[blackops]

My knowledge isn't that extensive when it comes to shotguns. I was wondering what the major difference are (other than recoil) from regular shells compared to magnum for a shotgun? What applications are magnums mostly used in?

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

Magnums are for hunting, or people who read gun forums too much and think anything less than a 3.5" Magnum 000 buckshot is insufficient for self defense.

[WVMountainBoy]

Is it wrong that I just really chuckled at the prospect of some rambo using an Express Super Magnum loaded with said 3.5 000 and needing shoulder surgery?

[Virginian]

Wrist surgery. Real men - and women - only use pistol gripped shotguns. I'd love to see that 107 pound woman on Burn Notice touch off anything but a blank.

[FLNT4EVR]

In the days of my youth,before giant economy size took over,most shotguns were only chambered for 2 3/4 shells. The magnums of the day,were loaded with the maximum amount of shot that could be squeezed into the shell caseing and still be effective.What you gained in payload you paid for with increased recoil,and a loss of velocity.Magnums were used mostly by waterfowelers to get an increase in effective range.

[chas08]

As previously stated they are mostly used for hunting where denser patterns are desirable such as Turkey or Waterfowl hunting. I cant think of much of any other reason to use them, though YMMV.

[redneck2]

If you understand shotguns and patterns versus penetration, you can see some uses for additional numbers of shot. Something like #8's should fill the pattern really well, but may run out of penetration power before the pattern gives out. Buckshot would give excellent penetration but gives relatively thin patterns.

With a magnum, you can stick with a given shot size and get more density, or move up in size and get better penetration. All that comes at the cost of recoil and price of the shells.

I use my SP-10 with #5 Hevi-Shot for turkeys. Five birds in five years with five shots. Two were over 60 yards. Gotta have the right combo to do it. Would never work with a standard 2 3/4" and lead.

[Steve C]

Magnums have one thing, more shot. They don't fire it any faster than standard shells, in fact its often a bit slower since the pressures remain the same for both type shells. More shot gives you more pellets in the pattern so that you have a bit longer range on birds than you o with non magnum loads.

[chas08]

Magnums have one thing, more shot. They don't fire it any faster than standard shells
That for the most part is true, though there a few exceptions available. Todays slower burning powders give us the ability to get higher velocities at lower pressures. A few years back no one talked fps in the same sentence as shotshells, it was units of pressure. Now, velocity (fps) is printed on almost every box. And now some magnum loads have as high, or slightly higher velocities as the standard load. This especially holds true with steel shot loads.

[green country shooter]

They came in because of the ban on lead shot, steel shot was not as effective so everyone wanted more pellets. I had a duck hunting friend that went to a 10 gauge! Now the new high tech pellets are excellent and you shouldn't need a magnum unless you are trying to take down a duck in the next county.

[JohnBT]

A duck in the next county calls for www.tungstensupershot.com

#7 shot at 50 or 60 yards or so.

Bring lots of money and have nearly no recoil to deal with, compared to what most of us use.

How about 2.75" TSS #5 vs. 3.5" lead BB 10 ga. at 65 yards.

www.tungstensupershot.com/pages/ballistics.asp?p=1

65yards
TSS 12 2 3/4 5 1.25 oz. 1240 125 428 28 10.9 ft.
Lead 10 3 1/2 BB 2 oz. 1250 102 352 64 11.1 ft.

[redneck2]

That's actually quite interesting. So, #7 tungsten has the same whack as BB lead?

Don't know about ft/lbs and all that. I do know that Hevi-Shot is more potent than lead in the real world.

I killed an already wounded goose with Hevi-Shot at what must have been 70+ yards with a 3" 12 gauge (would never have taken the shot had the goose not already been wounded with steel shot)

Several turkeys at 60+ with Hevi-Shot in a 10 gauge with a custom choke.

It's important that you pattern your firearm and know the possibilities and limitations. I got some grief from members here for 60 yard shots on turkeys. My custom ($80) choke throws incredibly tight patterns at 40 yards. Blew the entire center out of the patterning target. This just shows that Hevi-Shot has the energy if you have the pattern density.

[herkyguy]

5 rounds of 2 3/4" 'magnum' buckshot at the range convinced me not to use buckshot for home defense. I will take the lighter birdshot with the quicker second shot over the buckshot kicking my torso back a few inches.

[FLNT4EVR]

herkyguy , don't shortchange yourself , birdshot is for birds , you must assume that your intruder is in possesion of maximum firepower. You must answer in kind or lose.

[tactikel]

+1 on birdshot is for birds, practice with birdshot; at clays, patterning boards, and tin cans- shoot as much as you can (at least 200 rounds for any gun used for SD/HD) once you get comfortable with the gun you can pattern it with buckshot -then use BS for SD/HD. Birdshot will barely penetrate drywall-imagine if you have to shoot at an intruder hiding behind something:a door, couch, or a wall. If you are really concerned about overpenetration use #4 buck. If recoil is a concern there are low recoil BS rounds out there.

[Virginian]

Just for info, geese don't read those ads. I love tungsten, but it doesn't really have much on the old nickel plated lead. But neither does anything else.

[JohnBT]

Have you shot Tungsten Super Shot? Not tungsten-iron, tungsten-matrix or any of the usual tungsten alloy substitutes, but TSS.

"With a gravimetric density of 7.86 grams per cubic centimeter (gms/cc), steel is the lightest of the bunch, followed by bismuth, at 9.60 gms/cc; Tungsten-Iron, at 10.30; Tungsten Matrix, at 10.60; lead, at 11.10; and, the real heavyweight in the ring, Hevi-Shot, at 12 gms/cc."

TSS = "Extremely high density: 18 g/cc"

[Jack2427]

For most purposes, except loooong range waterfowl hunting, the mag/regular difference is measured in $$$$$$$ and recoil. However did we get along without magnums????? BTW we had magnum shells long before we had lead shot restrictions.
I cannot think of anything that can be done with a magnum that cannot be done with regular charges of lead and shot, just maybe a little closer, sometimes not even that. With several score of various shotguns clogging my living spaces, I can count my magnum ammo on the fingers of both hands +1, that makes a total of 11 magnum shotshells I own. 4 of them are 3.5" 10 gauge 000 buck, these are for the really tough guys who I sometimes encounter at the tactical SG range, another 4 are 12 gauge of similiar type, the remaing 3 are 2.75" mags, and I have not the slightest idea where they came from, but it is not in my nature to throw anything away, especially ammo. I use to have 13 magnum shells, but last spring a real "tough guy" cop from a big city SWAT team suggested that I was afraid to shoot them, I readily agreed and handed him my AYA double 10 gauge, with the loong chambers. He stuffed the shells into the gun and used the double triggers to touch off both barrels more or less at the same time. His eyes got unglazed a couple of hours later, he muttered something about "should have held it differently" and did not reappear till the next days class. Sometimes I love my job.