Could I get an explanation longer than eli5? What are the different uses and purposes of gauges, etc.
I'm not a gun guy and googling didn't help much. Although I did find that graphic.
12ga is the most common and you can get it loaded a zillion ways, 20ga has a lil less kick but still enough shot so some people like it for lightweight guns, and .410 is for tiny shotguns or big revolvers like those stupid Taurus Judge hand cannons. The others exist and idk why.
It's just a way of measuring inner diameter of a gun barrel and thus the size of ammunition required.
The reason it's inverted from what you'd expect is because it's based on how many spheres of that size you could make with one pound of lead. This is speculation, but I think it's a hold over from very early firearms; cannon bore was measured in pounds of iron in a spherical shot, so when making smaller guns they'd have naturally moved to measuring what fraction of a pound constituted one shot. It's really only used for smooth-bore guns, not rifles, because the varying length and profile of a conical bullet would make the weight-diameter relationship meaningless.
Edit: Cannonballs are measured in iron, not lead, pounds - but the historical connection seems solid.
Gauge is weird old timey speak but it basically comes down to "fraction of a pound." So a 12 gauge fires one twelfth of a pound of lead with every shot, an 8 gauge one eighth, and so on. The eli5 is really all I can do, bore and caliber is a little beyond me
I know guitar strings are also measured in gauges with the bigger number being a smaller diameter. I don't know how that fits into the fraction of pound logic though.
found this quora post about it - this is the simplest explanation I found in the comments
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-gauge-number-of-say-wire-needles-and-shotgun-shells-inversely-proportional-to-their-sizes-For-ex-12-gauge-wire-is-thicker-than-20-gauge-wire?share=1
With wire, it is simply how many pieces laid side by side make an inch. This also applies to needles. With shotguns, it is how many lead balls of the bore diameter it takes to make a pound. So, one is a measurement of size and the other of weight.
more contex:
Think about how you might measure these . Take wire. You might not have access to a Vernier caliper or a micrometer, but you will have a standard ruler. So you wrap the wire around tightly and count the number of turns,to cover the inch spacing..The same trick would have been in use by weavers for hundreds of years.
And there's some other explanation on the wire related to how many times the metal has to be pulled through smaller funnel-like things to make it smaller without breaking. Not sure what is the most historically accurate answer, but I like the measure on a ruler explanation as it would be plausibly preferable to craft folks.
Never heard of 28 gauge.
12 gauge is standard, 20 is for kids or people who don't like recoil, 10 gauge is for hunting elephants or some shit. 410, for shooting snakes in the top of the head maybe? I've only ever seen one in the wild.
12 ga is for bigger game, turkey, deer, but can be used for smaller. one you get to 20 ga it mostly small animals or waterfowl. 410 is for short range but mostly useless. those are really the only 3 gauges youd ever possibly use, and you probably would only use 12 or 20. 20 is a good as a starter if youve never shot one before.
heres a site that explains their uses and goes over some other weird gauges https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/shotgun-gauges-10-vs-12-vs-16-vs-20-vs-28-vs-410/
uses RN? different ones for fun, I love a little 20 gauge action but the others are pretty good. self defense you wanna stick to 12 gauge, hunting probably the same. in the past?
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10- high flying water fowl (not needed anymore, 12 is fine due to hotter loads now
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12 general use, deer fowl whatever just use the right ammo
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16 was used as 12, but basically for scmucks. impossible to find now
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20 You probably shouldnt hunt a deer with this, low flying fowl or walking birds mostly
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28 more old timey nerd shit, i think it was considered a gentlemans gauge or some shit like that
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.410 is a blast but its expensive as hell and only usable as like a snake gun or doing some trap/skeet (kinda hard but i enjoy it)
if youre buying a gun today, go with a 12 gauge unless youre really tiny then go with a 20. make sure you tailor the loads that youre using more than anything
:this:
Though I should add that a 20 gauge slug should definitely be sufficient to drop a deer
And that the felt recoil relief from going semi-auto on a 12 gauge is probably better than going down to a 20.
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