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Forums10
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Jul 28th, 2025
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 419 Likes: 26
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 419 Likes: 26 |
12 gauge for sure. There are more options available from 7/8 ounce to 1 1/4 ounces--and they are easy to find.
PULL!
Hal M. Hare
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 620 Likes: 43
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 620 Likes: 43 |
Then sixteen it is! The sixteen is known as the Queen of the uplands. I've always said if I had to go with one gun, it would be a sixteen gauge!
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 433 Likes: 42
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 433 Likes: 42 |
thanks for the replies. I would have to admit, I would rather hunt with a double than anything else. 12 gauge SxS's have always seemed a bit "chunky" for me. I would likely want to stick to 16 or 20. I know exactly what you mean. My first double was a 20 gauge and for the first twenty years after I got it all I bought were 20s, 28s, and a 410. Even a pair of 16 gauge barrels looked wide to me. I decided the only way I was going to get used to a wider sight plane was to buy a couple of 16s and get comfortable with them. I understand what you mean by "chunky" but I think guns in any gauge can look and feel that way. This year I decided to get a 12 gauge and after some time spent holding it, pointing it, and dry firing it in the house it now feels very comfortable. If a 12 gauge doesn't look or feel right to you I would consider something else for now. Maybe you need to step up incrementally like I did. Skip
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,983
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,983 |
Remember he did say "I mainly hunt quail, grouse, woodcock and occasionally pheasants." I'm not a grouse hunter or woodcock for that matter, but I believe they are easily taken with a 20g as are the quail. He didn't mention that this would be a 'clays gun' nor would I think to use my lightweight field guns for such regular duty...on occasion for practice? sure. The pheasant would be the only bird (if wild pheasant) that would even seem worthy of a 12g shell, IMO. If he's going to buy both 12 and 20g guns eventually, maybe it's more a question of what gauges are in his current arsenal as to
which to buy first. If he's more comfortable/confident with a 12g, maybe that's what he ought to get for a first sxs just to ensure "small gun syndrome" doesn't errode his confidence with a new type (sxs) of gun. The same could be said for single vs. double triggers for someone to go from an auto (single trigger) to a sxs with double triggers for the first time can be a struggle with sight picture as well as the trigger differences. It can and has made many a person shy away or poo-poo sxs's and double triggers. My first sxs was a sst BSS for that reason. Change can be intimidating and changing one thing at a time can help transition. He also asked, in the thread title: "Best all-around gauge?". He also said he planned to own them all, eventually. I say buy the 12 first.
> Jim Legg <
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 7,438 Likes: 1
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 7,438 Likes: 1 |
I don't think it's much of a push to expand "Best all-around gauge" to best all around double gun.
I think time has proven this to be a 12 gauge with two triggers,extractors and 28" barrels chocked modified and full. This my opinion of course but I believe the sheer numbers built in this configuration bears out this point.
Curiously enough that's the exact configuration of my first double gun a Sterlingworth I've owned for forty years. It certainly was my best all around gun as I used it for everything from quail to deer hunting and to shoot trap and skeet. It was the only shotgun I owned for many years.
Jim
Last edited by italiansxs; 08/28/08 07:04 PM.
The 2nd Amendment IS an unalienable right.
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743 |
The pheasant would be the only bird (if wild pheasant) that would even seem worthy of a 12g shell, IMO. What exactly is your criteria for this statement??. This surely would not be touching upon that above mentioned "Elitest" attitude that a 12ga is like unto shooting ducks in a rainbarrel While shooting a smaller gauge is the sign of a "Real Man & Suberb Sportsman" is it. Basically I really can't think of any other reason to make such a statement. I have a 12ga sidelock 28" damascus, wt 6lb 14oz which I found a total joy for upland use loaded with 1oz shot to about 1100-1150 fps. I have used this gun to take quail, woodcock & rabbit & found them all quite worthy of the gun. Could i have made most of the shots I made with it, with a smaller gauge, Undoubtably. But I simply liked that gun & enjoyed shooting it. Would a smaller gauge have been more fun or made me more of a "Man", Absolutely Not. I once killed a goose with a 20ga & some others with a 10 mag. Those taken with the 10 were "More Worthy". A lot more factors than size of the hole enter into any equation, but when the question says "Best All around" the answer is still 12ga. Maybe this wasn't really what he meant, but that's what he asked.
Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19 |
Miller,
LOL, You're reading more into this than is really there. Not long ago, I knew some hunters that would say anything other than a 12g was a sissy gun or a girl's gun. I'm thinkin I'm a victim of reverse discrimination. LOL.
No need for a knife fight, I'm not forcing you to like 20g guns or beer. I shoot similar 12g guns as you with a similar 1 oz load and enjoy them very much. See, we're not so different.
Last edited by Chuck H; 08/29/08 12:48 AM.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,250
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,250 |
Bet they're more high end 12s made than all the other bores put together. Perhaps check on this with the London biggies.
So you think that was back when? Well, aren't we shooting back when guns.
From grasshoppers to condors the 12s have it!
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,814 Likes: 2
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,814 Likes: 2 |
The 12 probably is the "Best all round guage" but as others have said so well, depends what ya like. I am a big 16 fan, but carry a 10 an awful lot of the time for pheasants, not because I need it, but because I like it...
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,935
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,935 |
If I could own only one gun, it would be a pistol grip, splinter forend 12 gauge, double triggers, and an extra set of barrels in 8, 10, 16, 20, and 28 gauges. I'd have the 16 through 28 gauge barrels fitted to an extra receiver/buttstock that was straight grip and I'd spring for a second beavertail forend. I could be happy with one gun if it were like that.
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