Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 20ga for pheasant

Re: 3" patterns...11-87 Turkey extra full, best load Rem 2X6s 2 3/4' this is a 3" gun.

Okay. Different strokes.......

Sorry, but that has me crying.

Some people can be counted on to see the humor. Some to not see it.
Seeing it is more fun.

There's a lot of good advise here. Just my 2 cent's worth-- If you are hunting over a good pointer or a close-working flushing dog, you should have no problem with 1 oz of 5s or 6s and an IC choke tube. If the birds are flushing farther away, you should change your choke as appropriate, and possibly go to 3" 1.25 oz 5's or 6's. Full choke really comes into it's own at 40 yards-- but less than that it's harder to hit with. Not impossible by any means, but at closer range more open chokes hit better and tear up much less meat. (Most of us oldsters hunted with full choke guns for everything for many years before screw in chokes were available.)

Now, hitting with any gauge, shell, and choke beyond 40 yds-- that's another issue entirely. Within reason, the gauge and shell probably won't be the limiting factor.

I'd bring the 20 and both 2-3/4 in 1 oz 5s or 6s and 3" 1-1/4 oz 5s or 6s.

Good hunting!

I use Winchester "Super Pheasant" in the 20 gauge. It is a 2.75" 1 oz. copper-plated load of #6 at 1300fps. It has more pellets than the other "Super Pheasant" load I sometimes use in my 12 gauge (1 3/8 oz. of #4 at similar velocity).

For any shots on which #6 have enough penetration (which I think is about 40 yards and under), the 20 gauge works just fine.

Early in the season the 20 gauge should be fine, I use 3" 5's or 3" 4's that I hand load.

Make sure you pattern your gun! Favorite shotgun loads are like as$holes, everybody has one. Pick a few loads, setup a board at a yardage your comfortable shooting to and see how the different loads and chokes preform. Bring a roller with paint and paint over the board everytime you shoot so you don't have to keep putting targets up.

A flat pattern tells only a small story. If all the shot arrived at exactly the same instant, the pattern board would be all the information you would need. The longer the shot cluster (3") the time the front load of pellets gets to the target is sooner than the rear end. On a moving (crossing) bird you only intersect a small crossection of the shot cloud (as it is an elongated oval shape).

A stationary turkey is one thing, but a fast moving target such as a dove is struck by a much reduced volume of shot.

We teach new hunters about shotgun choke by the illustration of the garden hose nozzle...stream = Full, shower = IC ect. Now think of the nozzle activated just a second, the first droplets are there then the middle then the last.

Aim the nozzle at a 12 year old, apply for one second...fairly wet kid, right? Now set the same kid on his bicycle at 35MPH and squirt the hose at him for one second , as the bicycle/kid combo pass by, he will only get lightly sprinkled. Some droplets will get ahead (missing), some will hit and some will be too late (and miss behind).

A sports wrighter in the 60s did the same experiment with a 40' trailer pulled by a Semi with 40' of paper and a target at the front of the trailer. A (trusting) helper pulled the rig at various speeds while the writer fired shot shells at the target placed at the front of the paper. At 40 MPH the 1.25 oz of shot, the pattern was 20+ FEET long, (and a whole lot behind the target, he was doing leed data collection as well)!

Extra pellets kill stationary game, no doubt, but a short hard load of shot puts moving game down faster. The Brits knew this with their 2 5/8" shells loaded with a wide, short shot column.

A poor shot will HIT (cripple) more birds with a long, thin pattern, but this is not the way to cleanly kill birds on the wing. Bill

Fair enough, I know exactly what your saying and I understand what a shot column is. I still believe that patterning your shotgun no matter what you hunt for with it is as important as sighting in your rife.

Until someone can come up with an easy way to test for shot column, a board is still a good testing method.

I killed a good deal of pheasants this year with my 20 and 16 gauges and handloads. I patterened both before the season started and devloped a good choke/load/distance pattern.

Also practice with your hunting loads on clays helps you get ready for the season.

Your 20 gauge will be fine for pheasants. But I do not recommend the 3" magnum 1 1/4 oz. load in the 20, as I do not find that it is a good one. Seems to leave the pheasants not hit hard enough. I feel that a 1 oz. load is far superior to the magnum load in the 20 gauge.
Good luck

The biggest difference between the Belgians and the French are the Belgians eat horse ...

GE

Oh, so do the Frenchies. Most all of the Euro's, actually. Makes a darn fine roast for sandwich meat, I'll tell you. Yum! Best use for any horse, as far as I am concerned. FWIW, Dutch.

That's just so wrong.

And the French spell horse starting with a "W" ...

:-)

GE

I use nothing but a 20 ga for pheasant. I use a heavy load of 5's or 6's.

Yeah, but you're an expert.

not an expert, but with a 20 ga you can carry more shells...

And you'll need them for really wild pheasants.

Dill,

Those pheasants will still die with a load of # 5's I have shot a ton of 'em with the Federal Phasant loads in #5. All in 3" If a turkey can take a 2 3/4" #6 from 30 yds a phasant will die from that load.

I pretty much use a 20ga for everythig I shoot with a shotgun. I have several 12's but the carries better and I just shoot it better so thats what I use.

Tom

I have shot hundred's and hundred's of Pheasants. I used to be an official gunner for the AKC and attended Field trials and shot for about 20 years. In addition, I hunted wild Pheasant's in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin. As far as Shotshell gauges go, a 20 ga. is as good as any. A #6 or #7-1/2 BB will do the trick. Just don't use field loads. Stay with high brass and a 2-3/4" will be just as effective as a 3". All you are gaining with a three inch is a few more BB's.The only advantage you have with a 12 ga. is there are more BB', in the pattern. Your velocities and other ballistics will remain basically the same as a 20 ga. It takes more powder to push more BB's to get the same ballistics. It's that simple. The guy's who told you to shoot for the head are dead RIGHT. If you are thinking that shooting at a greater distance requires a larger shot, you are going to be surprised. There will be a larger pattern at the greater distance and LESS BB's in the pattern. There's a trade-off here. So, in my humble opinion, if you don't snap-shoot, and wait until the pheasant hit's his leveling-off point and then aim for the head, you should do just fine. Good luck. Take a good dog with you. Those crippled birds can hide under a fig leaf.