Mustang Gregg Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Commissioner Gordon (my Pa) told me that during WWII that civilian shells were very hard to get and they sometimes had to shoot 20 gauge shells out of a 16 gauge shotgun (f that's all they could get) and shoot 16 guage shells out of a 12 gauge shotgun. Also 12s out of a 10. He was told that's why they color coded shotgun shells so carefully. You definitely wouldn't want to drop a 20 gauge on a 12 gauge barrel. It could be one hell of an explosive squib. HAVE ANY OF YOU SASS SHOOTERS EVER TRIED 20s IN A 16? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still hand Bill Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Not sure if they will hold enough to fire. You can buy chamber mates which are just a new chamber to shoot sub gauges in a larger gun. So I assume if it would hold enough to fire it would probably work. Not ideal and I would guess velocity would be low. I have been told the reason 20 ga are yellow is they will fit into a 12 ga far enough to get stuck in the forcing cone, which will explode the gun if then loaded with a 12 ga shell and fired. Being yellow you can easily see that it’s 20 and not a 12 if you had both in a pouch or pocket. Never tried it but I would guess a 16 won’t go in that far and a 28 will go all the way through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Have I. ? Never and started hunting with shotguns at age of 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 A 16 gauge shell will drop completely into the chamber of a 3” 12 gauge gun. Rather not say how I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder SASS #13056 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Back in the early 90's we often shot where long guns were lined up in vertical rack while we shot. I pick-up my 20 gauge Stoeger and shoot the stage. When I got to the shotgun, I loaded 2, and the gun did not fire, I couldn't figure out why? So I started loading two more and expected to see the cartridge heads looking at me and they didn't. So I started looking around on the ground to see where they went. About then either I or the T.O. decided to stop. Then I realized that the Stoeger I had was not mine, but someone's 12 gauge. The shells had fallen down into the chamber. . . I know several cowboy who shot the stage using someone else's gun and didn't realize it since most were shooting 12 gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene, SASS # 27489 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 One of the tests that was done on the TTN hammer gun was the 12/20 test - a 20ga shell was inserted with a 12ga behind it and fired. It split the stock but the barrels were unharmed. I think if a 16 in a 12 or a 20 in a 16 were to actually catch enough on the rim ledge and still have the firing pin strike the primer, so for instance to be able to fire a 20 in a 16, due to the low pressure it would cause no harm other than to the shell itself which would probably split. Same as firing a .44 in a .45 chamber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 In theory it could work. 16 ga rim diameter is 0.815" 12 ga base diameter is 0.812" for a 2.50" chamber 12 ga base diameter is 0.813" for a 2.75" chamber 12 ga base diameter is 0.815" for a 3.00" chamber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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