Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is 20 the new 12?

MD will tell you that pellets kill feathered things, not gauges.

With today's good ammo and chokes, good patterns can be expected.

I believe him.

Kinda like 308 vs 300.....

No, I think the 12 will continue to dominate. I terms of weight, when playing mountain goat after chukars, a six-pound 12 gauge is very hard to beat.

I like and use smaller gauges, and they have their place, but a light 12 is a much more efficient and
productive gun in terms of range, pattern and effectiveness than any sub gauge. I also have found through painful experience that as gun weight drops much below six pounds my shooting falls off pretty badly. A five pound gun is a demanding mistress.

As to shooting the same charge with smaller gauges - it is not an equivalent effect. The larger bore is a decided and proven advantage. This all presumes lead shot; the harder/denser shot has indeed changed the game.

Until steel shot came along, 16 was my all around favorite.

I stopped using the 12 gauge in favor of 20 for turkey about 7 years ago. I use 12 for ducks and defense.

I don’t waterfowl hunt and only turkey hunt occasionally (hoping to do a lot more this spring!).

All I own are 2 12’s. A Mossberg 835 and a Mossberg 1000 (copy of the Smith & Wesson 1000) that was my first gun.

They work fine for what I do (dove hunt a couple times a year, clays occasionally), but it struck me a few years back while looking at reloading data, that for those uses, a 12 won’t really do anything a 20 will. Shot payload and speed are so similar with the advantage of a lighter weight gun going to the 20.

I “need” a good 20 SxS, just haven’t sprung for one.

It's true. And advances in shotshell technology are what have fueled that.

I used to hunt turkeys with a BPS 10 gauge. Then a gas 3.5" 12. Now a 3" 20 gauge single. But I have a .410 set up that is as effective as any to reasonable distances where you're still turkey HUNTING and not turkey SHOOTING.

But, with TSS and the other heavies, a 3" 20 gauge will do what no 10 or 3.5" 12 would do 15 years ago.

Does the 20 replace the 12 ?? In a large way, it can. But with coarse shot, buckshot and steel...........no.

No. Signed, die hard 12 gauge shooter whose dad started us on super light 3/4 oz 12 gauge loads that my friends with 20 gauges envied shooting. Then again, I’m still a stubborn and active 43 year old who has never thought my 26” Citori has felt overly heavy in the field. Maybe when I get old I will change my tune. I’ve seen too many late season South Dakota and Iowa pheasant get hit by a 20 gauge and keep going until I hit them with a 12 gauge. That being said, one of my mentors when I was a young hunter used nothing but a beautiful Winchester 42 with 3” 5s on pheasants all season. He shot pretty much every bird in the head and didn’t shoot at birds beyond 30 yards. I also witnessed him kill more than one pheasant on the fly with a pump .22 LR while we were rabbit hunting, so he was exceptionally precise on winged targets.

I like the weight of the 12, 20 is too light.

Watched my son kill geese this year with a 20 at ranges we wouldn’t even didn’t even shoot at with a 12 and a 10. I got onto him once until I heard the bird hit the ground. I didn’t say a word after that. He’s 12 and I thought he was just sky blasting. He did it twice that day. Shooting mixed 2/4 shot shine shells, 3”, I believe they’re a Browning offering. The kid surprised all of us.

I see skeet shooters shooting 20 ga in the 12 ga events, they do well.

New shot, and powders etc have closed what was the gap between the 12 and 20. But at the same time the 12 has also improved. So the gap on performance is the same or similar.
Question is, how much performance do you need in a shotgun?

I'm a big fan of the 20gauge and have 4 doubles and one pump so chambered. I love a 20 for rabbits, quail, grouse, doves etc....

That said. There are a couple things that a 20 doesn't do well for me.

1) Trap shooting
2) Predator Calling.

I'll not be giving up my 12s for these tasks.

come to hardy county wv and hunt, then tell me how easy turkeys are!

I don’t doubt it I am just curious what the challenges are, for example… just not very many? I generally take turkeys every year but i rarely take one unless I am headed home/walking back to the truck.
S.

I think many have forgotten all the new advances are not limited to 20 ga. They also apply to a 12. I like to fool around with a 20 and 28, but when hunting far flushing birds I take my 12s. Don't for get what the new things do for a 20 the improve the 12 just as much.

In my opinion, until 20 gauge factory ammo is as cheap and ubiquitous as 12 gauge, it won’t come close to replacing the 12. Even then, the 12 is light enough and the recoil is manageable enough that most folks won’t switch. The 12 still brings more to the table than the 20 does in every dimension except recoil and possibly weight. Shotgun loonies obsess about this stuff like rifle loonies do about the small details, but the average Joe will just trundle along forever with the 12 gauge.

Probably hunting pressure.

On my little 20 acres if a bird is roosted just right he may have me and owners of 2 other adjoining pieces of property trying to call him in. It doesn't take long for a bird to get very quiet and sneaky if a couple 2 or 3 people are messing with him.

This is why I have started using a blind and hang out along travel areas. Not nearly as fun as working gobbling birds but far more productive.

Pretty much this. Can't beat a 20 or 28 for birds or small game.

For the predators loads of big shot are handy.

I switched to 20 and 16 gauges years ago, lighter frames and recoil is friendlier on aging shoulders.

This, mostly.

Talk to a sporting clays competitor or a serious trap shooter. If there were any advantage in the smaller gauge they’d use it . They don’t. Little guns are simply harder to shoot well. Other than certain specific situations, the “short, light quick” thing is the mark of a neophyte. The 20 gauge shell itself is very capable to 30 yards and most casual shooters can’t reliably hit beyond that distance. Also, the super shells are no doubt very effective but few guys really end up “shelling” out the cash for them. It’s always amazed me that so many fellows will drop big $$ on a gun but insist on feeding it the cheapest shells.

Funny thread