Best 20 G hull

[Gary Laudermilch]

Since this thread has drifted away from the original question, to which I have added, I'll add a bit more.

An old friend of mine, William C. Davis Jr., now deceased, was a world renowned ballistics expert. He was a neighbor of mine and good grouse hunting buddy. He worked for Colt for over 30 years and in that capacity was instrumental in implementing the changes to the original M16 design to make it more reliable. This was only one of his major accomplishments while at Colt. He was a technical writer for the NRA with numerous articles in the American Rifleman. After retirement from Colt he had a full blown ballistics lab about 2 miles from my house. There was so much electronic gadgetry and pressure barrels in that place that NASA would be envious. He did contract work for the various ammo/arms manufacturers and travelled the world over as a contract forensic ballistician. After I retired he once offered me a part time job. When I inquired about his offer he said he had 100,000 rounds of 357 mag. ammo that needed to be fired. I said "I like to shoot but no thanks"!

Bill was free with information and always willing to answer questions from a neophyte. He knew I was interested in shotgun terminal ballistics and often had me over to his shop to discuss results of my pattern testing. I learned a bunch from that guy but should have paid more attention as I did not learn enough. I wish he were here to participate in this discussion.

Bill and I hunted grouse together on many occasions. He was a confirmed sxs shooter with no preference for any of the US made guns. I never saw him use anything but guns from the big USA firms though. His favorite grouse gun was an LC and boy was it rough. And interestingly enough, I never saw him use a double that was not Damascus. I think he knew something long before others did.

Anyway I wish he were here to add to this discussion. You would have enjoyed it. I miss him and this discussion brought up old memories.