doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shooting 3" shells in a 20 ga Bernadelli Gamecock

Looks like a very nice gun. I suggest that you simply buy a box of the 2&3/4" Federal 7/8oz. #6 standard field loads and leave it at that. I killed a bobcat with just that load several years ago and it was dead in mid air, it had jumped out in front of me one morning on the way to a fallow field corner in the early dawn light, purely a target of opportunity. Range was not great, but not all that close either, I'd guess just inside 20 yards. The cat was not torn up, but it was quite dead, instantly. I assumed that it was not torn up because I had missed it with most of the pattern, I don't think it could have been otherwise. It was about four feet in the air when hit and I had apparently moved it into the field's corner causing it to jump for safety for lack of anywhere else to go. I only had the gun loaded in case I jumped a rabbit. I was hunting dove in mid October and trying to get in position before it got too light. There were scattered native small sunflowers in the adjacent field & I wanted to shoot the incomers as they crossed the corner that morning so they would fall where I could mark and find them. 7/8oz of #6 shot is a lot more lethal than you might think.

Experience,
As I read your posted intentions, it sounds to me like you are considering coyotes and possibly turkeys as targets of opportunity. If so, I understand your inquiry much better. The shotgun is fine for such a task. large shot in the #4 so should do the job at reasonable ranges. Afterall, you are not actively hunting these prey. If you were, the 22 LR would be my choice for the coyotes and the bow, my choice for turkey. Walking thru the woods, carefree is likely to yield no more than some poison ivy rash than a predator or turkey. But you'll be armed for it nonetheless.

A 22lr rifle is great for a walk about and for shooting crows, but neither the 22lr, or the 17s are enough for sure kills on coyotes all the time.
Sure kills are 222 and up!
I've shot 'em with 22 Hornets and 218 Bees - great for saving the pelts, if you can find them after taking the hit.

I killed a coyote over point this season. He held just a bit too tight for his own good. He went down hard to the first barrel (1 1/16 oz British 6's) and I think it probably would've been fatal, but he was flopping around on the other side of a ditch, so I gave him the left as well.

Lowell,
agreed. If you want to either run a bullet from the hiney to the vitals or just turn a 'yote inside out, 22LR is not for you. A 22LR would require a well placed side side vital shot from relatively short range. Having tried to finish a pronghorn with a 22LR pistol at very short range many yrs ago, I found the 22LR wouldn't reliably penetrate the skull of a fairly young, small antelope. I've used the 22 win mag on them (coyotes) and found it reliable.

If Experience picks his shotgun for this task, he'll be well armed for short range shots at both. Hunting success is another matter altogether.

Miller - Nice post based on experience and practicality, and more helpful than dogmatic ideal-world rules. Not everyone wants or can afford a different gun ideally suited (according to someone's rules) to each and every separate purpose.

Might note that of all guns I have ever owned the one that has put the most meat on my table is a Ruger MarkI .22 rf. This was accomplished using regular 40gr waxed lead standard velocity bullets, mostly either CIL "Canuck" or Win T22 brands. This was because of the fact that for many years my Dad & I butchered our own beef, mostly in the 600lb baby beef to about 1,000 lb steer range. I can assure one & all that a std vel 40gr lead solid from about 2' fired perpendicularly into the frontal plate of a 1,000 lb steer into the brain will cause him to simply slump to the ground DOA . I would of course never recommend the same ammo for "Hunting" animals much larger than a cottontail. Animals the size of a groundhog require careful placement of a .22lr bullet for sure kills, though for yrs was all I had available & shot a fair number of them. We lived in an area which was notorious for folks to "Drop" unwanted dogs. Once saw my dad take a little .22 rifle & just point it in the general direction of a fairly large dog intending to just scare it off (more than 100yds away). At the shot the dog yelped, spun around several times then ran off. Couple of weeks later we went "Frog" hunting down our creek & found him caught up in a drift about a mile downstream from where dad shot. Never underestimate the lowly .22, but do "use it wisely".

Miller,
In 1979, I put half a dozen shots from a 22 LR auto pistol into the head of a young 'lope after a friend had wounded it and it had gone down and gotten up at about 10-15 yds. Only the last of the 5-6 shots penetrated the "front plate". Of course the shots were not perpendicular to the 'plate' either. I dug all the bullet out under the skin and some had almost penetrated. I was really surprized.

The coyotes in my area are relatively small dogs ranging from maybe 25lbs up to maybe 40lbs max. I've taken down these scrawney dogs with 22LR and WMR's. I've always used scoped rifles and I'm of the belief that vital shots are a requirement regardless of the game I hunt or caliber of gun. I've also used 30-06's, 300 Win Mag's, .264 Win Mag's to take them, always with vitals shots. My latest effort on coyote depredation is with a .264 and it's still not an sure thing to call in a dog and take him before he figures out he's been setup.

Chuck;
Maybe didn't sound like it, but was not my intent to in any way discredit your experience. I totally realize situatuions were all together different. I was just relating my experience & sort of a warning that if hitting just right (or wrong as the case might be) a .22 lr can have more penertration than many realize. I can also fully believe that under the situation you described the bullet could just as easily have skidded off as to penertrate. The front plate on cattle is rather flat & as I said I shooting square into it from about 2', no more than 3' (1 yd). Under these conditions it performed remarkedly well.
Also I fully agree with all your comments on bullet placement.

Now for the little red fox, the 22lr at close range is about right. I hunt in the deep woods, and no shot, even at deer with a deer rifle can be more than 20-30yards. Out of a super accurate rifle, and a perfect hold, and at range - the 22lr can be a killer!