Why Can't I???

[Arisaka99]

Why is it that you can't shoot any buckshot bigger than a #1 in a 20ga??? I'd like to have some OO or OOO for HD, but someone said it will blow your barrel off?

[Bulldogger]

News to me, I have several boxes of Fiocchi 20ga double ought buck myself. Shoots fine. Kicks a might. Shoot them out of a chinese cowboy hammer gun. Mine is a new gun, but I don't see why that matters.

[82nd airborne]

Dont ever take advice from the guy that told you that again. I cant tell you home many 00 buck I shot as a kid out of an old old h&r topper model 20ga.

[lylejb]

Dont ever take advice from the guy that told you that again

+1 on that.

He probably also says wheel weights will ruin your barrel.

Maybe he also says he saw Elvis on the flying saucer.

LOTS of "experts" out there

You can shoot larger buckshot in a 20ga. , but remember the larger the pellet, the fewer per shot.

a 5 or 6 pellet load might not pattern so well.

[knifemaker]

For home defense I preferr #4 buckshot over #00. #00 has a habit of going though several walls in a house and may indanger a family member in another room. Police prefer #00 for penatration into a vehicle that occurs quite often in their line of work.
That penatration is not so good in a home if you have kids that may be sleeping in other bedrooms.

[Arisaka99]

It was a lady at a gun shop, they had a whole floor for just ammo, and I asked her why there is no 00 or 000 and she said well do you wanna blow your barrel off?? I said no, is that why no one sells it and she was like yup. The only prob I would have w/ 00 would be my neighbors being that I live in an apt building, but it isnt a problem.

[Molly]

There's some solid advice here, especially the advice to never take advice from the morons who think that buckshot loads will 'blow your head off'. You can assemble perfectly safe loads with any size shot you want to use, so long as the shot diameter is smaller (or at least not bigger) than the bore. The ammo companies load this sort of thing all the time, and I assure you they don't knowingly make dangerous ammo.

That said, there are some limits on what size shot will work EFFICIENTLY in a given diameter bore. As a rule of thumb, the shot size that will fill the bore with three round balls in a triangular configuration is the largest that will pattern well and shoot effectively.

Also, if you're loading your own ammo, or having someone load it for you, take note: In a bygone era, one bore diameter ball and three smaller balls in a triangle constituted what was referred to as a 'buck and ball' load. It was deadly on Redcoats during the Revolution, and equally deadly on deer (and other game) afterwards.

[cheese1566]

Probably the same guuy who told me the other night that he has a Browning .30cal machine gun that he assembled from spare parts he found at a gunshow...and that he loads 210 grains of powder in the .30-06 shells "because the gun likes them hot!":holysheep

He then dissed my 25-06 shells I loaded for my brother-in-law because he could hear the powder moving in the case when he rattled it by his ear; he first called them "crappy store bought rounds because a real reloader like himself would compress the load to make it a magnum". He never bothered to ask what the load recipe was...

[Molly]

Probably the same guuy who told me the other night that he has a Browning .30 cal machine gun that he assembled from spare parts he found at a gunshow...and that he loads 210 grains of powder in the .30-06 shells "because the gun likes them hot!":holysheep

He then dissed my 25-06 shells I loaded for my brother-in-law because he could hear the powder moving in the case when he rattled it by his ear; he first called them "crappy store bought rounds because a real reloader like himself would compress the load to make it a magnum". He never bothered to ask what the load recipe was...

You know, some people are so desperate for a little recognition and respect that they'll say or do anything to show how important they really are ... and never give a thought to the consequences of showing just how respectworthy and important they really are .....

[Arisaka99]

Ok, what size ball should I use? I have a Mod fixed choke on it. (Yes its a NEF Pardner 20) 3in chamber. Can I shoot slugs through it? Will it hurt my gun? or hould I just wait and save up for a rifled slug barrel and scope it?

[Molly]

Ok, what size ball should I use? I have a Mod fixed choke on it. (Yes its a NEF Pardner 20) 3in chamber. Can I shoot slugs through it? Will it hurt my gun? or hould I just wait and save up for a rifled slug barrel and scope it?

Yes, you can shoot it with either buckshot or slugs without any danger of harm to your gun or yourself. As to whether you should get a rifled slug barrel, I'd suggest you try the barrel you have and then decide. Some smoothbores shoot slugs and buckshot pretty well, some don't. They are pretty individual in their likes and dislikes. For that reason, I'm not going to recommend the size buckshot you should use. I'd recommend that you buy a few boxes of different size buckshot and see what your gun likes. Then if you want to load your own, at least you will have a good starting point. You can look up load data for the factory duplication load, and go from there.

[Arisaka99]

For a buck & ball load, what size ball should I use?

[Molly]

For a buck & ball load, what size ball should I use?

I dunno off the top of my head. I could work it out mathematically, but that's a LOT of trouble for something I really don't care about. Write to the NRA and ask them.

[Arisaka99]

Ok, I'll ask in shotgun casting. Thanks