LOL!
But wouldn't a larger gauge mean a smaller pellet? May not have that much of punch at all.
Reminds me of the dialogue between Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza in the back of a police car.
"That's probably a 12 gauge."
"Yea, makes the 11 gauge look like a popgun."
10,12,20,16,28....
Yep, your right.
No. A numerically "larger" gauge means a smaller bore diameter on shotguns. It is based on the number of lead balls it takes to make a pound, (12 - 12 gauge balls makes a pound, 20 - 20 gauge balls makes a pound), etc. The exeption is the .410 shotgun which is the bore diameter in inches.
Gauge is the number of lead spheres the diameter of the bore that it would take to weigh one pound.
The smaller the diameter, the more lead spheres, and the higher the gauge number.
A .45 gauge would be (and I'm guessing here) about 2-1/2" to 3" diameter.
Size doesn't matter. It's how (snicker!) you use it...
the gauge system is an inverse measure.
a 10ga is larger than a 12ga which is larger than a 20ga
# in gauge used to mean the number of rounds it required to add up to one pound of projectile or shot.
a ".45-gauge" (that is POINT-45-gauge) would come out at 2.222222lbs or about one kilogram of shot.
I think thewre used to be little mortars called "punt guns" used to blow whole flocks of birds out of the air which could have been called ".45-gauge" (though in reality sub-1ga cannon were given multiple-zero gauge designations... 00, 000, etc IIRC)