You just described my opening day of dove season every year! Well at least it gives me a chance to hone my profanity before the Razorback football season starts.
20 Gauge: Defense?
- Thread starter JayFramer
- Start date
You just described my opening day of dove season every year! Well at least it gives me a chance to hone my profanity before the Razorback football season starts.
Ivan, you forgot about 16 gauge.
LVSteve
Member
Case closed. Ain't no substitute for first hand experience.
Ivan the Butcher
Member
Ivan, you forgot about 16 gauge.
I didn't forget it. 16 gauge was the standard that all others were judged by for about 75 years, maybe a little longer. In the Black Powder days 16 gauge was THE One Ounce Load! 12 gauge was 1 1/8 ounce & 20 gauge was 7/8. With the advent of smokeless powder and plastic hulls, 16 got squeezed into a nitch only for Edwardian Hunting enthusiasts. My best friend loves 16 SxS's, for their grace and balance with lighter weight and reasonable recoil. In the old days of Trap shooting 12 & 16 gauge were considered equal, but somewhere around the early 70's, Winchester quit making THE AA trap loads in 16 gauge. You can't shoot registered birds with reloads, so within 5 years the 16 gauge trap gun went the way of the Dodo bird! At Vintage shoots you see some real beauties, some with the most precise and pleasing Damascus barrels, but that right there tells you something about 16 gauge's demise!
16 gauge's popularity for hunting seemed to last 15 or 20 years longer in Europe, but the catalogs only list 16 gauge guns as a footnote. Nobody seems to be ordering Best Quality guns in 16 either.
I came to shotgunning for sport later in life, and by that time the American 16 gauge SxS was built only on 12 gauge actions, they were heavy and ammo availability was limited (to say the least!) 410's were built on 20 gauge actions, and America lost these very graceful hunting guns to an indifferent manufacturing climate. Skeet and Sporting Clays are the only thing that saved 28 and 410 from the same fate!
Ivan
Last edited:
I remember a friend from my Dads hometown who used a 16 single barrel of unremembered origin. I had my Dads/Grandpas Crescent 20ga. double.
We had some good times in the fields and woods.
Until we shot a hornets nest with them. That's a different story.
I do remember one of his recoils was equal to two of mine!
We had some good times in the fields and woods.
Until we shot a hornets nest with them. That's a different story.
I do remember one of his recoils was equal to two of mine!
Last edited:
kthom
Member
As Ivan says, you've got to aim your shotgun pretty much like you'd aim a rifle if you are shooting from here to the bedroom wall of most bedrooms. With today's ammo, regardless of gauge, that shot column stays in a pretty small wad. And any gauge at that range makes a devastating wound.
You can miss pretty easily at very close ranges with a shotgun, even with no choke present. I missed a skunk in my backyard one night holding a single shot 20 gauge in one hand and a flashlight in the other from about ten/12 feet away. Got the skunk with the next shot after a quick reload. And that short barreled 20 gauge now has the flashlight attached to the barrel with a magnetic flashlight mount leaving me both hands to aim and manipulate the weapon. At those short distances, even the wad (plastic shot cup) of a shot gun round will do some serious damage when and if it strikes the intended target! It takes a bit more distance than across many rooms inside most homes for the pattern to begin to disperse much. Lots of folks don't realize that. If you use a shotgun for in home personal protection, you need to treat shooting it like shooting a rifle, in my experience! And for this purpose, the 20 gauge is more than adequate, especially if the right loading is used. That's another discussion for any shotgun gauge.
You can miss pretty easily at very close ranges with a shotgun, even with no choke present. I missed a skunk in my backyard one night holding a single shot 20 gauge in one hand and a flashlight in the other from about ten/12 feet away. Got the skunk with the next shot after a quick reload. And that short barreled 20 gauge now has the flashlight attached to the barrel with a magnetic flashlight mount leaving me both hands to aim and manipulate the weapon. At those short distances, even the wad (plastic shot cup) of a shot gun round will do some serious damage when and if it strikes the intended target! It takes a bit more distance than across many rooms inside most homes for the pattern to begin to disperse much. Lots of folks don't realize that. If you use a shotgun for in home personal protection, you need to treat shooting it like shooting a rifle, in my experience! And for this purpose, the 20 gauge is more than adequate, especially if the right loading is used. That's another discussion for any shotgun gauge.
Well......if the fountain of youth is anywhere, it's in the Colorado Rockies. Probably the Sangre De Cristo range.
We bought this Mossberg 590 and a couple of bulk ammo can 12 gauge 2.75" 00 buckshot from Federal, 400 rounds or so.
I like it fine, Wendy doesn't care as much but not because of recoil, the reach to pump it is too long for her to pump while holding it to her shoulder so she has to angle the gun upwards to really pump it.
Check out the Mossberg youth models with the "EZ-reach" forend
chiefdave
US Veteran
As an example of the effectiveness of the 20 gauge go to any 12 gauge or doubles event at a major skeet shoot and you will find most shooters using the 20 vice the 12.
I made the switch when I saw my 20 average was a target and a half over my 12 average.
I made the switch when I saw my 20 average was a target and a half over my 12 average.
Sistema1927
US Veteran
Nobody is ever going to say "Thank goodness he is only pointing a 20 at me."
Last edited:
Believe me...there's absolutely nothing wrong with a 20 gauge for home protection. I have an Ithaca Model 37 in 20 gauge with a 19-inch barrel. I use #3 buckshot. Think about it. That's 20 pellets that are .25-inch in diameter traveling around 1400 fps. That's one pretty significant load coming out.
I've patterned mine at around 10 yards and it is definitely impressive. I also have a Remington Model 870 in 12 gauge, but the 20 gauge is much more pleasant to shoot. I don't think a home intruder would be able to tell much of a difference at close range.
I've patterned mine at around 10 yards and it is definitely impressive. I also have a Remington Model 870 in 12 gauge, but the 20 gauge is much more pleasant to shoot. I don't think a home intruder would be able to tell much of a difference at close range.
Last edited:
keith44spl
Member
I keep a 870 3" 20ga 21" VR model standing in the corner.
It works for us...The wife shoots it better than her 12 ga.
.
It works for us...The wife shoots it better than her 12 ga.
.
Informative post!
Very true, my Sweet 16 is a Closet Queen now, steel shot ended its career, my 1148 28 is only out for skeet (it was a dove harvesting machine back in the 60's)
My Lefever nitro special is now a 16 1/2" house gun.
Though CZ still offers a 16 ga. double, it's heavy, as you said, and nothing like the Fox I used for live pigeon shoots as a kid.
