared to the 12 say let a round or two rip on the water.
it seems the 32 to 36 gram loads are worst for it while the british 28 to 30 gram loads seem to be better.
theres no clear winner but the bigger the birds[ it seem unless really a really shit load] the less of a problem it is especially with the larger shot .
strangly with the 20 the mid size 2s/3s lead shot loads dont seem to string as badly i.l let you know how the 3 inch black cloud steel hangs together.
i was clipping far to many ducks last season with a load i normally kill cleanly no problem,.
i changed up one choke size than normal and problem solved it self back to kill or miss.
but i use mainly the eley hi flyer 6s or 5s if i cant get them and this change up to 5,s for mallards was enough to put me on the backfoot even tho they patterned almost as well .
but in the string test they were a bit more stretched out not much but enough to mean i wasnt getting enough of the front of the pattern on the smaller ducks even tho they were killer on parries.well thats my excuse anyway
the 2 3/4 inch 32 gram fiocchi 2, load is all im ever going to use on geese now with the modified choke in.
it kills them as far and and as well as anything ive shot including the awesome falcon/hf 12 gauge 40 gram lead load of 2,s
tho my long shot days are well gone anyway it still beats the 3 inch loads in the pattern, recoil ,price and stringing stakes [if you wanted to use it in other sizes on ducks]

Shotgunning has never been so confusing to me as it is now😆

If you get a gun you like and it fits learn how to use it.
Choking and loads will become less of a concern when you can shoot it well.
I shoot half and 3/4 in my clay gun no matter what dicipline I shoot.
I use the same gun for all diciplines including DTL. It is flat shooting F3 sporter with 34" barrels.
I use a full in my field guns including my 20g.
Wouldn't have a clue what sort of pattern any of my shotguns throw.
I shoot one ounce loads at everything, maybe 1 1/8 on game if I can't find lighter in the ammo I like.
Gamebore/Kent is my preferred cartridge for targets or game if I can get it.

A long shot string can actually be benificial on game and even more so on targets. Also not a concern in my experience.




Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

yes r93 but you use 1 ounce loads cos that or less is all you are allowed to use for clays.
damn you must be built like a brick shithouse to use that gun for skeet or sporting 100 for instance even compaq??
ive heard it said and believe it takes a good experienced shot to use tighter chokes it may well be easier over a known starting distance like dtl
but on anything smaller than parries out hunting full dont do didly for me.

Point being, I use ounce loads on ducks, geese, pheasants and quail not just targets.
You don't need heavy loads to kill game.

I am not built like a brick shit house either.
Shot hundreds of big matches with my F3 including shitloads of skeet. I dont remember it requiring any extra effort over any other gun I have used.
Never used any of the other chokes provided with it either.

I use full in my game guns as I either crumple the bird or miss. I let upland birds get out a bit and s a result I get bugger all wounded birds.

You aslo know you're on when you pick up headless ducks😆










Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[QUOTE=gsp follower;445188]

i beg to differ a load that doesn,t string to much is preferable again its trial and error patterning wise.
but if you want to see the 20.s stringing compared to the 12 say let a round or two rip on the water.
it seems the 32 to 36 gram loads are worst for it while the british 28 to 30 gram loads seem to be better.
theres no clear winner but the bigger the birds[ it seem unless really a really shit load] the less of a problem it is especially with the larger shot .
strangly with the 20 the mid size 2s/3s lead shot loads dont seem to string as badly i.l let you know how the 3 inch black cloud steel hangs together.
i was clipping far to many ducks last season with a load i normally kill cleanly no problem,.
i changed up one choke size than normal and problem solved it self back to kill or miss.
but i use mainly the eley hi flyer 6s or 5s if i cant get them and this change up to 5,s for mallards was enough to put me on the backfoot even tho they patterned almost as well .
but in the string test they were a bit more stretched out not much but enough to mean i wasnt getting enough of the front of the pattern on the smaller ducks even tho they were killer on parries.well thats my excuse anyway
the 2 3/4 inch 32 gram fiocchi 2, load is all im ever going to use on geese now with the modified choke in.
it kills them as far and and as well as anything ive shot including the awesome falcon/hf 12 gauge 40 gram lead load of 2,s
tho my long shot days are well gone anyway it still beats the 3 inch loads in the pattern, recoil ,price and stringing stakes [if you wanted to use it in other sizes on ducks]

I don't really agree, the only way you can check a shoot string, is with high speed camera equipment,
Shooting the water, only tells you, You hit the water, too many variables, speed, choke, angle, quality of shot size, distance, and yes shot string length, etc etc, but we both have the same thoughts on std loads over magnum's,
Some times I think, in hunting/fishing, we tend to over think, the technical things a bit, esp when inside, and thinking about the next trip/mission.
shotguning is pretty simple, a gun that feels good in your hands, balances and swings fast and true, an approate sized load, choke and shot, for the game.
The rest, is pretty much up to the eyes, watch the intended target, neither thinking/ planing or aiming,
let the mind, hands and eyes, instinctively do the work.

I found black cloud, cuts up the meat much worse that normal steel, but it does kill well,

I have long since drifted away from the 12ga, into the subgauges, hand loading, bismuth, lead, heavishot, feltcards and cork, yet to make it to paperhulls, and blackpowder, someday.

and go the subgauges,
Someday I hope to own a blackpowder, hammer gun, and take a drake brace, or clean double, on cock pheasant, on a cool winter morning, a good dog for a companion, and the lingering smell of black powder, and smoke drifting off in the mist.

My young fella (10yrs) is moving up in gauge this year & is going to run the 20g briley sidekicks in his skeet gun for up close or in my 12g side by side for the open. He ran the .410 inserts in the side by side a couple of years back & loved it.

My boy is just on 14 and growing like bamboo.
But he is only now big enough to wield a stock standard gun.


Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk