compareing turkey loads 12 ga 2 3/4" vs. 20 ga 3"

hello y'all!!!!!!!!

wondering if we could get some advice from y'all .

next season more family will be getting into shooting the turkey.
especially if this youth weekend goes all the way.

i'm talkin about neices and nephews around 10.

so in highend turkey loads i've seen on the shelf heavy 13, 12 ga. loads in 2 3/4 inch.

i've seen and heard so much about the new high end 20 ga. turkey loads!

y'all with experience could you help compare the two as far as average effective kill range between the two.

and is there a substancial difference in kick? is one worse on the shoulder than the other?

among our extended family we have many 12 ga. guns with screw in choke systems.
some of us have 20 ga. but they are not threaded for chokes.

thank you for anyone who has knowledge of this scenario!!!!!!!!!!! please chime in!!!!!!!

good luck everyone!!!!

The 20 gauge Federal Heavyweight #7 3" is an awesome turkey load. It uses the flight control which will hold the pattern together even with an open choke. You can choke this load to be effective out past 40 yds. However, with young kids I would try it with a modified or full. I would want to get about 100 hits in a 10" at 30 yds. This will give them some wiggle room.

According to the recoil tables, a 3 inch 20 guage turkey load and a 2 3/4 inch 12 guage load are about the same recoil- wise. Not sure how gun weight figures into the situation. But either one is going to have noticeable recoil to be dealt with by a young shooter.

Lots of enviro metal loads can be found for either route you take.

The problems regarding youngsters are going to be gun fit and recoil. An ATI aftermarket stock will allow you to instantly adjust length of pull, and a limb saver pad will help tame recoil with either choice.

Add a red dot sight and a shooting stick to hold the forend up, and you should be set.

JMO.....

Curtis-UGA said:

The 20 gauge Federal Heavyweight #7 3" is an awesome turkey load. It uses the flight control which will hold the pattern together even with an open choke. You can choke this load to be effective out past 30 yds. However, with young kids I would try it with a modified or full. I would want to get about 100 hits in a 10" at 30 yds. This will give them some wiggle room.

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My 7 year old daughter is shooting 2.75" Fed HW 7s through a Weatherby SA-08 youth with a 24" barrel and a factory full choke. It's averaging 80-90 in 10" @ 30 yards with a great, even 20" pattern. You can move the 10" circle anywhere in the 20 and come up with the same counts. Plenty of room for aiming error or a moving bird. She can't handle the 3" loads. I went with the auto shotgun and slid a shooter's friend recoil pad over the factory pad to cut down on the recoil. It only added a little over 1/4" to the lop and helped tremendously. Shooting sticks helped greatly with her aim as well. I let her practice with 7/8 oz dove loads and slid a turkey load in the chamber for the hunt. She smoked a bird with it and never knew the difference in recoil.

goblr77 said:

My 7 year old daughter is shooting 2.75" Fed HW 7s through a Weatherby SA-08 youth with a 24" barrel and a factory full choke. It's averaging 80-90 in 10" @ 30 yards with a great, even 20" pattern. You can move the 10" circle anywhere in the 20 and come up with the same counts. Plenty of room for aiming error or a moving bird. She can't handle the 3" loads. I went with the auto shotgun and slid a shooter's friend recoil pad over the factory pad to cut down on the recoil. It only added a little over 1/4" to the lop and helped tremendously. Shooting sticks helped greatly with her aim as well. I let her practice with 7/8 oz dove loads and slid a turkey load in the chamber for the hunt. She smoked a bird with it and never knew the difference in recoil.

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I was going to post the same thing. My twenty with the 3 inch shells has a pretty good punch. It's not really a kick but a punch. It's a youth model and is really light so that has a lot to do with it. The first time I shot it before the stock adjustment my thumb bloodied my nose lol. Let the kids shoot dove loads first then there will be no jerking the trigger.

The 12 ga. will have less recoil due to the fact it is heavier.

You will probably want to let them hold the guns and see which ones fit better. If none of the 20s have youth stocks the lop might be too long for a 10 yr old.

thanks for all the input guy's!!!!

my nephew is 13 and he's getting the pardner 20 gauge turkey gun for christmas.
he doesn't know it yet, but all the family decided, we all usually get him a present that cost 20 - 30 dollars. so instead we've all decided to pool our money and get him the shot gun!
he's got nice long arms to hold it i think!

my neice is 10. i have a youth houge stock for mossberg. but my mossberg is the heavy 835. maybe we'll try her with that next spring with the 2.75 turkey shells, (after she practices with dove/target loads)
but i have a sweet little 12 ga. winchester 1300 that would be easier for her to handle....i wonder if the youth stock for mossberg will interchange?

My girlfriend shoots Fed HW #7's, 3" through my Mossberg 20 ga. With 1 1/2 oz of shot, it equals or betters many 12 gauge 2 3/4" loads. I really wish Federal would load a HW 12 gauge 3" in 2oz #6, or at least 1 7/8 oz. Even if they left out the FC wad, it would dominate the turkey shot shell world.

01Foreman400 said:

The 12 ga. will have less recoil due to the fact it is heavier.

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I was thinking this. When patterning my sons 20ga, I swear it felt like it kicked more than my 12ga. I will say it kicked more than I remember it ever kicking. This was with 3" shells.