Best Left For The Laddies, Ladies And Old-Timers?

The lightweight 20-bore is often said to be preferable to a 12-bore for those long walked-up days, but Diggory Hadoke has his doubts

The proposition was put to me recently that the ideal gun for walked-up shooting is a 20-bore side-by-side shotgun. It got me thinking, in these days where 20-bore mania is still gripping the nation, what is the enduring appeal of the Victorian ladies’ gun to the strapping six-footers who predominate in today’s shooting field?

Setting aside the merits of the over-and-under for now, perhaps we should start our deliberations with the origins and purpose of the 20-bore side-by-side when it emerged as an option for shooters during the middle of the 19th century.

Tom and Jim Purdey, writing in 1936, summed up the benefits thus: “The 20-bore gun is quite a popular one. It is used by many ladies and has proved itself ideal for quail shooting in America and any kind of walking up shooting in the tropics, the reason being that it is light in weight and the cartridges also weigh less than a bag full of 12-bore shells. This makes a considerable difference when the shooter has to carry a gun and cartridges throughout the day.”

Purdey suggests the ideal weight for a 20-bore is from 5lb 4oz to 5lb 12oz, when made with 2½in chambers. With 2¾in chambers, he suggests a heavier gun of up to 6lb 4oz.

Cartridges designed for use in these guns show how times have changed. Eley sold a delightfully pink ‘20 Gauge’ paper-cased 2½in cartridge in the 1930s, loaded with Smokeless Diamond powder and ¾oz of shot. The British side-by-side 20-bore was not intended to throw a 32g (1 â…›oz) load, like modern 20bore over-and-unders often do.