After analysing animals such as woodcocks and sedentary game by identifying common points and diversity, some difference in hunting gauges and chokes is noticeable if we observe wild animals such as ducks and geese.
Thinking with Prof. Simone Bertini, one of the top hunting experts, about aquatic migratory game, first of all the first consideration to be made concerns ammunition, which is becoming uniform towards the use of alternative materials to lead in wetlands; it is therefore necessary to have not only suitable ammunition, but also shotguns with steel shot barrels able to shoot them. No problem for the 12 gauge, where the availability of materials is excellent and, I would say, also for the 20 gauge. The use of the 28 gauge and the .410 gauge is more demanding, both for the objective availability of ammunition, and for a shot that becomes challenging when the objective limits given by the gauge and distance approach. Mind you, there are no huge differences (some are there, it is useless to tell you that you can shoot with any gauge at the same distances and get the same results) between one gauge and the other in terms of range, but it is a matter of precision to the shot and the number of potentially lethal pellets that can draw the wild. A robust wild like the duck or - worse – the goose, needs to be drawn with large numbered pallets and in a small gauge of large numbered pallets there are few. The cones of fire, since one shoots with accentuated choke (at least with the lead, with the advent of the steel or of materials that follow the same norm as the copper almost always does not cross the limit of the three stars choke), appear concentrated and restricted at least up to a certain distance. The risk is to injure the wild with peripheral, erratic and/or deformed pallets, so as to make recovery difficult, once the hunting action is over. Once again we want to focus your attention on one aspect: you can hunt geese with a .410 gauge? Sure, it's the answer, just figure out what hunting we're talking about. If the geese are able to attract them inside the "game" (the moulds and the decoys placed on the spot of the stakeout), they will be at the topical moment of the shot at such a distance (close) that they will probably not have a chance; but if we think of shooting them down regularly at distances that sail on 40-50 meters in height, perhaps with diagonal shots and while the game is travelling away, well... if we remove the luck and the accidental blow, I would say that it is better to leave it alone. Nor do I want to dwell on the fact that the heavy charges (magnum) of the cartridges of each gauge are – inevitably – slower than the standard ones, in addition to a certain pleasantness of the shot that comes to be greatly reduced with high charges (recoil, feeling uncomfortable). Above all, a larger and heavier gauge (the increase in gauge and weight are not necessarily accompanied) makes the shotgun more stable to fire and subject to less recoil, due to physical laws that no one has ever been able to subvert and that no one will ever subvert; therefore, in the final analysis, the shotgun is more enjoyable to shoot.
One more example? We take the noble alpine, game that – unfortunately – is not within the reach of all hunters, either for the territorial and calendar limitations, or for a necessary physical presence in order to place it in mountain places. Here the compromise is mandatory; better a larger gauge that gives me "more security" and "guarantees" to the shot, or a smaller gauge, easily transportable up to the topical moment (admitted and not allowed that the event occurs) of the hunting meeting? Personally we recommend a light 12 gauge, with medium length barrels, or a 16 or 20 gauge of similar qualities; the shooting opportunities are so few and often so complicated (wild that they launch downhill from the sides of a mountain, shooting in precarious conditions, often at the limits of the useful range) that a few extra pallets and a potential greater range could be convenient (rather narrow choke, at least of the second barrel), also not to kick yourself once the action is finished.
Once again, however, there is nothing to prevent you from resorting to a small gauge, if you feel you have mastered it; beware of the wounds that, on the noble Alpine, can mean loss of the wild with the imaginable consequences. If you're rereading the sentences just above, you might wonder if we're not contradicting each other; a light shotgun kicks more (especially by increasing lead weights). True, all true; it is just as true that you will shoot so few of cartridges in this form of hunting that the discomfort of shooting will soon be forgotten.
The fact of taking familiarity and awareness with the gauge, allows to refine that precision to the shot that becomes increasingly necessary decreasing in size; narrower cones of fire and with a lower total number of pallets, still need a certain "handle". But, and it is the reverse of the coin, this time largely positive, with the practice we acquire awareness and skill, while increasing that self-esteem that often and willingly is the basis of our successes/failures.
Woe to fall suddenly, perhaps after the first shots against those difficult wild that we have faced before or that we will present in the next article dedicated to hare and wood pigeon.