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16 or 28 bore


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I am concidering buying either a 16 or 28 bore so I can have a lighter gun just to chuck a few cartridges in the pocket for a mooch around the field's behind my house but also for our Laura to learn to shoot with as she is only a slip of a lass and dosnt need anything too heavy, I have no experience at all with the smaller gauge guns. 

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I shoot both. 16 is more versatile having far more killing power than the 28. Both are Lincoln over under, not much difference in weight, both about 6 1/4lbs. I no longer use my 12 bore since going back to a 16 and I don’t feel I am missing out in any way. The 28 is good but I feel you have to be selective with your targets. 

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The sixteen is in my view the cream of shotguns for 'juist walking around' or shoting driven days. I have a 100 year old Army & Navy and it is a joy to shoot.

Having said that I now shoot 410 almost exclusively so I would also consider a 28, particularly if the young lass is as you saylightly built. Both will do the job if she can.

Shooting a 410 for the last six years, averaging 20 days a season on driven birds has proved to me just how effective these small calibres can be BUT they do need a bit of skill, they are not a beginners gauge BUT I have learned over many years that if you teach a lady to shoot she will be very good at it.

 

OK I flounder on...  16 gauge and find one she feels she can handle.

Range/li;;ing power.  Inside forty yards if it is in the pattern it will kill no problem and if she is learning to shoot then she will need to be well within that range for her first few birds.

Edited by Walker570
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The problem with BOTH 16 and 28 is availability of cartridges with smaller shot as would be suitable for clay pigeon shooting.

There's gaps in patterns of English #6 and English #7. Yes if the gun is held straight it will break a clay most of the time yet there's a reason that for Skeet, Trap and even "English Sporting" most favour #9, #8 or #7 1/2 size pellets. They if the gun is held straight will break a clay all of the time.

I've never owned a 28 but have owned and shot a 20 and own now just one 16 a French Manufrance Robust 28E boxlock ejector easy opener although I did at one time have a pair of 16 sidelock ejector single trigger self-openers. And...yes...frustratingly you could never get anything smaller than English #7. My advice echoes that of others. Get a 20.

Edited by enfieldspares
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The 16 is the Continental 12 for good reason. Weights are all over the place as I'm now finding out. Personally, I can't think of a single reason - barring the exception to the rule - why anyone would want a 20 that weighs more than a 12. OPP above makes sense with his Yildiz especially if a stock sleeve is acceptable if necessary while the lass grows so you can both us it.

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I don't think clay shooting was mentioned so anything smaller than #7s is irelevant.   " a walk around the ground near my home  and teach the lass to shoot "  I think.  OK a few clays to get her using the gun and then out rough shooting.  Sevens more than adequate as using common sense the clays would be easy peasy so the lass could break most of them. Most important.

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58 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, what sort of weight are you looking at ? , My thoughts would be something like  Yildiz junior size 20 bore

About 7 stone 😊 

The lighter the better as she has a bit of a problem with her shoulder.

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44 minutes ago, wymberley said:

The 16 is the Continental 12 for good reason. Weights are all over the place as I'm now finding out. Personally, I can't think of a single reason - barring the exception to the rule - why anyone would want a 20 that weighs more than a 12. OPP above makes sense with his Yildiz especially if a stock sleeve is acceptable if necessary while the lass grows so you can both us it.

She is 26 so I can't see her growing into it. 

I have got her going out beating with me and it wasn't that long ago she wouldn't even touch a dead bird but she has overcome all that, I would love it if she could come shooting with me to close the circle so to speak.

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57 minutes ago, wymberley said:

 Personally, I can't think of a single reason - barring the exception to the rule - why anyone would want a 20 that weighs more than a 12. 

Agreed. Worthy of consideration therefore is a gun I managed to buy 7 yrs ago: a Miroku MK 60 Lightweight 20 bore OU with 30" barrels. I've just double checked on the scales and it weighs in at 6 lbs.  The downside for some is fixed chokes at 1/4 and 3/4 (but the nice Mr Teague changed that to multichoke) and the but plate is thin plastic which I changed to a  1" recoil pad. Great little gun.

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I used a 28 bore Yildiz with 16 gram cartridge for my Grandkids first gun. They then moved on to a 20 bore Yildiz O/U  with 21 gram cartridges. I would look for a used Yildiz 20 bore with 28" barrels. A bigger choice of 20 guage cartridges over 28 or 16 's.

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4 hours ago, Walker570 said:

I don't think clay shooting was mentioned so anything smaller than #7s is irelevant.   " a walk around the ground near my home  and teach the lass to shoot "  I think.  OK a few clays to get her using the gun and then out rough shooting.  Sevens more than adequate as using common sense the clays would be easy peasy so the lass could break most of them. Most important.

Not for snipe it isn't!

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Just a thought;

Moving forward - non toxic is likely to be needed sooner or later.  Availability and choice (of both non toxic and non plastic) in the less popular gauges are likely to be slower to evolve.  16 is a very popular gauge on the continent - particularly France.  It may be that 16 will have a better choice of non toxic/plastic sooner than 28.  Food for thought.

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I be more tempted with a 20 than 16 or 28.  Easier to find a gun and cartridges, splits the 16 and 28 nicely.   
 

16 is fashionable right now so read unexpectedly expensive.

28 takes more skill to shoot well.  

As to the shoulder injury a well balanced and fitted gun will likely help more (injury type dependent) than a light weight gun. 

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Fit and recoil sounds more important than weight or caliber.

Cartridge availability runs 12b, 20b, 410, 28b, 16b, 10b, 8b etc in descending order.

At 26 and 7 stone, barring the shoulder issue (weight bearing or recoil sensitive or both??),  A 20b with 21g to 25g is probably the next best general option over a lightweight 12b, but stay away from 26g+ loadings due to recoil and option is there for clay cartridges as well.

If she is slim you should also consider a gun with a female orientated stock to minimise any recoil issues with collar bone such as :-

 

https://www.franchi.com/en/products/instinct-catalyst-sovrapposto-per-cacciatrici/

 

Like others on here, for mooching and informal game days, I often use my 410's with 18g no7 to good effect as a true lightweight option and whilst technically the 28b is better as it reaches out to 40 yards, I am happy with 35 yards of the 410.

 

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20 minutes ago, Wylye said:

I think 20 bore is the way to go. Cartridge availability and cost has to be considered and a 28ins Beretta would be easy for her to manage.

This ^^^^.

The NHS aren't being too kind to me so having fired only 16 shots the delightful little S56E which I bought for the reasons under discussion it may have to go. It did the job nicely, but unfortunately it's double triggers/SHS and now because of considerable arthritic pain I now find that I'm far better off (hopefully) with one trigger/pistol grip. For some reason, Beretta - which I don't particularly care for - seem to have the knack of producing smaller calibres with appropriate weights. In fact they are the only maker who it seems can do a 20 weighing less than my W&S 12.

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Thank you for all the replies certainty food for thought, as she is getting married a week on Saturday when its done and dusted  I will take her with me to the local gun shop and we can have a look what may be suitable. 

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I would get a 20 gauge (I have actually). 
 

Teaching the lady to shoot will mean you want easily available clay cartridges. 
 

You can turn up to almost any flat ground and buy 2 boxes of cartridges, pretty much any ground I have turned up to have both 12g and 20g carts. 
 

I’ve not been to any that have 16g or 28g unless they have a big Gunshop attached. 
 

20g also lovely for a mooch about and a bit of dog training. 

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