Feb. s, igio.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
233 
Twenty-Bore Guns. 
Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 18. —Editor Forest and Stream: 
Several weeks ago I read a discussion of the merits of 
12 and 20 bore guns, printed in the Dec. 11 issue. It has 
occurred to me that there are several points mentioned 
therein that require further explanation, in order to be 
fully understood by the gunners who have not tested the 
two bores and are interested in this discussion. 
To begin with, it is not an exact test of the game 
gun’s efficiency to fire it at paper targets. I used to do 
a lot of this work, until I experienced some “reversals 
of form” in the field with guns and loads that per¬ 
formed very well—on paper. The trouble with the paper 
pattern is that it only records the ultimate arrival of the 
shot. It is a well-known fact that different guns vary 
widely in keeping the shot together, not only laterally, 
but longitudinally as well, although the lateral variation 
is the only one most shooters, in testing, take into the 
consideration. Now, considering that duck shooting is 
largely a matter of birds crossing at very great speed, it 
seems to me to be of prime importance to get the 
charge to them with the greatest velocity possible. After 
40yds. is passed, the stringing of the charge becomes a 
serious factor, and a great deal of duck shooting is done 
at ranges decidedly beyond 40yds. 
Velocity and penetration are inseparable. It has been 
my experience that good penetration could not be ob¬ 
tained without a pretty fair pattern following; if the 
shot scatter too much, they do not divide the air resist¬ 
ance as well as when traveling in close company and 
making pace for each other, and there can be no ques¬ 
tion that of the forces that retard shot in flight, the 
resistance of the air is the greatest. One can kill a 
duck as high as he can wide. Of course, this involves 
some cross-shots, but on the whole goes to prove that 
air resistance is a great factor. Other proof may be had 
by talking with any gunner who ever shot in the high 
altitude of, say, Denver. Guns are effective at notably 
greater ranges with the same loads than here on the sea 
coast, where the air is denser and more apt to contain 
a considerably percentage of aqueous vapor. The point 
is, for duck shooting, penetration or velocity is the de¬ 
sideratum. Feathers are thick, and muscles both thick 
and resisting. Three pellets through are more effective 
than thirty lodged in the muscles. 
Regarding the statement that “we all know that in 
duck shooting the weight of the gun up to a reasonable 
point, say 9%lbs., is of no importance,” here is one man 
who rises to a point of personal privilege and says it is 
to him. I have had teal get past me that I could not 
handle a 20-gauge quite fast enough to put the pattern 
on to before they were out of range, and on the other 
hand, not a few have lost their lives simply because the 
small, quick-handling gun with its high velocity could 
be whipped far enough ahead when a heavier gun 
simply could not be moved fast enough to get the lead. 
Regarding the killing circle of 12s and 20s, I think 
there has been a great deal of nonsense printed upon 
this point. There is bound to be some difference 
owing to the different amount of shot, but a full-choked 
gun of either bore will deliver about three-quarters of its 
charge into a 30in. circle at 40yds., and the difference 
is not nearly as great as is generally imagined. I should 
say that 4in. was quite as much difference as would be 
noted. Of course, there are individual guns that throw 
a great center; that is, have a tendency to deliver the 
core of the charge very compactly and scatter the out¬ 
skirts somewhat. I have found more 20s that did this 
than 12s, and have shot several 16s that made beautiful 
centers, about a foot circle at 40yds. being so densely 
populated with pellets that nothing could survive stum¬ 
bling into it. I believe most emphatically in as light a 
gun as is compatible with consistently doing the work, 
not only from the viewpoint of enhancing pleasure, but 
because I think a man can do more consistent work 
with it than with a heavy piece, which, unconsciously 
perhaps, tires the muscles and makes one slow before 
he realizes it. When the duck shooting is good here it 
is no trouble to get the twenty-five bird limit in a morn¬ 
ing. We get plenty of exercise handling our 16s and 
20s, and have plenty of shots to make, so that weight 
tells as much as it does in field shooting. So, for this 
and other reasons, I never would crave special credit 
as a shot by virtue of shooting a 20-bore. Rather, I use 
these small guns because I can do cleaner, prettier work 
with them than with the 12, and get as many birds on a 
single-bird shooting, which is the rule with us. I do 
not consider that I am handicapping myself with a 20. 
I notice in the comparative pattern tests made, both 
guns were decidedly overcharged with shot. No greater 
mistake can be made. It makes little better pattern; 
in some guns worse; pulls down velocity, builds up 
recoil, and makes for wild, ineffective shooting; l!4oz. 
are too much for any 12 I ever had; and %oz. is a full 
load for a 16, not for a 20. I never load my 20s with 
over %oz. of shot, but give them all the powder they 
will burn. Using a bulk powder, I set my ideal meas¬ 
ures at 314 for the 16 and 2% for the 20. With these 
loads and the moderate shot charges a tremendous 
velocity is built up; these loads turn ducks inside out, 
double them up like jack-knives, and it is a real pleas¬ 
ure to use small-bore guns when such ammunition is 
inside of them. On the other hand, when I first shot a 
20 on ducks, all I could get was 2J4drs. powder, and I 
condemned the gun as a failure. I do not believe any 
20 will do as good work on game with %oz. as with %oz. 
In the article of Dec. 11 the 12-bore gun made 74 per 
cent, average, and the 20, 63 per cent, average of the 
shot in 30in. circle, 40yds. The 20 certainly was not a 
fair representative of its kind at that. I have seen 
plenty of them that did better than three-fourths of their 
charges inside the circle. 
That the 20-gauge in this case was over-shotted or under¬ 
powdered, or both, is proven by the velocities. My 
duck load in the 20 £ives over l'OOOft. average velocity 
over 40yds., as against 897 for the gun tested by “W.” 
I had some 16-gauge loads chronographed not long since 
and got 960ft. average, and this could have been bet¬ 
tered very materially by changing the wadding. This 
load over 50ft. would have given over 1200ft. velocity, as 
against the 1128ft. of the 12-gauge. As velocity means 
penetration and killing power, this difference is a bigger 
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