What bore?

[clockhouse 0]

Thinking about getting a shotgun. What bore would be the best bore for rabbits pigeons and just walking about the fields. Also, what is cheapest to run in terms of cartridges?

 

Cheers

[Sterry 0]

12 bore for all of the above. and you have a wider range in cartridges.

[gossy 3]

me personally i use a 12 bore for larger game. i.e duck,geese and foxes and occasionally on pheasants. but my favoured thing for general rough shooting and walking long disatance is a 20 bore they are lightweight so easy to carry around and give enough range of cartridges for everything you haver mentioned.

 

atb

 

gossy

[whippeter69 88]

me personally i use a 12 bore for larger game. i.e duck,geese and foxes and occasionally on pheasants. but my favoured thing for general rough shooting and walking long disatance is a 20 bore they are lightweight so easy to carry around and give enough range of cartridges for everything you haver mentioned.

 

atb

 

gossy

I agree with the above, i have a 20 Bore and sod moving onto the 12, i love the 20 too much.

[the Verminator 0]

12's are cheaper on cartridges though, and they have more range. saying that though, i have seen some awsome birds killed with the 20. but i would personally go for a 12

[whippeter69 88]

12 carts are defiantly cheaper, but the 20 Bore is a very good, fun gun.

[gossy 3]

another point worth mentioning i think is that the 20 bore has a much tighter pattern. this can make it a little more difficult to hit the target but i find when you do it gets killed fairly cleanly as a result of being hit with more pellets.

[SportingShooter 0]

If you want an answer to all of the above, the 12 bore fits most closely

 

As for 20/12 bore comparisons, there is nothing that the 12,16 and 20 bore will not kill at the exact same range. Its about where the shot placed, nothing more

[Sterry 0]

12's are cheaper on cartridges though, and they have more range. saying that though, i have seen some awsome birds killed with the 20. but i would personally go for a 12

 

Hmmmm more range? i wouldnt say, just 12 bore generally gives you a larger pattern, my 20 will do everything the 12s do and sometimes more when im hot on it.

 

i use a 20 but thats only because i've had it years and am shooting very well with it, i would move up to a 12 but atm i cant afford one that i would want, maybe a purdy, or similar.

 

12 have a much larger range of cartridges, and they are a damn sight cheaper. my 20 bore cartridges cost circa £7 a box. 12 bore similar catridge about £5-6.

[flytie 1]

another point worth mentioning i think is that the 20 bore has a much tighter pattern. this can make it a little more difficult to hit the target but i find when you do it gets killed fairly cleanly as a result of being hit with more pellets.

28g of no 6 shot will kill at exactly the same range from either bore. According to the experts, Gough Thomas and Burrard, the shot spread at normal game shooting ranges is exactly the same from either 12 or 20 bore. I patterned my 20 bore 687eel against a 12 bore 687 choked the same and found this to be true. Twentys for game shooting are normally more tightly choked, beretta's normally being 1/4 & 1/2, than the average 12 bore game gun. Do not try and put large shot loads through a 20, they are both heavy on the pocket and shoulder. Non toxic 20 bore loads are extortionally expensive. The most cost effective version is a 12 bore, try for a "game gun" version instead of a sporter and you should find one that weighs areound 7lbs instead of nearer 8lbs, which is a lot if you have to carry it all day. Cartridges are cheaper for a 12 bore, and with far more non toxic loads available.

 

Atb, ft

 

edit: Because of the sectional density of the load, ie. the same amount of shot being held in a smaller diameter tube, the 20 bore can produce more fliers from the pattern due to friction on the shot load while passing up the barrel.

Edited June 3, 2009 by flytie

[rjimmer 4]

If you are not very big and want a light gun, then buy a light 12 bore and use light loads.

I see no sense in trying to put 12 and 16 bore loads through a 20 bore barrel.

My 12 bore has 25½ inch barrels and is proofed for nearly 2oz of lead, but 1oz loads probably pattern more evenly, as 12 bore loads of steel in a 10 bore are supposed to.