Rabbit hunting with a 12 gauge?

The gauge of the shotgun has less to do with meat damage than shot pattern. You can destroy a rabbit with a little .410 shotgun if the bunny is too close to you.

I hunted rabbits since I was a 9 year old boy with a 12 ga shotgun. And my fist 12ga was a full choke single shot. I learned how to hold over on a shot. The idea being to hit the animal in the head with the outside part of the shot pattern.

What you do is set up some big card board or paper targets at 6 yards intervals (it can be 20 feet instead). Then you fire a shot at the target. You will see that at 20 feet the pattern is so tight that the bunny will be turned into mush. That means you would have to aim to just catch the head with the outside of that pattern. The further the shot the less shot per inch. This must be learned. Otherwise you will have meat damage or a shot pattern so wide you miss or just wound.

So you see you could go bunny hunting with a 10 ga and have just as little meat damage as a 20ga shotgun if you know how to use the gun.

The gauge of a shotgun simply means how big the bore is. It’s the amount of shot, size of shot and the amount of energy in the powder charge that creates tissue damage. Example 7/8 ounce of shot with 3 eq drams of powder will do about the same damage in any gauge shotgun.

This is the second part of meat damage; the shot shell load. If you use light upland game loads in 12ga or 20 ga you will do far less damage than a magnum goose load or magnum #1 buckshot.

For rabbits most use a light #4, #5 or #6 lead shot shell. If its non-lead only then use #2 or #4 steel shot. If its non lead heavy shot you can use #5 or #6 and be fine. Even smaller shot can be used but when you get to larger size shot the meat damage increases. For example #4 buckshot is about .24 caliber. Just imagine what would happen if a rabbit got hit with 10 or 20+, .22 rifles at once?

Third thing you choke size. Full chokes or extra full turkey chokes can be used on rabbits. I said “can” but now you have a problem at close range of that small pattern I mentioned. So most prefer the wide choke such as improved cylinder or modified (anything but full). These wider patterns means you can aim dead center on a rabbit at25 to 30 yards and have dinner! Its also easier to hit a running rabbit with a wide pattern.

So with proper skill, choke, shot size, shot shell and distance you will have little meat damage. And a whole lot less shot to remove.

I've taken tons of rabbits with my 12 gauge and had no problem with destroying the meat. If you're using small shot (#6 or smaller) you're not going to do much more damage than you would with the 20. I started hunting very young with a .410 and then jumped to the 12 gauge so never saw any real use for the 20 gauge. At this point in my life it may be fun to have a 20 or 28 for quail and rabbits I guess but not a necessity by any means.

The choke you use rather than the gauge of the shotgun is more of a factor in how much damage you do to the rabbit, as is the range of the shot. For the most part the twelve gauge, won't damage very much meat the pellets aren't going to expand very much in a rabbit at typical shotgun velocities.

On the other hand, you can probably shoot a lot more rounds from a 20 gauge before the recoil starts to become a bother. I don't hunt rabbits very often so I don't have a specific shotgun just for that purpose, and I typically use either a single shot 20 gauge or a double barrel 12 gauge muzzleloader. The muzzleloader is a lot more fun, and makes it a lot easier for me to customize my loads for the conditions.

Rabbit Hunting In Georgia

The first answer pretty much summed it up. The guage is not a factor. The choke is what counts.

Go to your local sporting goods store and look at the amount of shot (in ounces) that each gauge and type of shell holds. Some of the so-called 12 gauge promo loads only have 7/8 ounce of shot; he same as a standard 20 gauge shell. So, the number of shot pellets is going to be identicle.

If you want to not do harm to the meat of a rabbit, simply use a 12 gauge with 7/8 ounce of shot and a choke no tighter than modified. It would be the same as shooting a rabbit with a 20 gauge modified choke with the same shot charge - 7/8 oz..

I have experience hunting rabbit with a 12 guage shotgun. Yes. If you want to get a 20 guage then by all means get one. After all, there is no such thing as too many guns.

As for your concern in losing meat. Hey, the most I ever had to do was pick a few pellets out. I have taken rabbits at some fairly close ranges too. All you have to do is use the right bullet. I prefer 6 shot for them. You can also use low brass 8 shot. Your not going to lose a lot of meat just because of your shotgun.

I use my 12 gauge for everything from small game to turkey, and I've never noticed excessive meat damage in the little animals like squirrels and rabbits. Like others have mentioned, the choke is more important than what gauge you are using. I use a modified choke in my Rem. 870 for all the hunting mentioned above, and it does them all in without having to eat excessive pellets in the meat. Only one rabbit was destroyed, but that was because I jumped it from a thorn bush right under me and I shot it about 5 yards, but obviously that's expected. Use a modified choke and you'll be good.

Why does it seem like i'm the only one that uses a 10ga for rabbit? Why does it seem like everyone that i talk to says that a 3 1/2 inch shell.... 10ga shooting 2 1/4 oz and of shot and 4 1/2 dram is to much for small game?? I dont see whats wrong with it, considering that the anti hunters still say that that kind of overkill still makes the animals suffer...

LOL!! no i'm just messing with you... i use a 12ga... I use #7 shot, sometime #8 shot... Mostly high brass.... with a modified choke..I just make sure if they are close, that i lead them a little bit farther than usual, so i dont blutz them..

Number 6 high brass, 2 3/4, 12 GA, all you need to know to go wabbit hunting.

I've never hunt small game with a 12 gauge or a 20. I use a 410 to hunt rabbit. I know for a fact a 12 gauge would be over kill and destroy the meat and I would think a 20 gauge would be too.

Edit: When I said it would destroy the meat, I guess not necessarily. But you will be picking pellets out the whole time you are eating it. It would have at least 10 pellets in it.