Best 20 guage Game cartridge

[wymberley]

On 10/01/2023 at 10:03, enfieldspares said:

I write of using a standard sub 6lbs weight side by side chambered for 70mm cartridges.

My late father, he died in 1987, shot for the last years of having a gun at Woburn a G E Lewis "Light Magnum" 20 bore, These were twenty six inch length barrelled boxlock ejectors chambered for the 2 3/4" Eley Alphamax and its 1 ounce load. He used either Alphamax or the standard 20 bore 2 1/2" Grand Prix with 13/16 ounce loads. He always used English #5. 

I used that gun to shoot a right and left at wigeon on my own pond some years ago but, FWIW, I favoured English #6 in what was by then the standard 2 1/2" load of 7/8 ounce. Unless you've tight choke and the skills to hit "high birds" I think that English #5 is not a good choice. Not a good choice at all save for ground game.

Pattern fails before penetration and if we accept that it takes 1.5 ft/lbs of energy per pellet to kill a pheasant then English #6 in a standard velocity loading will have that out to forty-five yards. Maybe fifty if the strike is two or three pellets.

So my advice would be anything with English #6 and just one ounce but of premium quality plated or at least 3% antimony well graded shot. I see little point in firing a 12 bore load through a 20 bore gun as my belief is it is bad for both the gun and the "gun".

If you want a 12 bore load buy a 12 bore it'll shoot it better than the same weight of shot in a 20 bore.

As soon as I finished fitting the new pellet probe seal and ready to go and do a velocity check it started to chuck it down. Fed up now.

Yep what you say is spot on but that is the requirement for every shot. It has been shown that to obtain this c6 are required on average and, of course, assumes all pellets have the required energy.

[London Best]

One, yes 1, foot pound energy, in the head/neck end will kill any bird that flies in this country.

[wymberley]

22 minutes ago, London Best said:

One, yes 1, foot pound energy, in the head/neck end will kill any bird that flies in this country.

Have to say that I never have been and certainly now never will be a good enough shot to set out to achieve head kills as a matter of course. 1 ftlb is going to give a good range for those capable. If we call the vulnerable area of a pheasant head/neck to be 6 sq" with a 2 pellet strike requirement with every shot to be reasonably sure of clean kill  you're going to need either a lot of pellets or a lot of choke. Either that or a short range which defeats the objective of a sporting shot - 'give it lore'.