Among the enthusiasts, there are many, numerous and diversified questions to which it is difficult to give a certain answer, simply because a universal valid answer... does not exist! So it becomes difficult to say which is the best gauge and/or the best choke; instead we can try to address the issue of the "best compromise", based on the hunting activity that we are going to do, also thanks to the help of Prof. Simone Bertini, one of the top hunting experts.
Let's take an example that’s easy to understand; we leave a clay-pigeons shooting session of the Olympic Trench with our over-and-under that is around 3.6-3.7 kg, 76 cm long barrels and fixed chokes of 2 stars in the first barrel and 1 star in the second barrel, then decide – with the same shotgun – to go hunting in the woods. Is that possible? Yes, it is virtually possible, as well as put in practice; but what should we expect? A heavy, bulky, unwieldy shotgun, with the barrels that run the risk of hitting the branches, with shots that are so narrow at the engagement distances of the target that we will miss it (or disintegrate it, in the unfortunate hypothesis of hitting it 12 meters from the mouth), etc. In short, a disaster! And those who speak to you (specifically Simone Bertini) remember it well, precisely because he found himself in his youth to face the example illustrated above on an equal footing. Other times, other conditions, but the passion was the engine that fixed everything, including ballistics and gauges. The fact remains that, if we can, we will choose in our rack the "special" shotgun or – in the lack of it – the best compromise available, in order to go hunting. To stick to the previous example, a shotgun with shorter barrels, perhaps equipped with a more open choke bore, as light as possible (if we plan to stay out for several hours, the fatigue of carrying it is felt, ed.). What about the gauge? It depends on what we have; the woodcock can be undermined with the classic 12 gauge, but certainly also with the 20 gauge and the 28 gauge. Even with the gauge .410, as there are several possible combinations of dispersing cartridges to be combined with a choke bore and the 18-19 grams of lead can prove lethal for the Queen of the forest as well. But let's not forget the 16-gauge admirers, another absolutely high-performance gauge, which suffers from a certain shortage of weapons and ammunition today. It is also true that there is also the Club of 16-gauge enthusiasts, who try to revive this beautiful gauge (praiseworthy initiative), very popular at the beginning of the last century and classified by the British as the "perfect gauge", the one that could shoot the classic ounce of lead (about 29 grams) as a standard charge. Just to understand it, the Mormon John Moses Browning, one of those who understood weapons very well and to whom we owe a whole series of inventions still very current in the field of hunting and military weapons, considered the gauge 20 absolutely useless, to the detriment of the gauge 16. It was his son Val, around the middle of the last century, who made the cadet-gauge users more passionate. Of course, beyond personal preferences, the choice of gauge must be made on the basis of some essential considerations, which primarily concern the wild and the shooting distance. In the case of the said woodcock, the distances are generally very short and the chokes open, so some differences between the various gauges may be more blurred. The wild tolerates the wounds poorly and often few pallets are sufficient to overcome its resistance; instead, the problem arises in relation to the environment where we will hunt it, more or less dense of leaves and vegetation, two factors that can limit the effectiveness of the shot. But the range, the "normal" engagement distance can be reached by various gauges, adding satisfaction for having embodied such a noble and important prey even with a so-called "small" gauge.
If we hunt for sedentary game with a point hunting dog, it is equally likely that we will be able to attack it at not excessive distances, which makes the use of gauge smaller than 12 absolutely appropriate; we also remember how all forms of tracking hunting are even more pleasant to use if we think of carrying a lower weight of weapons and ammunition for kilometers of walks! A lesser fatigue is felt, however, when – sometimes panting – we get close to the pointing dog, a few moments before the possible smoothie or flight; conditions sometimes neglected, but which may or may not fill the butcher.
In these few lines, which we will also implement by going to observe other animals such as migratory game or ducks, we just wanted to affirm again that there is no single solution, but the best solution for your "problem", meaning as a problem the hunting situation and the wild. If there is awareness of what we are doing, we are already in the middle of the work; we can fill the bathtub with a teaspoon, but you have to know that it takes time, much more than not using a bucket.
In conclusion, remember, make numerous tests when you are about to change gauge: the change, although compelling, fascinating and full of promises, is not always so obvious in the results; before coming to burning disappointments or temporary exaltations such as wisps, it is good to shoot, shoot and still shoot. Do not lose heart if at first things do not go as we would like. Sometimes it is enough to correct some small defects of setting to see improvements appear as if by magic, which will also immediately strengthen our convictions.