PEAX Equipment

12 vs 20. He nailed it !

The Truth Shall Set Us Free !!

This is good. I used a 12ga for a lot of years but all I used in it were target reloads. My difference being I increased shot size. Let's face it, 1 oz of 8's weight's the same as 1 oz of 6's! Finally found a 16ga and went to it. Damn that 1oz load of 8's still weighted 1 oz but the shotgun was a bit lighter, just a bit and in it I used 1oz loads so gave up some number of shot but found it still killed as well! Today I use a 28ga with 3/4oz loads. Give up number of shot for a lot lighter gun that recoils a lot less. Figured I'd see what I could do with my 410 and gave up shot count again buy about like carrying a pocket knife! Used it to shoot pigeons for the dogs in training and found them just a dead as if I'd shot them with my old 12ga! Don't hunt turkey or ducks anymore, never hunted turkeys. If I did if it's legal on turkey I believe I'd shoot my 22mag. Ducks, haven't hunted them since 1973, left Montana! If I were to go after them today I'd use my 16ga. In Montana for ducks I used a 12ga and 1 1/4oz loads. Shot it a lot and was very used to recoil. Tried a 3" shell one time, just one time, and that will never happen again. Only place I use 3" in in my 410! 2 1/2" loads come with something like 1/2 oz shot and in my head that's giving up just to much. 3" are 11/16 oz and about the same velocity as the 2 1/2" loads in fact same ball park as the 12ga target loads which worked so well for me!

I think the problem with the 410 is few people grow up using a 410 as a kid and so don't shoot them well. Always figured a 10 yr old using a 410 just might wipe my eye, 410 is all he knows!

Have shot very little 20ga, only one I ever hunted with was a Rem 870 Spec Fld, talk about a gun you really need to point and shoot! Never tried it on anything bigger than chukars and if I didn't try to lead in open range, it worked great. In grouse cover it was throw it up and shoot! Second best gun I ever had for grouse. #1 was a 12ga Browning double auto w/26" barrel, go figure.
 
I didn’t see anything earth shattering in that video. Some of the points for the 20 gauge aren’t exactly true, but it would go against a video promoting a 20 gauge.
 
Sixteen gauge is ideal for pheasants and for ladies shooting trap. Less than ideal trying to find ammo.

I don't have a problem hunting with a heavy gun. It points better and less recoil. Twelve gauge ammo is easier to find than 20 gauge (albeit often only a slight difference). I prefer to use the same gun for everything from 15 lb honkers to ruff grouse and clay targets. Twenty gauge might work for uplands over a good dog but doesn't cut it for pass shooting geese. So I shoot an ultra heavy Browning A5 Magnum Twelve. And I shoot it very well ... all the time. With 1 oz shot it's a pleasure to shoot. For those light load days I change the guts to 2.75" barrel spring and friction brake. Cycles flawlessly.
 
Sixteen gauge is ideal for pheasants and for ladies shooting trap. Less than ideal trying to find ammo.
I just bought 15 boxes and had it to my door within a week. That adds to the two cases I already have on hand. How is that less than ideal?
 
I just bought 15 boxes and had it to my door within a week. That adds to the two cases I already have on hand. How is that less than ideal?
Ideal is walking into a store and finding it on a shelf. Good luck with that.
 
Sixteen gauge is ideal for pheasants and for ladies shooting trap. Less than ideal trying to find ammo.

I don't have a problem hunting with a heavy gun. It points better and less recoil. Twelve gauge ammo is easier to find than 20 gauge (albeit often only a slight difference). I prefer to use the same gun for everything from 15 lb honkers to ruff grouse and clay targets. Twenty gauge might work for uplands over a good dog but doesn't cut it for pass shooting geese. So I shoot an ultra heavy Browning A5 Magnum Twelve. And I shoot it very well ... all the time. With 1 oz shot it's a pleasure to shoot. For those light load days I change the guts to 2.75" barrel spring and friction brake. Cycles flawlessly.
 
Ideal is walking into a store and finding it on a shelf. Good luck with that.
Think outside the box. You can’t always walk in and expect to find any sort of shotgun ammo, even pre Covid.

How hard is it to complete an internet transaction?
 
Think outside the box. You can’t always walk in and expect to find any sort of shotgun ammo, even pre Covid.

How hard is it to complete an internet transaction?
I can usually find lots of twelve gauge on the shelves, both variety and quantity. Usually a little less of both for twenty gauge. I can usually expect to find no or almost no sixteen gauge, even during the best of times. You know this, as does everyone else. .410 is now just flat gone from the shelves everywhere. Curiously, I am seeing 28 gauge on the shelves, even during the pandemic. But I suspect it is all old stock that doesn't move due to relative scarcity of guns using it.

I don't think I have ever seen 16 gauge steel ammo. Probably made by someone but have never seen a retailer stock any. Too bad. When I was a kid I shot a ton of ducks with sixteen gauge (back in the lead shot days). I see lots of 20 gauge steel.

Up here ammo and primers bought off the internet have to be shipped by hazardous freight. Not cheap! Last summer I bought two 100 trays of Federal large rifle primers from the only on line vendor in Canada that had any. Yes, they arrived in time to load up thirty rounds for Africa, but just over $200 including shipping ... which was a large component of the cost.
 
Less than ideal trying to find ammo.
I live in a town of ~13K people that is 3 hours from a city larger. I can walk into 1 of 2 stores in town at a moments notice and buy a case of shells, from .410 lead to 3-1/2" 10 gauge BBB and everything in between. As it's been stated above, you could get a pallet of any kind of ammo dropped on your door step if you really wanted to. If you're living in Canada and have to just through hoops and pay additional fees that doesn't change the fact that it's still available.

In the end, the video made some decent points, but I don't know why we're still having conversations in 2023 about 12 vs 20, 30-06 vs 6.5 PRC, etc.

Funny thing is there are probably dozens of old fudds who have been toting around 12 gauges for 50+ years and see this and think this is some kind of new revelation.
 
Such as patterning your gun is important and that a lot of folks don’t do it. Also, that there’s more to it than choosing your firearm than simply bore size.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pining to watch more of this guys videos but he wasn’t wrong about a couple things.
 
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