Is the 20 Gauge Best for Ducks?

OL’s multi-media producer Roy Holdford and I set out to conduct a very unscientific field test. On the opening day of Minnesota’s duck season we hunted with a 20 gauge and on the second day of the season we shot a 12 gauge. We traded filming and shooting and took notes on our results. We wanted to see, at least anecdotally, if there was a noticeable difference in lethality when shooting a 20 gauge vs a 12 gauge. Then we headed to the range to do some patterning. We wanted to see if we could change up our load selection in a way that would give the 20 gauge downrange performance similar to a 12 gauge. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 2:22 Hunting with a 20 gauge 13:43 Hunting with a 12 gauge 26:07 Patterning the 12 gauge vs 20 gauge with duck loads 37:25 Final thoughts from a veteran 20-gauge shooter Read the full story here: