Best Gauge? (Shotgun)

What is the best gauge for a muzzleloading shotgun? I want to get a Pedersoli side by side and they come in 20, 12, or 10 gauge. My uses would be small game hunting (squirrel rabbit) mostly but also possible turkey hunting and maybe even deers or boars. Basically looking for versatility.

Would a 12 be too much for the small animals? Squirrels and rabbits? Just not sure what I should do, and need to be sure I get the correct gauge.

Thanks all!!

Smokey Plainsman said:

Would a 12 be too much for the small animals?

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The beauty of a muzzleloader is that you can load it up or down. Though I have a 20 and a 10, I get lots more use out of my 12 for ptarmigan and snowshoe hare. Most times if they're holding close I only load 3/4 oz or 7/8 oz of shot. But if they go funky on any particular day and start jumping further out, I just use heavier loads. Kinda like having 3 shotguns in one with that 12: Load it light for small game close in, load it a little heavier for average shooting, load it heavy when you need more shot in the air.

One thing to watch out for: DO NOT buy a muzzleloading shotgun with a full choke or even a modified choke. You'll be very unhappy trying to load your wads down through the muzzle. Tight chokes are meant for loading from the back end of the barrel. I prefer cylinder bores on all my guns, though I'd put up with an improved cylinder if forced.

Brown bear is wise and I agree (for you and him :rotf: ) Because my favorite is a 20 thats what I like best. He is correct.....he will drop birds I wont even be able to think about shooting at.

I had a 10 GA. I loaded it down for small game but it was a chore lugging it! All my turkeys but 1 were killed with a 20. Never killed anything like deer with a shot gun but 10, 12 or 20 all plenty stout enough!

I hope this helps. I would get one of each just so you are always properly armed afieled

i would go with a 12, with the possible exception of the boar hunting thing: then it's a 10 for sure ... i have seen pigs go down and it's not mellow: Bambi shucks off this mortal coil (usually) with a minimum of fuss and bother. Porky, on the other hand, does not go gentle into that good night. for boar, i'd use a 10 gauge, but that's just me. get close and shoot straight, cause if you don't, Porky will spend his or her last minutes mixing you with enough dirt to start a good sized rose garden.

if you can only have one, i suppose that the venerable 12 gauge would be the best way to go, then you can tinker with loads and get patterns which will be best for whatever game you're hunting.

one guy's opinion- - free and no doubt well worth the cost.

Make good smoke

I have the Pedersoli 10 gauge sxs and I like it a lot, but it is heavy. I have had it for almost a year and the only thing I've hunted with it is squirrels and starlings. It does a fine job on both of those, but if I had it to do over again I would buy the 12 gauge. It would be lighter with still plenty of versatility.

Check your state's wildlife code for the firearms regulations for hunting. There may be a restriction on using a shotgun for deer hunting and boar. Some of the regulations are not clear. Missouri lists shotguns as a prohibited firearm for deer while including a multiple barrel muzzleloading firearm using a single projectile as acceptable for deer hunting.

Stay away from heavily choked guns. Screw in chokes may be more trouble than they are worth.

On another, now defunct, ml forum we had a member who hunted buff with a 20 ga. smoothie. Charges were not exceptionally heavy, in the 70-90 gr. range, using a ball. He said they dropped ded when hit.

12 gauge is by far the most versatile....But, bore diameter is not a singular consideration.

Colorado Clyde said:

12 gauge is by far the most versatile....But, bore diameter is not a singular consideration.

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Always a 12 you can up the load for a light 10 , reduce the load for a 14 and 16 .
Feltwad

I had the Pedersoli 12 Gauge that came with a full set of choke tubes. While I see the majority here do not favor a choke of any kind due to wad loading issues, I did not have any problems, even with the turkey choke, because I don't use the big fibre wads. I like the 1/8" felt wads (you can stack if more thickness is needed) which you can get into any choke easily. I just had a .58 caliber jag on the end of my loading rod instead of a 20 GA jag and all worked well for me. :idunno: I'm not a big shotgunner, though, so maybe I just put up with more for the very limited use the gun saw.

If you really want to also shoot ball, be conscious of the size of lead ball you'll need for a 12 Ga! If I wanted to do "everything" you mentioned in one gun, I'd personally opt for the 20.

The long-term problem I had with mine is that it just did not have enough drop at the comb for me and I always struggled to bring it up quickly and have it on point. Hence the reason I no longer have it. Until a recent post in the Hunting Section by Britsmoothy, I didn't realize that the older versions of those guns had more drop, but then they changed the architecture, probably to save on wood since a straighter stock will allow more stocks per plank.

There is a reason that the 12 gauge is popular with the modern cartridge shotgun crowd - it's versatile. So is the modern muzzle loading 12 gauge shotgun when used at it's effect killing range. If you want to hunt waterfowl and large game then get a 10 gauge. If you want to hunt upland game then get a 12 gauge :v . Can you use the 12 gauge for all the above - SURE - just be aware that you may cripple some game and never find them - so what kind of hunter do you want to be - one that wounds more game than you harvest or one that is 90% + successful? Being a GOOD shot also helps :grin: .

I would choose the 12 gauge. :thumbsup:

There is no best, they are all good news :hatsoff:

I had a Pedersoli 12ga dbl for years and it was a delightful gun with shot. But I like and own a 20ga and have killed deer with it using prb. If you plan on much deer hunting, I'd vouch for the 20ga. But if upland small game is the target, get a 12ga, especially if it's a dbl.

A 12 ga. will get you a little more distance, however a 20 ga. will take any game in North America. I have a 20 ga. trade gun that I have taken bear, deer, turkey, duck, rabbit, squirrel, quail, and chukar with. You just have to be more patient with a 20 and let the game get a little closer.

The beauty of a muzzleloader is that you can load it up or down.

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This is quite true, BUT you can only go "up" so much (imho) before you are really pushing the limit of the gun..., while it's much easier to go "down". So in your case you want the 12 gauge. (Actually you want a 16 gauge (again imho) BUT that's not one of the options from Pedersoli :wink: )

I have a Pedersoli Caplock 20 gauge SxS, and it's choked IC for the right barrel and M for the left. It's an upland bird gun and small game gun, and it does a very good job. It even works on turkeys. I've not tried a round ball through the IC barrel, though it should "work".

You will want the Pedersoli Classic Standard which is choked Cylinder Bore and Modified. What that means is one barrel has no choke, which is great for up close birds and rabbits, AND which means it's good for launching round-ball at deer. The other barrel is good for distance shots on birds, squirrels high up in trees, and for ducks (using bismuth or other non-steel, waterfowl shot). You will probably want to replace the ramrod, or get a more durable one for use in the field..., for some reason Pedersoli seems to skimp on wood ramrods.


LD

I find loading down in larger gauges make for too low a velocity for shot.
A 20g will shoot 1oz plus of shot but most 12g are limited to 1&1/4oz of shot for some bizarre reason.

B.

Britsmoothy said:

I find loading down in larger gauges make for too low a velocity for shot.
A 20g will shoot 1oz plus of shot but most 12g are limited to 1&1/4oz of shot for some bizarre reason.

B.

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At first I wanted to disagree with your statement...But, the more I re-read it the more curious I became as to what you meant.

I do not lose velocity when I load down unless I intend to...While I have loaded down to reduce power and recoil, I have also loaded down to increase velocity.
Loading down can conserve powder and lead while improving killing power.
Whether you load up or down you still need to balance certain factors.

In my opinion, the primary reason that different gauges exist, is to maintain a square (balanced) shot column as the size of the payload increases.

You can load a 12 ga. down to the level of a 20 ga. with greater success than you can trying load a .410 up to the level of a 20 ga.

We are definitely getting into the realm of preference rather than 'best'. My first ml 'shotgun' was/is a Navy Arms/Pedersoli Brown Bess. Nominally a 12 ga. but was actually an 11 ga. Was a squirrel killer and quail. Mostly shot matches with it. Mostest funnest gun to shoot ever. Now retired. Then had a Ped. SxS percussion 'shotgun' in nominal 12 ga. but was actually 14 ga. with chokes. Hated it. :cursing: Hard to load past the chokes and when shot the unshot barrel load came unseated and had to be reseated. More fuss 'n bother than having to reload a single barrel with no choke. Now also have a 20 ga. flinter with no choke. Once received from the builder required much tinkering but now is reliablle and mostly used to keep the tree rat population down on my property. Conclusion? The "best" is wat works for you and you like. :v

What works best, for me it has too be a English original in 12 or 14 bore . Although these guns are over 150 years old it is English Victorian gun making at its best which has never been surpassed not like the repro stuff you see on the market. But I am a traditionalists :thumbsup:
Feltwad