20ga Fun and Games

[TrapperReady]

I went out and shot some sporting clays with a good friend yesterday. Most of the time, he and I both shoot Browning 425 12ga shotguns, using 1 1/8 oz loads of #8 shot. We are typically very evenly matched.

Since we aren't too far from hunting season, I decided to practice with my "new favorite" field-gun, an old 20ga 870WM (fixed full-choke) I picked up last year. I hunted pheasants with it a couple times, but hadn't shot it extensively. I thought a couple rounds of clays would help.

Anyway, the first round, we picked the hardest automated course at our regular club and I shot just about how I normally do with the 12ga. My friend actually beat me by a couple shots.

We then got a trapper and moved to the hardest course they have. It's difficult enough that the trapper tried talking us out of it, since we'd not shot it before. We were undeterred, and at the last second another gentleman joined us.

Basically, this course was full of long crossers, mostly using 90mm targets, so they were small and fast-moving. To my surprise, I was breaking them pretty well. I had been concerned that I would be at a slight disadvantage, throwing 1/4 oz less shot and having to shuck the action. Not so. Even with multiple true doubles, I did every bit as well as the others and never felt at a disadvantage (although I did short-shuck once, but recovered nicely and still broke the target).

I ended up with a 27/50 (on easier courses I'm typically in the mid-high 40s), and my friend wound up with a 17. The gentleman who tagged along beat me by a single target. After the round, while talking in the clubhouse, I found out that the guy who had shot with us owned the course record for a while with a score of 35. So, I'm feeling pretty good about my own shooting and the effectiveness of the 20ga.

I had planned to use the day for familiarization with a hunting gun, but ended up much more impressed with the effectiveness of the cartridge as well. We'll see what happens when I start filling the freezer with tasty poultry treats this fall and winter. It also has me thinking about cooking up some 7/8 oz 12ga loads for my 425.

 

[HSMITH]

Good shooting with your 20, be careful or it will end up taking a spot in the front of the safe and getting pulled more often than anything else!!

I am a firm believer that clay targets cannot tell the difference between 7/8 oz 20ga and 1 1/8 oz 12ga. MAYBE 1 in 100 targets missed with the 20 will be broken with a 12 if you pattern the 20 and use what it has to offer. As far as I know birds cannot tell the difference either inside of 40 yards when lead shot is used.

I believe that the 12ga is not needed unless crow shooting, buckshot, or using steel shot. I wish I had known before I spent a small fortune on shotguns figuring it out, I own 5 to 1 of 12ga to any other gauge. I would like it to be the other way around.

I shoot a LOT of 12 ga 7/8 ounce loads, I shoot 1000 7/8 for every box of anything else. My 20 ga loads are 3/4 ounce for the most part too.

 

[TrapperReady]

My ratio currently stands at 1/3 20ga, 2/3 12ga.

I like all my 12ga shotguns, but the 20 is just so much nicer in the field. Most of my hunting is for upland birds, and involves a LOT of walking. The first time I used the 20ga last fall, it was really nice to carry it all day and not have the normal arm fatigue by the time I clambered back into the Jeep.

At the time, it seemed to work on birds as well as a 12ga, but I couldn't be sure. After yesterday, I'm pretty well convinced that I'm not giving up anything.

The other thing I liked was the pump action. I didn't feel that it slowed me down any, and was kind of cool to do... sort of like driving a manual transmission. (NOTE to Dave McC: Yes, this old 870WM is supernaturally slick to operate. It feels like it would almost open the action simply by pointing it upward.)

Another similarity to the 12ga is that the 20ga still kicks quite a bit. After 100 shells (hot day and almost no padding), that hard plastic butt plate left a definite mark on my shoulder. Although adding a softer recoil pad would help, I think I'll leave it original, since I like the way it looks and if I'm hunting I've got a lot more padding. Also, it's extremely rare for me to shoot more than one box of shells in a day's worth of hunting.

 

[Dave McCracken]

After seeing Tom Held going 19/25 on 16 yard trap with a 410, and seeing the effect of the 7/8 oz loads I've made and tested, I have to join the chorus.

In the Temple of The Shotgun Gods, a marble tablet inscribed by a Fiery Finger reads, "Choke and load are more crucial than gauge". The tablet next to it says "Small gauges will never be as efficient as 12 gauges". Both may need reworking.

Ammo of old lost plenty of pellets betwixt muzzles and target. Soft, unround shot, no protection from the bore, and fast burning powders meant lots of pellets left the muzzle tangentally, and were lost to the pattern in a very short distance. Nowadays modern ammo delivers round shot and there's fewer flyers.

In the bad old days, even trap loads needed lots of pellets to ensure enough density in the pattern outside the core. Now, modern stuff keeps as many from a 7/8 oz load as a 1 1/8 oz load did back around 1950 where it counts.

This is why Cylinder bore performs as well as IC used to in the field,comes close to what Modified used to do, and why many Full chokes are too much of a good thing.

12s make sense for big payloads, like waterfowl, buck and turkey loads. They make sense for use with lighter loads too. The 20 lacks the versatility of the 12, but there's many shotgunning situations where portability and lighter weight means more than the ability to launch a teacupful of 2s past the Sound Barrier.

Good shooting with that classic...

 

[Mannlicher]

Funny that this thread should come up.

My upland guns are all 12Ga. Last year, for the few times I got to go dove hunting, I took my Mossberg along also. This gun started as a 500 C Cruiser, with pistol grip and short barrel. I added a 26 inch vent rib barrel, with choke tubes, and a regular synthetic stock.

I found that I like it for dove and quail, more than my Browning A5s or Remingtons. It is just as deadly, and much easier to carry all day.

 

[Kingcreek]

Maybe as we get older, the weight of the gun we carry becomes more important than the weight of the shot???
I agree the 20 can be just as effective and more fun to shoot (and carry).
Also agree that open chokes work great for most upland shots.
My 5'0" 97lb wife only hunted with me once last year and she only shoots her 20g micro lightning. The only bird she had a shot at was a long rooster with a tail wind. I cringed when I saw the situation developing, knowing she had 2.75" #5s in IC/Mod. She missed with the first barrel with the bird at >30yrds then killed the bird rather neatly at ~45 yrds. Good thing she didn't know you can't do that with a 20g.

 

[kudu]

Small gauge guns have always been my favorites. When I was shooting registered skeet my highest average was always in the 28ga. It's not so much recoil as just being funner to shoot. At 6'2" and 260 pounds recoil doesn't bother me hardly at all. Just got to shoot whats fun.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Pop's old 12 gauge Savage O/U was stolen about 1970. Some friends got together and bought him a 20 gauge SKB O/U, choked IC/Modified. He stated several times that the only difference he saw in the uplands was he wasn't as tired at the end with the little 20.

Ran across my friend Doug K from the Geezer League yesterday. Naturally, he was toting yet another good shotgun. This one was a 28 gauge Parker.I mounted, swung and coveted it immediately. Bet Doug shot it well at SC and close to his scores with the 12s.