Since we've all got turkey fever here, I have some questions. My wife will be going turkey hunting with me this year, but she can't handle the recoil of the 12Ga turkey loads. So I went and bought a 20Ga today. My question is, what turkey loads have you fellas that use 20's found to work well, and what kind of range should I expect. Is a turkey choke necessary or will a full choke do the trick?
Let's talk turkey!
- Thread starter Superbrad
- Start date
My wife uses a Rem 870 in 20 ga with a turkey choke & 3 inch #5's. Have yet to get a chance to connect, but the day will come!!!
Cheers
Jay
You can use a full... in my 12 gauge I have actually used a modified with success... that being said, I shot the birds at ten yards or less.....
Waterfowler seems to feel 20 gauge is good to go... maybe he can chime in tell you what he bases his success on and what you should use.... in general, use the biggest charge you can and number 5-6 load... hopefully waterfowler sees this and chimes in...
Set a 20 gauge up the same as you would a 12 gauge.
A turkey choke is the best idea...I think pretty much anyone who has spent their fair share of time in the turkey wood's would agree.
Try a few different shells...3" 5 and 6's being the most popular choice.
By patterning you will find what shell patterns the best with which choke, (if you have more than one to try). It will also confirm for you what your maximum range will be.
Shooting good shells with the right choke and a 20 gauge is easy a 40 yard gun.
Also, a scope or red dot will likely give you better results.
And if you wanna spend the money, look at Hevi 13 and a custom choke.
A turkey choke is the best idea...I think pretty much anyone who has spent their fair share of time in the turkey wood's would agree.
Try a few different shells...3" 5 and 6's being the most popular choice.
By patterning you will find what shell patterns the best with which choke, (if you have more than one to try). It will also confirm for you what your maximum range will be.
Shooting good shells with the right choke and a 20 gauge is easy a 40 yard gun.
Also, a scope or red dot will likely give you better results.
And if you wanna spend the money, look at Hevi 13 and a custom choke.
Sounds good.... any particular shell advice for those that don't want 12 gauge recoil?....
For patterning, I use plain 8.5 x 11 paper with a dot for point of aim marked on it. 11" up and down, 8.5" left to right.
I don't count pellets in circles or anything like that. All I want is good coverage on the piece of paper. If I have good coverage, I know it will kill a turkey.
That size of paper gives you a similar "zone" to that of a turkey's head.
I don't count pellets in circles or anything like that. All I want is good coverage on the piece of paper. If I have good coverage, I know it will kill a turkey.
That size of paper gives you a similar "zone" to that of a turkey's head.
Thanks for the help guys. I haven't shot a 20ga since I was a kid. The gun I bought comes with M, IC, and Full. Local shop was out of turkey loads, but they're expected in soon. I guess I'll have to see what it likes. I myself use a 12ga with 3" #5's and got both mine within 12yrds out of a blind, and it worked great with just a full choke. Waterfowler, I'm surprised at it being able to reach 40yrds. I'd be happy if it patterns well at 30-ish. As for a turkey choke, my toy budget is goin fast, so I don't want to spend the money if I don't have to.
Turkeyslayer 1300
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Russell, Ontario
I second using 6's in the 20 actually I recommend 6's for anyone running an extra full or tighter choke. It doesn't take much to drive a #6 into a turkeys neck and you only need 5 or so to knock him on his @ss .
I like to aim where the bare part of the head meets the feathered part, pellets going high take him in the noggin, pellets that strike close to point of aim wreck the spine and assuming the bird is side on the low pellets hit chest feathers but not meat.
She will never notice the recoil when she shoots at a turkey.
To practice, just let her shoot trap loads.
Normal point of aim, which is why I like using the 8.5 x 11 for patterning.
That's what I told her as well. But you should have seen her reaction when she squeezed off a round in the 12. It was funny, but I was actually surprised at how much she reacted. She doesn't wanna shoot them anymore, that's why I went to the smaller guage.
Great advice by all here IMOP... if you go to the remington site and look at their available downloads they have a turkey target you can download for free... Waterfowler and Turkeyslayer are right... you put a few in the head and neck and you are eating good in no time...
Turkey loads can be painful...I'm not sure how much less a 20 is going to be compared to a 12 for her.
I wouldn't let her shoot any. Just field loads to practice with. And make sure she's not flinching now.
Adrian J Hare
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- NewLowell On. Can.
The 20 gauge is a up coming turkey gun that I have changed so many turkey hunters from using a 12 gauge and shouldering a 20 instead. Its funny how infomation gets past around and used without any true work with these such guns.
The 20 gauge is every bit as good as a 12 gauge and back years ago I proved that and am still doing it to this day. If you want a 20 to shoot then you have to spend money in a Custom choke like Pure Gold chokes and you have to shoot Hevi shot like the Hevi 13 turkey loads. These are not cheap but then again your using only two shells unless you travel like I do.
I have spent hours and hours at my range testing shells and chokes and have narrowed it all down to what direction one needs to go to turn their gun into a true turkey gun. There is NOT a Copper/lead load that will compete with Hevi 13. Finding the right choke is important but then again I have tested so may 12 gauge guns and have not seen many combos beat the Hevi shot train.
If you want your gun to shoot dence patterns at a max range you need to spend hours Polishing your barrel to get the forcing cone glass finished, because the forcing cone is important to a dence and even pattern.
I turned my Benelli Nova 20 gauge into a 50 yard gun and just finished another persons 20 ga into the samething with a lot of elbow work.
If you want these dence patterns you need to stick with #6 shot that in a Hevi load are really #5 size. They pattern the best out of both the 20 ga and 12 ga. I have taken birds a couple times out at ther 50 yard mark, and NOTE: I do not promote these shots I promote to get your gun so that you have no doubt that your shot is going to preform when you decide to squeeze that trigger...
I would wager that once she has called in that wary tom she will have some adrenaline going and not care as much about the recoil.... certainly won't notice it... maybe the "psychological" effect of reducing gauge will help... have her shoot some light loads and pretend that is the norm... I know it's deceitful but whatever works...
Truthfully, turkey hunting is not about a firearms choice and more about getting them in close.... as long as you have a gun you can make a clean kill with you are good to go... all of my turkey have been at close range......
Adrian J Hare
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- NewLowell On. Can.
I'm very sorry but I have to disagree with you Brad. Every turkey out there deserves your time put into a gun to have it cleanly take the bird when you decide to shoot. I have heard way to many turkey hunters after April 25 shoot 3 times one after another and what I see is a clear miss from a gun that could not pattern out to the range he shot. To many turkey hunters miss judge the distance because they are caught up in the moment of the hunt. If you have done your home work then you stretch the reach of your gun,\.
Its all good that every turkey hunter out there will say " I can call them into 10 yards" but yet 10 yards don't work when excitement takes over. Every year we have more turkey hunters walking into the sport and with the lack of properies for all these turkey hunters to use presure from both sides begin. Hunters persure the birds keeping them out away from setups and intoduces longer shots and turkey persure the hunters to take that shot that they now are not ready to take.
Spend the time and pattern that gun and if you feel that you may want to shoot at 40 yards you have the right equipment to do it...
fair enough Adrian... you have far more experience than I do over different pieces of terrain and with different guns and hunters etc...
I have always hunted mine with my rem 870 12 gauge... I did indeed pattern my gun and always made sure I played within my limits so to speak... What I will say is that this does not take hours of practicing and developing loads...
It's no different from any other form of hunting... you get a gun... you test it and shoot within it's limits or get a better setup....
I bought two boxes of super x 12 gauge turkey loads a few years ago.... I patterned them and liked them... out of 20 shells I can honestly say I spent 8 sighting in and patterning and have taken nine birds and have 3 shells left.... it works for me... but I know my limits and play within them... in fact, I have never had to see a bird I wanted and not pull the trigger because they were too far...
That was the plan now actually.
But now that she shot the 12ga, she doesn't want to anymore, but I plan on only having her shoot target loads out of the 20ga till she gets a turkey in front of her. That way she won't be scared to pull the trigger on em.Just to be clear here.... I am not the "resident turkey expert".... I started this thread because I know a lot about turkey hunting and have been very successful.... I started this thread so I and others can learn more....
Turkey hunting is not as popular here as it should be and my hope is that from all of us discussing what makes us successful and posting stories and pics we grow popularity in the sport and help promote growth of the species....
Turkey hunting is not as popular here as it should be and my hope is that from all of us discussing what makes us successful and posting stories and pics we grow popularity in the sport and help promote growth of the species....
Thanks for the info. You obviously have a lot more time invested in your guns than I have so far. #6 seems to be the recommended shot size. I do plan to keep my shots a closer than 50yrds for now.
