12ga or 20ga for Upland birds and ducks?

[lenardobc]

I vote 20g for upland.

[Singleshotneeded]

Never hunted birds, but would like to get a shotgun that I can use for both upland birds and ducks etc. If a guy was just going to buy one shotgun to cover most bases (and yes, I know thats like saying I will buy one fly rod for all fly fishing), what would you get - a 12 gauge or a 20 gauge?

IF the 20 gauge version of the shotgun you're looking at buying is lighter and handles better than the 12 gauge version, then get the 20 gauge...especially if you'll be carrying it a lot. If there's very little or no difference, then get the 12 gauge. You can get light loads for the 12 and move up from there until you're happy, and you'll find that most stores carry a much larger variety of loads for the 12 versus the 20 as it's "the standard".

[Brno22F]

Never hunted birds, but would like to get a shotgun that I can use for both upland birds and ducks etc. If a guy was just going to buy one shotgun to cover most bases (and yes, I know thats like saying I will buy one fly rod for all fly fishing), what would you get - a 12 gauge or a 20 gauge?

Either will work. For water fowling, I always use 12 ga. When hunting grouse, I prefer a 20 ga SxS but often carry an old Rem 870 with a 20 inch barrel with no choke.
Remember the Royal Canadian Air Farce and Colonel Stacey with his "Chicken Cannon"? My kids nicknamed the 870 after that hilarious Air Farce skit. It literally rains grouse when I am on my game with that old Remington. I use standard trap loads of 1 +1/8 oz of #7+1/2 or #8 shot. In the 20 ga I use 7/8 oz of the same shot sizes. Both the SxS and the 870 are fixed choke guns. As mentioned, the 870 is cylinder choke and the SxS is choked Skeet and Skeet.


If I chase ducks or geese or shoot a round of trap or 2, the 870 gets a barrel swap to a 28 inch vent rib with full choke. Sometimes I carry the 870 at work with a slug barrel with sights just in case I run into Yogi.

The 12 ga 870 is the more versatile gun in my opinion. The 20 ga is wonderful to carry but, due to choke, not my choice as a waterfowl gun.

[Bowzone_Mikey]

I was in the same boat as original poster last year ... upland was done with my 22 .. never really did alot of Fouling ...

I found an old CIL 12 gauge for cheap ... Basically its a Mossburg 500 Clone .
its old and beaten but I love it ... shoots great and for how much I am really into scattergun and fouling (Not alot just dipping my toe into that pool ) the Shot brand ammo at some sport "wholesale"r place for like 12 or 13 bucks a box ... works great

[J-Man]

Buy a 12g, then later buy a 20g - no one buys just one shotgun. You might start with one, but that doesn't last long.

[spaghetti]

I personally use a Beretta 12 gauge. My brother spent 2 years in Churchill Manitoba, which is basically goose heaven. He said the locals up there all use 20 gauge with 3" magnum and had no problem keeping up to his 12 gauge Browning. My 2 cents worth.

[jburgundy]

If you want to seriously get into waterfowl hunting, you'll need a 12 gauge. On a sunny day with no wind, both will do just fine, but that's not when ducks fly before before legal light cutoff. No, when the ducks are flying it will be raining and the wind will be howling, so under these conditions having the extra amount of shot makes a big difference.
Gun: Benelli Supernova Pump (Semi if you can afford it) - these guns survive anything you put them through
Ammo: During good weather, almost anything will do, but for those prime duck days I have had good success with #2 shot Heavy Steel - seems to hold true better in the wind and rain.

This being said, of all my duck hunting buddies we all have different guns and all prefer an array of different ammo and chokes - so once you make your choice on a gun, buy a box of a bunch of different types of shells, get out and have fun!

[selvir]

Buy once, cry once...the 3B i trust the most are: Benelli Black Eagle 2 , Browning A5, Beretta A400 Xtreme
in 3.5" 12 gauge semi auto possibly with 30" barrel and u good for anything that comes your way...
those are the only 3 brands i'll buy be it shotgun or rifle...

[Surrey Boy]

Buy once, cry once...the 3B i trust the most are: Benelli Black Eagle 2 , Browning A5, Beretta A400 Xtreme
in 3.5" 12 gauge semi auto possibly with 30" barrel and u good for anything that comes your way...
those are the only 3 brands i'll buy be it shotgun or rifle...

Remington, Savage, Mossberg for those of us who know what we're paying for.

[selvir]

We all know different things