[lionxheartxsd]

jus got a quick question about the gauges. does a 12 guage has more power and shoot farther than a 20 gauge? and how far more can each gauge travel than the others?

i got a Nef Pardner 12 gauge 18"

[just_a_car]

Guage is kind of a weird system, the smaller the number, the larger the balls and, usually, the more powerful the cartridge.

This article gets rather technical, but it's very good: Gauge (bore diameter) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, .410 (caliber, which is equal to 67.5ga) will be less powerful than a 20 guage which is less powerful than 12ga which is less powerful than 10ga, etc.

As for distance, it's going to depend on what kind of shot/slug is used and how "hot" or powerful the shotshell is.

[texnmidwest]

In practical simple terms, the difference between a 12 and a 20 is more an issue of how many pellets each throws out there. A 12 throws a lot more pellets than a 20. Both shoot relatively the same distance and in the field you will see little difference between the power of the 12 and 20. Waterfowling, yes a 12 for geese is an advantage because of the larger shot charge. But for most hunting I doubt the average hunter will see any differences. The 20 tends to kick a little less. I shoot both.

[samuel]

The word "POWER" in birdshot depends on how you define it.If you are interpretating power as in ft lbs of individual pellets then of course whichever one is doing the most fps has the most power In other words a #6shot out of any guage doing 1400fps may deliver 2lbs ke and the same shot size doing 1100fps delivers 1 1/2lbs ke,the faster is more powerful.If you go by mass comparing a .12ga 2oz load at 1100fps to a .20ga 7/8oz load doing 1400fps,since each shot in the .12ga carries 1 1/2 lbs and you can get twice the # of shot+ in the target then you have delivered 3lbs ke for each 2lbs ke delivered by the .20ga.It is better to consentrate on how many shot you can deliver to a certain area than the individual power of each shot.This includes using a full choke with a tight patern that you miss with 3/4ths of the shot and using a modified choke with wider patern that you deliver half the shot because you dont have to be quite so precise on aim.It all comes down to which delivers the most shot to the target.All of the figures are guestimates.In other words,a .410 that delivers 6 #6shot to the target with 2lbs ke,is equal to but no more powerful than a .12ga. that delivers 8shot at 1 1/2lbs ke. sam.

[nathangdad]

A gauge is a tube diameter through which lead balls can be poured.
For instance a 12 gauge means 12 lead balls the size of the bore can be poured down the barrel to get a specific weight - I believe the original English standard was one pound. So, the larger the bore diameter the smaller number of lead balls it takes to equal the weight (again, I believe one pound was the English standard). The smaller the bore such as sixteen or twenty gauge the more lead balls it takes to equal the standard weight for determining gauge. During the latter 1800's before modern smokeless powder went into mass production some monsterous gauges such as 8 gauge were actually manufactured for black powder ammuntion. However, at this size gauge recoil started eliminating potential customers. Today a 10 gauge is the largest diameter bore in mass production.

This is a not true statement for a .410 shotgun as .410 is measurement of bore rather than a gauge. If memory serves, the old .41 revolver caliber was the inspriation upon which the .410 shotgun shell was developed.

Anyway, for quick historical reference the smaller the gauge the larger the bore diameter and the greater the kick.

Other posters will probably discuss some of the finer points such as a 3 inch 20 gauge versus a two and three quarter inch 12 gauge in over the counter ammuntion. My purpose was a little bit of historical fact which sometimes is really useful in conversation.

[TheWall]

Very interesting!

[billy]

i saw a 4 gauge a while back.
i could stick my whole thumb down the muzzle.

do i want to shoot it?
yes.

[texnmidwest]

Why would you want to shoot your thumb? You might need that later.

[lionxheartxsd]

thanks for all of the infor everyone..learned a lot from this site/forum.