Benelli m2 20 guage? is it a good set up

[shooterbenedetto]

Can some one tell me if the m2 benelli is the way to go in 20 guage.

waht is the advantage?

[Brian Payne]

That is what I use.

I don't use it for felt recoil reduction because I don't think it is there.

I use if for the same reaason people shoot the .40 S&W in limited rather than the .45, ammo capacity. The recoil may be a little less, but it is much snappier (if that is a word). Plus, I load weak hand. Using CCW four round 12 ga. holders, you can put five 20ga. shells . I then load five at a time rather than four. Also in the six round 12 ga. carriers you can put in seven 20 ga. I can load seven at a time if I really concentrate. If you use the Progressive 12 ga. six round carriers you can put in eight 20 ga. shells, allowing you to load four and four.

I haven't seen a match yet where the 20 ga. has not taken down the same targets as the 12 ga. You just need to experiment more with the chokes. The 20 ga. is less forgiving I think.

Last weekend I had a stage that had bowling pins on stakes at 50 and 60 yrds. and I was using high base 1oz shot, 6 shot and was not able to take those pins down. I don't think that would happen at a normal match as the targets need to be calibrated for minimum of 20 ga.

[TRUBL]

Absolutely!!!

20 gauge is all about load capacity. Everything else is equal. If you miss with a 20, you'll probably miss with a 12

The smaller shells either allow for easier handling (less time) or more shells with each grab......bottom line potential less time per shell.

I do like the 'snappier' recoil and it is more linear as well.......pound for pound, maybe the same amoutn of recoil, but much faster.

Tim

[Brian Payne]

The 20 ga. worked perfect at this weekends shoot. Steel poppers, texas stars, flying clays, etc.. Also 100yrd. slugs on paper with no shoot targets partially blocking it. These had to be engage standing with no support. Great fun!

I don't think the 20 ga offers any advantage to shooters that load by handling one shell at a time. If you shoot a 12 ga and can hold three 12 ga shells in your hand when you reload, you should easily be able to hold four 20 ga shells. If you can handle four 12 ga shells at a time you should easily be able to handle five 20 ga. shells. Does this offer an advantage to you? Only you can make that call.

I was using a Briley extended SKEET choke for all of the stages. Even with Win. AA 9 shot 1oz loads I was easily able to take out the texas stars and poppers at 15 - 20 yrds. This out of a 24" barrel.

Edited April 2, 2008 by Sgt

[Merlin Orr]

Last weekend I had a stage that had bowling pins on stakes at 50 and 60 yrds. and I was using high base 1oz shot, 6 shot and was not able to take those pins down. I don't think that would happen at a normal match as the targets need to be calibrated for minimum of 20 ga.

Good Grief! How did the 12s do at that range?

[Merlin Orr]

aaahhh durn...

Edited April 2, 2008 by Merlin Orr

[Brian Payne]

A lot of 12 ga. with IC choke and trap loads left them standing also.

[StealthyBlagga]

20ga may be too small for some people... my thumb is a tight fit in an unmodified Remington 20ga loading port. I guess the Dremel is always an option, but as I load one shel at a time anyway, there is little benefit to the 20ga for me. Also, I'm a big believer that more lead = better .

[Brian Payne]

A friend with a mill took the squeeze out of the loading port for my big thumb. As for more lead - maybe someone can help me with this honest question, because this is one of the reasons I went with the 20 ga.

20 ga. shells that have 1oz of shot (sporting clays type shells) and 12 ga. shells that have 1oz of shot (trap loads) have the same amount of shot right? I do normally shoot the 7/8 oz. shot loads but also use the heavier loads.

[jobob]

I've seen matches where 12 ga. w/ 1 oz. loads and IC chokes had trouble taking down some of the steel. 1 1/8 loads seemed to do it, though. So the 20 might be good for some, but not all matches. If you go to a tighter choke to compenstate, that's fine. Just realize that will slow you somewhat since you'll need to be more accurate. Still, I think a 20 would give you some advantages at the majority of matches. Might give you some trouble at Ironman, though.

[TRUBL]

Ok.....for the most part....USPSA and IPSC has guide lines for popper calibration. You use a 1oz load out of an Improved cyl....less than 520 PF, that would be a load going somewhere around 1000 to 1100fps.

My 20gauge loads are 7/8oz, 1300fps......and will knock down anything that the calibration load will knock down. The ONLY time I ever had a problem was when a plate was out of calibration (recently), had I had the plate calibrated, it would have failed.....it barely went down when it was hit with a 3dram load (higher than calibration).

I know of the match that Sgt is talkin about....I shot it last year with Sporting Clays loads and the pins were hard to knock over....VERY hard.

The only other match that I know of that spells out calibration is the RM3G....and it is very different than USPSA or IPSC......nothing wrong with that, and because I knew that, I came prepared with heavier 20ga loads that would have worked there as well.

main thing is.....if the calibration isnt spelt out and a popper is in question, the ONLY resource you can go against is the USPSA/IPSC format and hope the RM see's it your way. otherwise, make sure for any gauge.....that you have enough snoot to knock poppers/steel. The 20 gauge will do that