00 Buckshot in a 20 gauge?

[frogwalking]

A friend gave me some American Frontiersman and Backwoodsman magazines.  I don't remember which, but one had an article where a man was telling how to cut a 12 gauge ctg. open and take out the 00 buckshot, for loading into a 20 gauge shotgun.  I sometimes shoot #4 buckshot out of my 20 gauge fowler and smoothbore pistol. (Not for deer or other large game, so don't get sidetracked telling me not to do it please.)  My engineer's mind tells me the much larger buckshot will not fit into layers as the smaller shot does.  I can see the larger shot wedging together when fired, creating a dangerous condition.  Is my thinking right, or is it ok to shoot 00 buck from a 20 gauge?  Who has done it?

[Hungry Horse]

 You are dead on. buckshot is only minimally effective even in larger bores. #4 or #2 are better patterning shot sizes. In my .20 ga trade gun I use more #6's than anything. I've not had much luck with #71/2 shot in cylinder bored muzzleloaders either.

                        Hungry Horse

[bob in the woods]

What would you use it for ?  That is the question I ask myself. 000 buck in a 20 , but I like to pattern my gun, even with buckshot. I see the stuff as more useful as a defensive round than anything else. Personally, I like #4 if I want to go that route for stuff thats raiding the hen house. For larger critters, I'm a round ball single projectile guy.  :)I   If you shoot a load of 00 Buckshot, how many of them will actually hit what you shoot at ?   

[galamb]

2 years back I acquired a box of 2 3/4" 20 gauge "tactical" 00 buck. It was heavily buffered and contained 8 pellets (for my "non-muzzle loading" 20 gauge).

Didn't really have a use for it (home defense will land you in jail in Canada) so just took it out to the range and shot the box (there were 6 shells in the box - can't remember the mfg, but it wasn't one of the "majors").

They did "kick" at least as much if not more than my 12 gauge which I do shoot with 00 buck 2 3/4" shells.

At 25 yards I shot at a (near) full-sized deer (paper) target 48" long by 28" high and square in shape.

The rounds averaged 7 of the 8 pellets "somewhere" on the deer rendition part of the target with an average of 1 pellet penetrating the lungs (which was my aim point with the single front bead sight (and I'm an very good skeet shooter with my 20) - the shotgun has a (fixed) modified choke).

Given that my 12 gauge with a full choke can put 8 out of 9 pellets in the lungs @ 25 yards I didn't rush to acquire another box of the 20 gauge ammo.

(yes I keep notes/stats on some strange stuff)

[Dphariss]

I am somewhat guessing here. #4  Buck will stack in a 20, I think #1 works in 16 and 0 and 00 works in 12 guage. I think 000 is for 10 gauge.  Smaller shot will work in the larger bores but larger in the smaller bores will not work well.
Dan

[frogwalking]

I don't seem to have gotten my question across.  I really want to know if shooting round lead balls too large to stack in layers could cause dangerous conditions?  That is; could it damage the barrel?

[Dphariss]

I don't seem to have gotten my question across.  I really want to know if shooting round lead balls too large to stack in layers could cause dangerous conditions?  That is; could it damage the barrel?

Doubtful, lead balls in a barrel are not like like putting sand in a hole in rock when blasting.  My point is if they don't stack right and the won't pattern well enough to be useful what is the point of shooting them anyway? Buckshot at best is of limited usefulness using oversized shot for the bore size does not improve this. Unless mandated by law as it apparently is in some places due the range considerations, I would not use it.


Dan

[galamb]

Agree, don't think it will hurt anything. Maybe if you buffer it with cornmeal or something similar - resulting in a fairly long shot column you might get some semblance of a pattern out of it.

The stuff I shot was all over the place - kinda looked like you just took a handful of ball bearings and kinda threw them... 

[Daryl]

Defense only?- I tried some buck and ball loads in my .54 pistol worked a treat on the silhouette target used- (standard police- cira 1975 target) placed 12 yards in front of us.

I used 3, 000 buck and a .526" round ball, consistently getting 3 nines or 9's and 8's and a centre 10, each shot.  Looked great to me! Any other use? - not that I could envision.

[Dan]

00 in a 20 is a non-starter. #3 or #4 buck can be very effective if the gun plays ball.

[Daryl]

All I can say is we should not say it won't work IF we haven't tried it - as at close range, it did work in a .54 calibre pistol - which is much smaller than a 20 bore. 

Now, the purpose of using buckshot in a 20 bore comes to the forefront.

Years ago when I was a kid and wanted to try buckshot in my 20 gauge shotgun for shooting foxes, the largest I could get was #4 buck. Not sure how many there were, but the number 28 comes to mind. Now, I do not know if that 28 was in a 20 bore shell, or a 12 bore #4 buck load?

One would have to weigh a #4 and see how many make up an ounce (437.5gr.) or perhaps up to 1 1/4 ounce, 546.8gr. and use that with an appropriate powder charge.

[frogwalking]

Dan,  That was my opinion; and still is.