Once again, the problem here is people not being familiar with the capabilities of their firearms. My father has never hunted any winged game with anything other than his 20g wingmaster- and the old bastard just never misses. Part of this is that he doesn' t take stupid shots, calls very well, and has taken the time to really hone his shooting skills (probably nearing 300,00 rounds!).

No, a 20g isn' t the ideal waterfowl gun, but with practice and common sense, it is as deadly as any twelve gauge. The pellets are generaly traveling at the same speed (2 3/4 vs 23/4, 3 vs 3) and hitting with the same pounds of force. The difference is only in the amount of lead being thrown- so shoot better!

The so-called performance advantage of super 3' s and 3 1/2' s probably lead to the most cripples! I never saw people attempting 85 yard shots until the rise of the almighty super-duper 3 1/2 wow loads.