Heavy loads in a 20 Bore?

[Salmon&Permit]



Hi there - my first post....and I have a question.

Background: about 10 years ago, I swapped from shooting a 12 bore to a 20 bore and from a SxS to a o/u.  My 20 weighs a fraction more than my 12 bore SxS: I was keen to be able to shoot heavy loads when I get lucky and am invited to shoot tall pheasants.  30 inch barrels and Teague chokes.  Most of the time I shoot a 28g No6 RC Sipe cartridge.  It seems to kill pretty much everything if I point the gun in the right direction, certainly a killing set up out to 40 yards.

Today, I was shooting particularly tall birds as a guest on a West Country shoot.  Lucky me.  I was using 32g Gamebore No4.5 shells.  Choked half and three quarters.  Most people shooting 12 bores were shooting 34g and 36g 4s, 4.5 and 5s.  There were some very tall 50, 60 and even 70 yard birds killed.  

My question is this: one of the guns, who also happened to be shooting similar weight cartridges through a similarly choked 12 bore, suggested that my gun, as a 20 bore, with a heavy load, would be shooting very long shot strings and that this was a bad thing.  I had presumed that with the same chokes, our patterns would be the same.  Indeed, I have patterned my gun with these loads and it looked good.  However, a patterning plate doesn’t tell you when all the shot ‘arrives’.....and I am now wondering 1) if any of this matters....differences to infinitesimal to warrant concern in the field or 2) he is right and my 20 bore is throwing a different and worse shape of shot to his 12 bore.

When shooting pigeons, none of this really matters as I rarely shoot outside a 20-35 yard range.  But for these real Devon screamers....I would be interested to know if I should revert back to my 12 bore.  I killed some fantastic pheasants, cleanly....and held my own.  But there is always room for personal and kit improvement.  

Apologies if slightly off pigeon topic....but I have read some really interesting threads on this sort of subject and really wanted to know whether putting a large load through a 20 bore was daft.....or no different to doing the same through a 12.

Thanks

[Westley]

I think you may have answered your own question  ! "I killed some fantastic pheasants cleanly, and held my own"     May I suggest that you stop 'holding your own', I found that it DID affect my eyesight to a degree that I needed an eye operation.      🤔

[Smokersmith]

OK .. a more helpful answer for a noobie (hopefully)

Pellets deform against the barrel wall, and with similar loads, you'll have more against the wall in a 20g than 12g. This in theory should result in more deformation and more 'flyers'.

Hence the 'square load' concept .. 'google it'

The best way to really know is to do some patterning yourself ..… but brace yourself for hot views on shot strings and high birds!!

[Westley]

A Newbie with TEN years experience  ?

[bigroomboy]

A longer shot string is not necessarily a bad thing. It's just part of the pattern you get from a scatter gun. Shot deformation could be the problem but you can see this on the pattern plate if it is a problem. You have potentially less pellets to start with so you don't want many flier but I dont expect it would be a problem. It would be interesting to see on the pattern plate if the chokes were regulated by constriction or what the pattern throws. That could make a difference against a 12.

[Walker570]

The shot string on a 12 gauge/16gauge and 20 gauge tends to be 'pear' shaped. Therefor the front of the shot string is wider than the tail. The bird tend to fly into the pattern sideways on most shots so it is advantageous to have that bird meet the shotstring somewhere in the front half where the widest 'spread' will be.  The pattern on the plate only tells you how the shot will be distributed within the shot string, some hits may be at the front some at the back but considering the passage will be in split seconds, aiming to put that bird in the centre of your pattern plate will work.  Because two hits on the plate are an inch apart doesn't necessarily men they are travelling in that position, one could be 2 or 3 ft behind the other out at 40yrds or more.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Walker570

[wymberley]

With 36g of No 3s through 3/4 choke the BRL measured the shot string at some 55 yards to be over 24ft long (50 metres and 7.4 metres respectively)

Your 226 pellets are well spread out.

With the larger load that you're talking about and the gun's choke for which it is assumed that it performs as per, reasoning ceases at some 46 yards and luck takes over.

The pellets as the front of the shotstring are the fastest and as they're undistorted have travelled in a straight line unlke those behind which will be slower and will have deviated so the pattern will spread.

Any pattern flys through the bird.

See how you get on with 5s or even 32g of your Sipes which are 5&1/2s I believe to compensate for your loss of pattern while the energy is still OK - albeit to a degree.

 

[Smokersmith]

4 hours ago, Westley said:

A Newbie with TEN years experience  ?

To the forum ..

[hawkfanz]

i wouldn,t even bother about shot string,,,you either hit the target or you dont.

[figgy]

Ignore and just carry on it's working for you.

[Westley]

9 minutes ago, figgy said:

Ignore and just carry on it's working for you.

  Thanks      👍

Edited December 12, 2019 by Westley