Talking about hunting gauge and chokes with Prof. Simone Bertini, one of the top hunting experts, after seeing woodcock and sedentary game or migratory game, duck and goose, let's now move on to the hare.
Quite rarely it happens to see hunters that threaten it with gauge smaller than the classic 12 or - at the limit – of the 20; even in this case everything is possible, but the characteristic of the wild to depart far, to be rather resistant to small pallets and other small but not negligible factors, recommend to resort to medium-grammage cartridges with big pallets, not too open chokes and not too small gauges.
The small migratory becomes instead a land of conquest of the small gauges; historically threatened by cannon blasts of the 12 gauge, today it really appears a situation in many cases exaggerated and even anachronistic. A 20 gauge, a 28 gauge, a 36 gauge and/or a .410 gauge are absolutely performing (but also a beautiful 24 gauge, as well as for the sedentary game; unfortunately the 24 gauge is almost completely abandoned): sky larks, starlings, song thrushes and redwings do not like the attention that you reserve them with the aforementioned gauges, also given the considerable choice of dedicated ammunition that you can find on the market. In fact, in the stalking hunt it becomes a pleasure to "juggle" with the various chokes for the different shooting distances, well knowing that almost always this engagement distance is kept within acceptable values; here a 20 gauge, but also and above all a 28 gauge and .410 gauge amply repay the trust accorded them, allowing the firing of ammunition in large quantities without accusing fatigue.
The greater lightness of the weapons (in general, sometimes some shotguns in .410 gauge weigh a few pounds more than a larger gauge, by virtue of some thicknesses that are not reducible, N.o.A.) allows a discreet agility in following the evolutions of the wild, both when it is approaching, and when it escapes with legs (indeed with wings) raised, in an attempt to avoid the subsequent shots. And the rule of the right cartridge is always valid, as well as the correct choke; useless, if not even counterproductive, always shoot grammages of lead at the maximum limits allowed by the gauge. If you find yourself in this situation frequently, perhaps it is worth considering the idea of changing gauge, simply!
In the hunt for migratory even the small gauges take a real revenge, especially when we enter the sector of silenced cartridges, that is those ammunition designed to create the least possible noise, it is in fact known that the silenced cartridges are found by almost all manufacturers in the .410 gauge and sometimes even in the 28 gauge. But they get rarer if we go up with the gauge.
Let's take a step back, if we consider the wood pigeon; whoever wrote the article hunted it with decoys and a .410 gauge, completely camouflaged in a field of sunflowers, with rather simple shotguns. But he also chased him into stakeouts on the mountain passes with long, choked barrels, where none of Nembrotte's followers “risked” holding a .28 gauge. However, a clarification is missing, since in the market we begin to see 28 … magnum gauge specimens, that is with 76 mm cartridge chamber. If we leave out the ballistic and technological aspect, undoubtedly of great stature, do we really need it? Is it really necessary to shoot 32 or 33 grams of lead, knowing that this is already widely the standard 12 gauge dose, two higher gauge jumps? Let's say that 28/76 can be considered the egg of Columbus in terms of versatility, being able to shoot (almost) everything.
Our journey through hunting gauges and chokes ends here. It is not enough to read the magazines of this and that journalist, or admire their deeds in epic hunting actions put on video ... what the reader or the viewer does not know, are the burning disappointments that were suffered at the beginning, now skilfully masked by success. Nobody is born "learned", be sure! And, if we now enjoy emphasizing dedicated cartridges, perhaps recommending the most suitable choke for a given wild, be calm; the age brings wisdom and what you can appreciate is the result of a great passion, of so much willpower and stumbling. As always happens in life.