re: So who all is gonna be toting 20ga's for duck this year?

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or upland and skeet I would love the Benelli Cordoba.

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we have one at bowie's

it's on a shelf so high that i need a ladder to get it down

I'm not particularly recoil sensitive myself, and I'm also not a duck hunter. However, from a general standpoint, the 20 gauge is a solid, all around performer. Often overlooked for self defense, I remind detractors that it is essentially 75% of the lead (or steel, bismuth, whatever) for 50% of the tradeoff - even if you're not recoil sensitive, it can pay off the next day with less bruising and pain in the shoulder.

Obviously this will vary by application and shooter, but 20 gauge can take whitetail at appropriate ranges with appropriate loads, squirrel without making it inedible, as well as duck and upland fowl quite competently. Probably the best choice for a shotgun that might be expected to do a little bit of everything.

I use .12 3.5s. Honestly I have never really noticed the recoil when shooting at a duck.

Hunting in AR, geese will fly and it's too much of a hassle to try and swap out shells. I just keep the 3.5s in there and don't worry about it and if a duck comes in and is just outside of the decoys, then I don't have to worry about not having the bigger shells.

I'll have a .20 for my son before too long but I don't think I will ever hunt with one myself, at least for ducks.

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Can you link this?

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I can get you started; however, the information is scattered throughout the site but can usually be found with some searching (which you have to be a member to do).

Anyways, go into the "Shotshell, Reloading, Ballistics, and Chokes" section and do some searching for "JJ Mac" (a ballistics engineer) and "Joe Hunter" (a patterning fool).

For starters, here's some baseline penetration numbers for various shot sizes/velocites: Steel Shot Penetration Tables

True but same gun same choke I would think the would pattern similar which would bring pellet count into relevance.

More pellets, can also be a problem. The pellets leaving the wad can hit each other and make a bad pattern. The key is finding the sweet spot.

I never claimed that in any situation a 20 gauge is unethical. I listed several stipulations and barring those I would guess in general with all things being the same a 12 gauge would prob perform better.

Wasn't trying to start an argument guys. Just wondering who else would be shooting only 20ga's this time. I guess in some people's minds a 20ga may be unethical. But a. 20ga @40yds is no more unethical than a 3-1/2" 12ga @ 60yds. Duck hunting to me isn't taking pot shots at 60yd birds. It's putting the suckers in my face. Granted that doesn't always happen. I didn't go to a 20ga strictly on recoil. Heck I only shoot 3" shells anyway so recoil isn't an issue. Plus my Mag Stalker is better than 8lbs so that kills most any recoil. I noticed one thing though very quickly on the hunts I've used a 20ga on. My doubles and triples percentage went up big time.

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Wasn't trying to start an argument guys

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aint nobody fussin