@jwpzx9r There no arguing with the logic of the 28g versus 21 or 24 gram argument, but for the sake of not getting “battered to bits with recoil” when using a lighter gun. 21g gives a ‘theoretical’ easier time of it.
I might just be the sort of fool you’re thinking of when you’re thinking only a fool would use 21g when you are allowed to use 28g but I would say this. Schools use 21g by default. Some top coaches recommend 21g for practice too.
if you’re goal is to put ticks on a score card, only a fool, or a top shot doing a bit of showboating would use less lead (Led).
infact I watched Mickey Rouse do a from the hip etc exhibition shoot and he had 21g because that was all there was available at the time.
However in practice in general and certainly while you’re learning and don’t have a decade or more experience under your belt, you’re really trying to refine your technique. As they say and by they I mean the most respected of coaches, lead (leeeeed not led) is the easiest component to master.
Ive had some spectacular breaks with lousy shots and some beautifully shot misses.
My reasoning is, if I can learn to shoot well with 21g in practice, providing I do the same thing, I’ll more assured of breaks with 28g when I want those ticks on the scorecard.
less than 10% of my shooting has been with 28g and they also happen to be some of the worst shooting I’ve done since starting out a year ago. It’s not the extra 7 grams that made me shoot less well and it won’t make me shoot any better either.
As a novice for example, I might be concentrating on improving my visual pick up. Out comes the clay, I see it in my soft focus, my eyes lock on to it, I watch it come towards the barrels, trying hard not to look at the barrels, but focus hard on the clay. I move the gun, but in my inexperience I’m now behind the clay. I was going to shoot pull away. So... I can accelerate my gun and maybe shoot swing through. I’ll not have the same sight picture I’d have if I were going to shoot pull away. My lead (leeed) will be off, probably missing in front, assuming I don’t momentarily stop the gun or look at the bead, then of course I’ll miss behind. So, maybe I’m trying extra hard and so i gradually creep the gun towards the clay. I’m on it! I maintain the speed of the clay for a few meters, then I accelerate, hard... to hard. I’m now way out in front, it’s going to be a miss. Nope, I can go back (and I have) pick it up again, get the speed right, pull away, BANG! Dusted clay, right in the center of a 21g pattern. Brilliant shot aren’t I? Well... No. and my coach at Honesberie that day agreed, it was a lousy shot. But it would still count on a score card. As the coach said, “you don’t get extra points for finesse”. That said, some finesse will make extra breaks and what do breaks make? point s. And points make? Prizes! Well Brucie said they do.
As has been said, with 21g you have to be more accurate. Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t accuracy the most important component of shooting clays? How else would those world champions dust those 15 yard window clays with full choke?
As for getting “battered to bits” I can’t tell the difference between 21 and 28g, but as has been evident on this forum, we all experience recoil in very personal ways and physics or the experience of others simply cannot say with certainty that one will feel battered to bits shooting 28g in a lighter gun. One simply has to try it out for oneself. Quod erat demonstrandum
But like I said, there no arguing with the logic of 28g is more lead(led) than 21g
