"Whippy" has to do with gauge only in a "sometimes" way. More .410 guns will be whippy than will 12's. However, .410 does not define an individual gun as whippy. Swing Effort is the objective characteristic that contains the subjective description of "whippy." Typcial game pattern guns have weight around 6 1/2# and Swing Efforts around 1.5. This is the area where "whippyness" seems to start. However, some have developed muscle memory with higher Swing Effort guns and find it difficult to shoot lower Swing Effort guns.