Quick question: 12 gauge, 10 gauge

[Nightcrawler]

How does 10 gauge compare to 3" (or maybe even 3.5"?) 12 gauge, in terms of payload weight and velocity?

Standard 10 gauge slug is 1.25 ounces, right? Isn't that the same for 3" 12 gauge? How many buckshot pellets for a given pellet size?

Is that why 10 gauges have fallen by the wayside? Do they not offer any ballistic advantage over 3" or 3.5" 12 gauge?

Just curious. Thanks!

[Gordon]

My 10 ga shoots Federal 1 3/4 oz slugs. They CAN shoot 2 3/8 oz lead handloads (#4 for turkeys) which no 12 ga does I think. The 10 ga has more uniform patterns generally than a 3.5" 12 ga. and personally I think they recoil much less. Maybe the recoil seems less because the size is scaled up on 10 ga. I shoot a 10 ga on all waterfowl that require non lead loads. I load 1 3/4 oz of steel 2s for duck and BB or T for geese. I use #4 lead loads for turkeys. I have used #4 buck (54 pellets) on coyotes and keep a slug loaded 'coach gun' in the TV room to repell borders!

[Nightcrawler]

Holy crap. 10 gauge is bigger than I thought.

They need to make a forward ejecting, semi-autom, magazine fed bullpup in 10 ga.

Just my opinion. :D

[berettashotgun]

10ga is a 3.5" shell (modern anyways), used to be 2.75". I load up to 2.5oz lead and 1 3/8oz FAST STEEL. Goose gun delux! Haven't had a shot longer than 15 yards on a Turkey since I started using a 10ga for Turkeys.

12ga 3.5 is about equal to a 10ga 3.5 since it is designed with a higher max allowable pressure. Doesn't pattern quite as well (they say:rolleyes: ), My extrema never noticed. Haven't seen a 1.75oz 12ga slug- yet. 10's got large slugs.