Whats actually the difference between 10, 12, 16, 20ga shotguns?

[Lycon]

The birdshot and slugs all have the exact same stats and effective range so whats the difference between those?

[WarpLover]

the size of the animal they will bring down
shot will spread out and hit a larger area (birds, rabbit)
a slug is a bullet from a shotgun shell, so wolves, deer...
the smaller the number the larger the round
and you forgot .410

[Nightwalker]

All ammo types are rated for use on specific animal classes. While they may look the same on the performance stats provided, the difference lies in the amount of damage they do. More pellets in a 10 ga round than there are in a 20 ga for example, same deal for buck shot. For slugs the larger the shotgun barrel, the more damage it does with the 10 ga being the largest and the .410 the smallest. There is also a pistol in the game that offers bird shot ammo.

[TangOscar]

Simply explained; Gauge reffers to the diameter of the barrel (the bore), additional, it tells us the size for the grain of lead for that weapon.
The bigger the number, the smaller the grain of lead.

The grain is always calculated out of 1 pound of lead. For 20 gauge, a grain of lead is a 20th of 1 pound, which result in smaller grain than for 10 gauge

[Lycon]

Originally posted by Nightwalker:

All ammo types are rated for use on specific animal classes. While they may look the same on the performance stats provided, the difference lies in the amount of damage they do. More pellets in a 10 ga round than there are in a 20 ga for example, same deal for buck shot. For slugs the larger the shotgun barrel, the more damage it does with the 10 ga being the largest and the .410 the smallest. There is also a pistol in the game that offers bird shot ammo.

so a 10ga would be best for bird hunting since its more pellets and travels further?

[Old Fox]

Originally posted by TangOscar:

Simply explained; Gauge reffers to the diameter of the barrel (the bore), additional, it tells us the size for the grain of lead for that weapon.
The bigger the number, the smaller the grain of lead.

The grain is always calculated out of 1 pound of lead. For 20 gauge, a grain of lead is a 20th of 1 pound, which result in smaller grain than for 10 gauge

NOT CORRECT

The gauge is only for the diameter of the barrel , but for the same gauge you can have different size pellets

for exp i hunt IRL with my Benelli 12G semi and i use for small birds Nª 7-8 pellets for ducks i use Nª 4-5 , for rabbits i use Nª 6-8 ... ( the size comes from the number of pellets that you need to make 1 pound )

the number of pellets in one shoot come from what height you want to use, again for birds i normally go for 30 to 32 gr, 36gr for ducks and 28 gr -30 gr for rabbits

so when i go hunt i use a 12 G cart.,/ Nª7 / 32 gr for exp ( this is my normal size fort small game )

In COTW in don't have different pellets size, so i can't say witch one one has more pellets, but i would say that the 10G make more damage per pellet than the 20G but the 20G is more easy to control than the 10G

hope this helps
good hunting

[Lycon]

Originally posted by Old Fox:

Originally posted by TangOscar:

Simply explained; Gauge reffers to the diameter of the barrel (the bore), additional, it tells us the size for the grain of lead for that weapon.
The bigger the number, the smaller the grain of lead.

The grain is always calculated out of 1 pound of lead. For 20 gauge, a grain of lead is a 20th of 1 pound, which result in smaller grain than for 10 gauge

NOT CORRECT

The gauge is only for the diameter of the barrel , but for the same gauge you can have different size pellets

for exp i hunt IRL with my Benelli 12G semi and i use for small birds Nª 7-8 pellets for ducks i use Nª 4-5 , for rabbits i use Nª 6-8 ... ( the size comes from the number of pellets that you need to make 1 pound )

the number of pellets in one shoot come from what height you want to use, again for birds i normally go for 30 to 32 gr, 36gr for ducks and 28 gr -30 gr for rabbits

so when i go hunt i use a 12 G cart.,/ Nª7 / 32 gr for exp ( this is my normal size fort small game )

In COTW in don't have different pellets size, so i can't say witch one one has more pellets, but i would say that the 10G make more damage per pellet than the 20G but the 20G is more easy to control than the 10G

hope this helps
good hunting

Thanks for explaining! So, 1 last question the 10ga has the most range then yeah? Well, irl at least?

[Old Fox]

depends on the gunpowder, but yes normally that is correct

[AfterCrow]

Rifle calibers are typically inch-based, so a .338 is smaller than a .50.

Shotgun calibers are related to cannon-terminology and are pound-based. Cannons used to be made in pound classes, i.e. 8-pounders or 6-pounders.
But with shotguns being much smaller firearms the manufacturers needed a smaller notation. They weren't used to the metric system, and continued with the same mindset as used in cannon production.

12-Gauge is the size of one lead ball, if you took one pound of lead and divided it into 12 equal pieces.
Similarly, if you take one pound of lead and divide it into 10 balls, you'll have balls that are 10-gauge sized. They should just fit in a 10G shotgun bore (No choke).

From this you can tell that a larger number corresponds to a smaller diameter. 20-gauge is much smaller than 10-gauge. So, reverse the logic from rifle calibers.

As previously mentioned, the gauge says nothing about the diameter of the individual buckshot pellets. Just the diameter of the shotgun barrel.

In COTW you can choose between slug, buckshot and birdshot.
Slug is one single bullet, Buckshot are medium sized pellets in small quantity, and Birdshot is a larger number of really small pellets.
I think for 12-gauge the buckshot is 9 pellets and the birdshot is 46 pellets (in the game). But I've been wrong before.

[gabcik&kubis]

As it was said, Gauge is more-or-less bore diameter, that is contrary to rifles inversely proportional to number: Higher the number, smaller the diameter (.410 is not Gauge !!!).

Other important factors are size of the pellets, their number (or weight of the shot) in cartridge and their velocity (total muzzle energy). IRL cartridges are rated by their Gauge and their length (i. 16 Ga 3 inch). Back then, 12 Ga was simply more powerful than 16 Ga. With modern steel and powders you can get maybe even more power for the same weight of the shot from modern 20 Ga than from classic 12 Ga shotgun. And you will have lighter shotgun as barrels and action are smaller due to smaller diameter.
But - your weapon will work at considerably higher pressure

In short - in blackpowder era and classic smokeless one, Gauge clearly told you power of the weapon. Nowadays there are big overlaps.

In the game to me it seems that game follows classic rule and 12 Ga is more powerful than 16 Ga.
10 Ga has clear upper hand in range and power as I tested on many geese hunting. But its sight sux.

[TangOscar]

Originally posted by Old Fox:

Originally posted by TangOscar:

Simply explained; Gauge reffers to the diameter of the barrel (the bore), additional, it tells us the size for the grain of lead for that weapon.
The bigger the number, the smaller the grain of lead.

The grain is always calculated out of 1 pound of lead. For 20 gauge, a grain of lead is a 20th of 1 pound, which result in smaller grain than for 10 gauge

NOT CORRECT

-snip-

Thank you for correcting me, kind sir.

[Old Fox]

@TangOscar no need to , i just try to simply ( with some minor errors ) clarify the concept of the cartridges / pellets / weight of the shotgun . not personally

[Findus]

Thanks for all the information guys! I know I probably won't remember half of it, but now I know where to look if I need it.

[yogisgoat]

If all you're doing is birding I would recommend the 20 gauge. It's quite effective, has less recoil than the other shotties and weighs less than the others. Irl I would use the 12 gauge but this is far from reality.

[Lycon]

Originally posted by yogisgoat:

If all you're doing is birding I would recommend the 20 gauge. It's quite effective, has less recoil than the other shotties and weighs less than the others. Irl I would use the 12 gauge but this is far from reality.

But cant you hit the birds from further away with the 10? Atm Im using the 12ga pump shotgun cause it has 6 rounds instead of 3.

[gabcik&kubis]

Originally posted by Lycon:

But cant you hit the birds from further away with the 10? Atm Im using the 12ga pump shotgun cause it has 6 rounds instead of 3.

In my experience, you can. 10Ga cannot mount any optical sights and weapon handling in the Hunter is quite awkward (compared to many 1st person shooters) so it is for me harder to aim it but it is more likely to drop down goose immediately and even it effectively hits at longer distance
Also buckshot is pretty effective and has clear advantage in power over 12Ga

12Ga pump is otherwise probably the best shotgun in the game - due to magazine and gauge it outperforms even semi-autos. When I do not care about style (side-by-side) I always take Cacciatore. Too bad there is not another skin for it so I can have just 1 in inventory when waiting for geese.