I shoot a 20 ga alot. My theory is #5 at 100 p's is the same energy out of a 20 or 12. The 12 ga you get for pellets at that speed.
Just to distinguish between lead and steel shot usage:
Why waterfowl hunting is different, or THE STEEL DILEMMA. (Where did my effective range go?)
Lead #5 shot has killed tons of ducks and turkey, and it is still fine for turkey. However, lead is now illegal for waterfowl hunting, and the usual first choice is steel shot.
Steel shot is LESS DENSE than lead, and is lighter for a given size. Therefore, #5 STEEL shot is too light, and will only penetrate ducks reliably at close range: so there goes about 15 yds of effective, drop dead range.
The obvious answer is to use larger shot, with more weight and more momentum to penetrate the ducks, and that works...BUT now there are fewer shot, which means the pattern thins quickly and you still can't reach reliably as far as lead's dense pattern (still about 15yds shy of lead for a sure kill), so now you need MORE SHOT.
In order to put in MORE SHOT, you need a BIGGER SHELL.
And that's the only reason there are so many 10ga and 12ga 3" waterfowl guns are used: to compensate for the ballistically inefficient steel shot, use larger shot, and get back to the 45yds that used to be an easy shot with my 20ga and lead #5 on ducks.
The study to justify steel shot was done in the flooded corn fields of Crab Orchard Lake, IL, where the ducks ate the lead with the corn, and that kind of place is the only real hazard.
Everybody say "Thanks EPA!!"
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