I've been real tempted to get a 20 ga to play with for clay games .... and maybe to introduce the wife to it all, too. I was super tempted when I saw a 2nd hand Rem 1100 synthetic in 20 ga in the rack at a gun shop the other day, but I have to say that I'm really in two minds.
1 oz of shot launched from a tube is still 1 oz of shot, regardless of the size of the tube. So, theoretically a 1 oz load out of a 20 ga should be as effective as a 1 oz load out of a 12 ga, but....!
A given volume of shot (say 1 oz) is loaded into two shotshells, one is 12 ga, the other 20 ga. The length of the shot column in the 12 ga will be shorter than in the 20 ga shell (because its a larger diameter base). So, the shot string is shorter to start off with. In addition to that, each individual pellet at the bottom of the 20 ga shot column has a greater mass of shot on top of it to shift once ignition of the powder that is lurking behind the wad occurs. This greater mass has greater inertia and will cause greater distortion of pellets at the bottom of the column. Distorted pellets have greater air resistance, fall behind the undistorted pellets, which serves to further lengthen the shot string, and will fly more erratically, which serves to spread the pattern out.
Now we know that short shot strings and dense patterns are a
good thing (TM) so surely a 1 oz load of shot from a 20 ga would have more distorted shot, a longer shot string, a wider (and thinner) pattern and fewer effective pellets in the main body of the shot string with which to smite flying objects?
So theoretically, a 12 ga should be superior to a 20 ga for delivering more pellets, and more effective pellets, on a given
moving target. Correct?
This is all good in theory, but is it actually significant when it comes to the real world? If the theory does translate to reality, how come a 28 ga is so effective?
Spinner
(think I need to go re-read Brister .... gotta get it back from the people who keep wanting to borrow it!
)