Bore VS Ga

Just trying to grasp this when someone says my 28 bore Spanish best or my new hammer Turkish 28 bore.

Sorta sounds like and extra special way of saying junk?
 
Last edited:
To me that term comes from the caudled baby talked to generation who can’t have place ribbons in a school contest. Teletubbies generation with guns. :rolleyes:
Jeepers, Robert Ruark called the shot gun a shotty as did a pile off African PH's!
I think it's a British/South African Safari thing maybe
I often refer too my vintage hammer 12's as 12 bores, but hardy ever do I use the term for my sub gauges.
Sometimes I do however......
Cat
 
Last edited:
Jeepers, Robber Ruark called the shot gun a shotty as did a pile off African PH's!
I think it's a British/South African Safari thing maybe
I often refer too my vintage hammer 12's as 12 bores, but hardy ever do I use the term for my sub gauges.
Sometimes I do however......
Cat

I find it very difficult to picture a group of English aristrocrats with their Holland & Holland and Purdey 12 bores referring to them as "shotties". Nor can I picture a group of English and Boer South african PHs sitting around a fire in the bushveldt discussing their "shotties". Maybe its just me.
 
I find it very difficult to picture a group of English aristrocrats with their Holland & Holland and Purdey 12 bores referring to them as "shotties". Nor can I picture a group of English and Boer South african PHs sitting around a fire in the bushveldt discussing their "shotties". Maybe its just me.
Dunno, one would have to ask.
As far as the African thing goes, have never been there, just remembering the quotes of PH's and clients from the books I read when I was younger, long before the tactical thing came into vogue.
Cat
 
Does saying my 12 bore or my 28 bore etc, some how increase the value of junky SXS shotguns or is it a way to sound more right?

I don't think people say it to try and increase the value, and I don't think there is a "more right" or " more wrong" way, it's just a different way.
Cat
 
Last edited:
I find it very difficult to picture a group of English aristrocrats with their Holland & Holland and Purdey 12 bores referring to them as "shotties". Nor can I picture a group of English and Boer South african PHs sitting around a fire in the bushveldt discussing their "shotties". Maybe its just me.

It might be hard to imagine but I've actually heard it from English and Australian shooters, and these aren't kids trying to sound "gangsta"

I've mostly heard it in a more informal context like pointing at a pump action mossberg or Remington and saying "Yes, well we mostly use proper shotties" -referring to an over under or side by side shotgun. Or "Well, that's a very fun shotty"

To be honest I almost laughed out loud the first few times I heard it from middle aged English men. :)

Saying "shotty" is also fun when you are in the company of people who get their knickers in an uproar over the term. :)
 
Last edited:
If one understands how the measurement of shotgun barrel diameter was created, it's easy to see how "bore" is just as, if not more so -correct as "gauge."

It's one of those things that doesn't really matter, as both terms work fine. We tend to call .22LR cartridges a "twenty-two" whereas English and Australians call it a "Two-two" There are dozens of examples like this, where both are correct.
 
We call it a hood, the Brits call it a bonnet. No big deal.

I think really those who imagine that referring to it as bore is snooty should give their head a shake and consider why they are so insecure. Who GAF?
 
Hammers used to be called cocks as well seems fitting.

“My 12 bore second hand #### gun” is sounding more right.
 
Your 12 gauge shotty represents a weight measurement, it's some old school way they'd describe how many lead balls it would take to equal a pound if you put it in a tube.
 
Dunno, one would have to ask.
As far as the African thing goes, have never been there, just remembering the quotes of PH's and clients from the books I read when I was younger, long before the tactical thing came into vogue.
Cat

I believe that when Ruark did it, he was speaking and quoting people speaking Swahili... "Toa shotty-gun kwa bwana upesi sana" is a quote I seem to recall from his writings.
 
It might be hard to imagine but I've actually heard it from English and Australian shooters, and these aren't kids trying to sound "gangsta"

I've mostly heard it in a more informal context like pointing at a pump action mossberg or Remington and saying "Yes, well we mostly use proper shotties" -referring to an over under or side by side shotgun. Or "Well, that's a very fun shotty"

To be honest I almost laughed out loud the first few times I heard it from middle aged English men. :)

Saying "shotty" is also fun when you are in the company of people who get their knickers in an uproar over the term. :)

Had a kid at work running his mouth about his "SK". I asked him if he was really so lazy that he couldn't add on the other "S". He didn't really like that.
 
Back
Top Bottom