Is a 12 Gauge shotgun greater than a 14 Gauge shotgun? - General

You know how the higher the caliber the rifle is the greater the force? Does that still apply to shotguns? Like the higher the gauge the more bang it has for it's buck? If gauge has nothing to do with power, just tell me. Cause I know nothing about shotguns.

I think gauge was how many of the pellets fit in the barrel? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm also curious

:doh: Gauges in shotgun ammunitions are relative to the amount of pellets in the shell. for example, 12 gauge has 12 small pellets, and as you go down in number, there are less pellets, but they are bigger. So if you dont want to blow the deers head clean off, use a higher gauge, if you want to kill a bird, use a 10 gauge, if you want to blow someones head clean off, 1 or 2 gauge, make a nasty wound and have a incredibly large spread, 20 gauge, etc etc Gauge doesnt REALLY have to do with "stopping power", but can effect accuracy and the way it effects its target. And as always, the length of the barrel effects the end accuracy. Also, I believe shotguns can only fire a certain range of gauge, like some might be able to only have the higher gauges, as I think they get larger in size as you have a lesser gauge

The smaller the number, the larger the bore. 8 gauge is larger than 12, for example.

To quote Wikipedia: "Gauge is a measurement of the number of lead balls of bore diameter that constitute a pound (454 grams)." A 12 gauge shotgun has a barrel which is as wide as a sphere of lead with a mass of 1/12lb. Thus, larger gauges mean smaller barrels. Gauges you might encounter are 28, 20, 16, 12 and 10 but there were some weird ones made like 2 gauge punt-guns - quite honestly they were more like cannon. Of these, only 28, 20 and 12 are still manufactured today in significant quantities and 12 gauge has emerged as being about the optimal size. The .410 bore is an exception to the rule as it's not referring to lead masses at all - it's simply the diameter of the barrel in inches in the same way you might talk about a .357 revolver or a .303 rifle. Gauge doesn't have a direct relation to what load the shotgun fires. A shotgun can fire pretty much any load imaginable that you can fit into the shell, from a single slug (used for deer hunting, for instance) down through 00 buckshot (commonly nine pellets in a 12 gauge shell) through to various birdshot loads which contain hundreds of tiny tiny pellets. That's not to mention things like flechettes, mini tear-gas grenades, taser rounds, beanbags for riot control, flares, door-breaching rounds and so on. Oh and lastly, spread is not really a function of calibre. It's dependant on what "choke" the shotgun barrel has. Shotgun barrels can be made to have a narrow choke by becoming slightly narrower at the muzzle, literally squeezing the shot together and resulting in a tighter spread. A wide spread would be good for, say, bird hunting when you're trying to hit a small and fast target but it wouldn't be good when you're hunting (let's say) deer with buckshot, where you have a large animal and you want to make sure lots of pellets hit it.

[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;23120990]You know how the higher the caliber the rifle is the greater the force? Does that still apply to shotguns? Like the higher the gauge the more bang it has for it's buck? If gauge has nothing to do with power, just tell me. Cause I know nothing about shotguns.[/QUOTE] Why do you need a shotgun? :colbert:

[QUOTE=Xenoyia v3;23124195]Why do you need a shotgun? :colbert:[/QUOTE] He never said he did.