I agree with Rebel. Using a small diameter Round ball means that it will weigh less. Less mass equals less felt recoil, if the weight of the gun remains the same, the shape of the stock is the same, and velocity is the same.
I think the argument in favor of the smaller gauges for round ball shooting has more to do with the reality about so-called " killing power ". An animal shot with a round ball is killed if the ball is aimed at vital organs, and it a. hits the POA; and b. penetrates to the vital organs to destroy them. A 20 gauge round ball weights 325 grains, approx. which is 3/4 oz of lead. That is a lot of mass in that shape to be hitting any animal that is considered a " soft Skin Animal". Penetration is likely to be completely through the body at any range within 100 yards. The larger 12 gauge ball, which nominally weights 1 1/4 oz., will also completely penetrate a thin skinned animal at any range inside 100 yards. The difference is that with all that extra weight, recoil is going to be much bigger, and more difficult to control. People do develope a flinch shooting guns with that kind of recoil. There are ways to control it:
See my article at
[url]
www.chuckhawks.com/Controlling_heavy_recoil.htm[/url]
to learn how to control recoil in long guns, rifles or shotguns.
However, choose a smaller gauge for your smootbore gun also makes sense. If your hunting puts you within 50 yards of a deer or other thin skinned animal, then a 24 ga. or 28 gauge gun also will serve you well. Smaller then 28 gauge, you begin to lose the advantage that a smoothbore has in shooting shot loads, as there is not enough shot, and the column of shot is so narrow leaving the muzzle that you don't get good, even patterns, much beyond 20 yards. The smaller the bore diameter, the more shot rubs against the sides of the bore, creating flats, which make the pellets unstable in air, and cause them to slow down fast, and drop out of the pattern. At social distances, the pattern will be so tight, that you can kill most anything. But between 10 and 20 yards, the pattern starts getting pretty ragged, and thin. At 25 yards you can see major sized holes beginning to devlop in the pattern, and at 30 yards, birds can fly through the remain shot in the pattern. A small gauge gun that will shoot accurately a round ball for hunting deer, well past 30 yards, will be almost useless for hunting birds, rabbits and squirrel at much past 15 yards.
So, like most things in life, choosing a bore diameter for a smoothbore gun so you can shoot both shot loads and round ball is a judgment call that only YOU can make, depending on your wants and needs. BTW, if you want to hunt thick skinned big game, just cast your Round Ball out of a lead alloy, making the balls harder. That is all you need to insure penetration. But stick with pure lead for thin skinned animals. You want a round ball that flattens even in thin skinned organs, so it does the maximum amount of damage to tissue and blood vessels. :hmm:
