Need Advice on 20 Gauge Loads & Choke for Turkeys

[HuntinDawg89]

I'm not a turkey hunter. Might get a chance for my daughter to go with someone who knows what they are doing, but I don't know where I should start with choke and ammo.

I know I will have to pattern it and may go through several loads before I find one I'm happy with, but where would you start?

She shoots a Remington 11-87 Compact 20 Gauge. It will shoot 3" Magnums.

 

[J Gilbert]

Call William at Sumtoy and get one of his 20ga chokes, and run over to Adventure Outdoors and snag up a few boxes of the Federal HW 7's and you should be all set. The shells have been discontinued for a new offering, but as of last Friday Adventure still had around 8 boxes

 

[PharmHunter]

The above advice is absolutely Spot On.

 

[Buckman18]

Midwayusa has the primos tightwad choke on sale for $15.99 right now. Get a box of #5 and/or #6 Winchester XX at Walmart about ($7/box) and that's a good economical starting point until you determine if she likes it.

 

[DRBugman85]

My KICK'S GOBBLING THUNDER with Longbeard XR 20 ga in the Remington 870 youth is a Gobbler killer. Tightwad was terrible with every load I tried.

 

[PharmHunter]

Primos "Jellyhead" is a great off the shelf Choke for the 20 ga 870.

 

[Killdee]

A Remington extra full choke is not bad at all especially if you can score some of the new Tss loads.

 

[fountain]

You have solid advice here about chokes.
For shells, there is nothing on the market other than federal tss for a commercial load. Don't go cheap here. I wouldn't trust anything else. No reason not to have the best available, and especially since its a 20, I just wouldn't throw any ol lead load in it. I feel we owe it to the turkeys to give them our best. Set it up once and set it up right and enjoy if for years to come

 

[HuntinDawg89]

I appreciate the input guys. I did talk to William at Sumtoy. The issue is finding ammo. I can't find any 20 gauge tss. Looks like I'm going to order some Longbeard.

 

[deerslayer0369]

Just ran some LB 3” #5’s thru my sons 20ga rem youth 870 with a Carlson’s LB .568 choke tube yesterday...glad I bought some 3” Hevi shot #7’s as well. The LB’s were terrible at 40yds. The hevi shot will get it done ,pattern wise, out to fifty no problem. Also ran some Hevi shot 3” MB’s as well, they did worse than the LB’s. So bad it wasn’t even worth counting pellets. This gun has been deep cleaned and polished, it put up 135-140 in the 10” with several shots. The 20yd pattern was quite nice too! Wasn’t near as tight as the LB’s at that range...roughly all shot in a 12” circle not a 6” like the LB’s. TSS will blow those #’s away but cost 2x the Hevi almost...not planning on long range turkey hunting.

 

[HD28]

My dad just put together an 870 20 gauge with a scope. Using 3" 20 ga Longbeard #6s with a Trulock turkey choke, has GREAT patterns 10 to 50 yds! Surprised me really! Great turkey gun!

 

[J Gilbert]

I appreciate the input guys. I did talk to William at Sumtoy. The issue is finding ammo. I can't find any 20 gauge tss. Looks like I'm going to order some Longbeard.

Make the drive to Adventure and pick up the regular HW 7's, you'll have much better results than the Longbeards. They're supposed to be getting some TSS in too, just don't have a date on it yet

 

[Gut_Pile]

I appreciate the input guys. I did talk to William at Sumtoy. The issue is finding ammo. I can't find any 20 gauge tss. Looks like I'm going to order some Longbeard.

apex is supposed to be restocked on March 10th

 

[deerslayer0369]

Photo evidence to my previous post. Not gonna blow your socks off but still pleased esp to be a 20ga with an 18” barrel. Just hard for me to justify $8 a round for tss when the Hevi shot patterns just fine...dead is dead in my eyes no matter what type of shot got it done. Just need a good dependable 40yd gun. Sights have been adjusted for the 40yd pattern before I get comments on that

 

[fountain]

Patterns on paper are fine. Energy is what will kill. I'm looking a t what will CONSISTENTLY kill and be a true 40 yard gun in a 20. I am scared of lead and hevi 7s. I've had some leave on me with the hevi 7s. The patterns on paper were great, but knockdown energy is different. Heck, with the 3.5" 7s I would have several pellets not even penetrate thick cardboard when patterning...and I shot a lot on paper...never hunted with them, just shot paper.
For me heavyweight 7s and tss are the only loads I would want to use for consistent killing at 40. That's just my opinion and I'm sure others have had great success with other loads.

 

[J Gilbert]

The Hevi Shot brand shells are pretty solid too, I shot them the first few years they were out with an 870 youth and IC .555- I had consistent patterns in the 180's. I did wound one bird with them and that soured me a bit.

I switched to the HW shells after a brief stint with TSS because I liked the energy of the HW (and I was out of TSS). The Federals don't quite get the numbers of the Hevi's generally (and especially not TSS), but I'm close (170s) with more energy for extra insurance. I won't be buying any TSS until I'm out of the HW shells.

 

[deast1988]

U can break 200, with nitro striaght #7 hevi shot. I've taken a few birds with it. Wicked.

 

[HuntinDawg89]

Do you guys use any kind of sights? Her gun has a ribbed barrel with just one bead on it. Do y'all recommend sights that fit onto the rib or what? If so, which do you like?

I won't be buying any optics for the gun. This is a dove, duck, goose, pheasant, skeet, trap gun most of the time.

 

[deerslayer0369]

Well explain the difference between the fed hw 7’s vs the Hevi shot 7’s...aren’t both tungsten loads . If the info for a 12 is the Hevi 7’s hit like a lead #5 why would that be any different in a 20? I run Hevi 7’s in my 12 and have had no issues will killing power, I’m talking stone cold.

 

[deerslayer0369]

Do you guys use any kind of sights? Her gun has a ribbed barrel with just one bead on it. Do y'all recommend sights that fit onto the rib or what? If so, which do you like?

I won't be buying any optics for the gun. This is a dove, duck, goose, pheasant, skeet, trap gun most of the time.

I went with a different version of fibers. I purchased the Hiviz Triviz sights from midway for like $33. The install is a breeze, very bright in low light, and the selling point for me was the unobstructed field of view for POA. The only con is the adhesive strip for the front bead isn’t the greatest but will work. I highly recommend getting something just bc the POA and POI will differ. The issue will be how much. Sometimes folks get lucky and get a scatter gun that shoots POA and POI true but I wouldn’t bank on that.