I need help to understand the specific effectiveness of each one of this shotgun calibers: 10 GA, 12 GA 16 GA 20 GA.

[TreeKiwi]

Once you get the hang off the 10ga, there is go other gun that comes close to its power and range. That's just my opinion, but a really good test is go duck hunting with a friend who has the 10ga or vice versa and see who gets the most ducks It is a beast and has a much better efficient range.

[Hawkeye]

That being said, I fully expect a bunch of people to now say they use a scope for this type of shooting.

Not sure why you need somebody from here to counter that point. Burris has been making red dots for shotguns designed specifically for wing shooters for years, and they sell plenty of them. Every hunting publication has written articles about them for years as well. It shouldn't surprise anybody that some of those customers might be on this Forum.

As for the in-game red dot, yeah, I'd prefer an open FOV as well, but we don't have that option, so it's not relevant to the OP's question. Personally, I have never lost a shot opportunity due to the FOV since they changed it so that we could view straight up. Before that, when you had to sort of spin when they flew over, you could have trouble picking the birds back up, especially if they turned at the same time. On the other hand, I am far more accurate with it, and I know others are as well. It's far easier to pick up the birds flying straight to you that would normally be blocked by the barrel.

[Threwlys]

Once you get the hang off the 10ga, there is go other gun that comes close to its power and range. That's just my opinion, but a really good test is go duck hunting with a friend who has the 10ga or vice versa and see who gets the most ducks It is a beast and has a much better efficient range.

That’s exactly what i was curious to know about: “It is a beast and has a much better efficient range”.

Put in this words, seens very good. I’ll buy one right now.

Thanks, TreeKiwi.

[Threwlys]

i recently did a video comparision of the 12 gauge pump shotty versus the 10 gauge. id take the 12 gauge pump shotgun. its cheaper. can have short and long range scopes on. so you can have 6 shots. its ethical for the same species as the 10 gauge.has better accuracy.

the only species you cant kill which is the same with the 10 gauge is
Banteng
Bison
Water Buffalo

the red dot makes it really easy to pull of more accurate shots at closer distance.also the long range scope is also useful for targets past 30m.

Man, i like very much your videos. I have seen a lot of them. I’ll take a look at this comparison video. Thanks.

[gas56]

[quote="J_Birdman"I'm all for everyone doing what works best for them, more power to you, but let's not pretend that shotgun scopes are commonly used for shooting small, quick, multiple targets because they're not, and for great reason. That being said, I fully expect a bunch of people to now say they use a scope for this type of shooting. [/quote]

What? you don't use the scope for wing shooting?
Well neither do I and I've been playing these 3d games shooting birds the same way I always have....
pointing and follow through.
The scopes are a preference really for players who want to use them in the game.
I have them and have tried them but they just don't seem fitting for bird hunting as I have learned IRL how to handle a shotgun.
I have shot Geese flying away at very long distances with scoped big rifles in the game just for the fun of it,..
so shooting them with scoped shotguns at closer ranges once the dot or reticle is on them is pull the trigger and they're hit.
I don't use them for the simple fact is that I don't like to zoom (even the normal zoom when you pull up a weapon,.. now I've never seen that IRL) in on a bird with a shotgun, I'd rather point at them and still be able to keep an eye on getting ready for the next shot with an open view watching the rest of the flying birds in the flock. It's hard to impossible to do that when using a scope IRL for wing shooting?
That's the difference though, this being a game you can ridiculously do things that can actually work in it and this is one of those things.
Even though I won't use it............

[Sherab86]

I have only free single-shot 12GA and pump-action 12GA, so I can't really compare, especially, that when this comes to terminal ballistics (mostly penetration, but "damage" attributed to some ammo may also be debatable), this game is rather far from reality (while external ballistics seems to be done quite good).

But I can confirm all good what was said about 12GA pump-action shotgun. If for any reasons one will end-up (at least temporary) with guest account, one will still have free ammo, and very versatile gun at hand. I love it.

[MaxVe]

In my opinion they are all valid weapons if especially if used for the correct prey, in any case the 12 gauge I think is the most versatile since it has accessories that others do not have (personally with the 12 caliber pump i made a little over 35,000 catches), the caliber 10 is very powerful and certainly allows you to hit averagely higher distances with regard to the semi-auto caliber 20 i do not really like it i consider very limited both by the charge of lead that shoots and the small number of shots that can hold...the important thing is to try to shoot straight...

[Sherab86]

In my opinion they are all valid weapons if especially if used for the correct prey, in any case the 12 gauge I think is the most versatile since it has accessories that others do not have (personally with the 12 caliber pump i made a little over 35,000 catches), the caliber 10 is very powerful and certainly allows you to hit averagely higher distances with regard to the semi-auto caliber 20 i do not really like it i consider very limited both by the charge of lead that shoots and the small number of shots that can hold...the important thing is to try to shoot straight...

Interesting and useful observations, MaxVe. Thx.

To make small digression, I remember that one of the players in the past wrote (being IRL hunter and/or shooter) that IRL 10GA might be actually less powerful because while it's shells have bigger charge, pressures achieved in a chamber are (by average) lower than in 12GA shotgun. There is still more pellets, however, creating denser (?) "cloud" when shooting some more distant targets, increasing hit chance propability. From other hand, while now there are exchangable barrels and/or chokes, from what I've read, 20GA getting less and less popular, 12GA winning on all fronts. But... this is IRL. In game we don't have exchangable chokes, we don't really know how repetitive are the patterns, and issue of how "powerful" is each gauge is highly simpliefed (20GA being simply the lowest, and 10GA highest). Hence, there is an use for all of them, I guess.

[MaxVe]

An interesting test to be done in my opinion is to go to a shooting stand located in the lodges and try to shoot with the different gauge on a white plate, the results and differences on the density of lead ejected from the various shotguns leaps immediately to the eyes...Just to satisfy your curiosity...

[Sherab86]

An interesting test to be done in my opinion is to go to a shooting stand located in the lodges and try to shoot with the different gauge on a white plate, the results and differences on the density of lead ejected from the various shotguns leaps immediately to the eyes...Just to satisfy your curiosity...

Well, I'm in general not very rich, so to speak - hence I try not to buy much more than I need in this game. I'm not saying that I don't buy some items just for pleausure or fun, sometimes. But in general... no... so I don't really feel a need to buy 20GA too much. 10GA is somewhat more tempting... but no... rather no... Someone else will need to do the test.

I was trying this with 12GA alone, and in my opinion, the pattern wasn't repetitive at all - it was fully random - just my impression. And I'm not sure all pellets (with have hit the target) are actually represented graphically - at least with my current graphics settings.

After all this was only a digression - it seems that IRL 12GA is most popular, and in reality, it fits all the possible tasks, when proper ammo, barrel and/or choke will be choosen. And I don't know to what extend this assumption can be shared in the game (due to mentioned limitations). But I think, that this would be highly true in the game too, thanks to pump-action version - only one to with you can attached optics. In my opinion, this makes it most versatile shotgun in the game with reasonably good fire rate (however 12GA semi-auto would be nice too ).


Best wishes and good virtual hunting!