Funny how this works.
My first shotgun was a 12 ga double, and the second was a 12 ga Ithaca 37.
Loved 'em both.
Then I started hunting with an older guy who used a 20 ga 1100 because of the reduced recoil. He was deadly with it.
So I bought a 20, and then another and...well, you know how it goes.
I think that the 12 ga is something everyone has to do-a rite of passage I guess. As kids who read about guns more than we shot them, the 12 ga was hyped as "bigger n' better", so we had to have one.
We looked down on a 16 as "baby stuff", not for us real men. A 20 would have been an outright embarrassment.
Seeing a 20 ga in skilled hands, and using modern, more effective ammo-well, it does everything I could ask, within its limitations. With age, I guess we learn about limitations, pass up the Hail Mary shots, and maybe develop a bit of skill.
And my friend? Last fall he still outshot me. He credits the 20 with extending his hunting career by several years. We're already planning this fall's hunts, and he turned 89 last month.
