20 gauge turkey choke and shell recommendations

okie archer · Jan 30, 2018

I highly recommend Federal Heavyweight turkey loads in 3" #7. Make sure it's the 1.5 oz. and not the 1 1/8 oz. Pretty big difference in the two. You might try a couple different good turkey chokes.

slatebuilder · Feb 6, 2018

I have been using a Mossberg Silver Reserve II 20 gauge for several years now. The top barrel has a .571 Trulock choke and 11/2 of #7 Federal Heavyweight in it for longer range. The other barrel has the Mossberg improved modified choke in it with a #6 game load of some sort for closer range. Both barrels have killed turkeys. The Federal Heavyweight load is awesome.

howl · Feb 13, 2018

Any turkey shell will have stout recoil in that light gun. People seem to not make the connection between rifles and shotguns when it comes to recoil. We would never hand a child a rifle that kicks like a lightweight 20 gauge. The only way to get good turkey power performance with low recoil in a light 20ga is to roll your own shells with small tungsten shot.

If you don't want to handload, my advice is get a Sumtoy 562-5 and the heavyweight or TSS shells from Federal. Use it yourself. If you're used to a 12 gauge with lead shells you will be astonished. Also get a .410 and a SumToy choke and Federal TSS shells for the kids. Put a red dot on it to help place the tight pattern.

Otherwise, get some low recoil 3/4oz shells for practice with the 20 and only allow shooting of the turkey loads at the turkey. If the kid is trained to hold the gun correctly and is appropriately excited, recoil will go unnoticed. Training means holding it tight into the shoulder, off the collar bone and with the thumb held to the side to avoid a bloody nose.

JMax78 · Apr 4, 2018

howl said:
Any turkey shell will have stout recoil in that light gun. People seem to not make the connection between rifles and shotguns when it comes to recoil. We would never hand a child a rifle that kicks like a lightweight 20 gauge. The only way to get good turkey power performance with low recoil in a light 20ga is to roll your own shells with small tungsten shot.

If you don't want to handload, my advice is get a Sumtoy 562-5 and the heavyweight or TSS shells from Federal. Use it yourself. If you're used to a 12 gauge with lead shells you will be astonished. Also get a .410 and a SumToy choke and Federal TSS shells for the kids. Put a red dot on it to help place the tight pattern.

Otherwise, get some low recoil 3/4oz shells for practice with the 20 and only allow shooting of the turkey loads at the turkey. If the kid is trained to hold the gun correctly and is appropriately excited, recoil will go unnoticed. Training means holding it tight into the shoulder, off the collar bone and with the thumb held to the side to avoid a bloody nose.

Everything Howl said multiplied by 100. I was thinking this as soon as I read the thread.

phutch30 · Apr 4, 2018

My son has the shotgun mentioned in the original post. The recoil is nothing. Its a semi auto....The tricked out 870, I posted has even less recoil. My 11yr old daughter went through a doz 3" lead 5s on sat with it and was laughing at the end......only restating this so people aren't discouraged from buying a the right 20ga for their kids.

20 gauge turkey choke and shell recommendations

okie archer

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slatebuilder

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howl

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JMax78

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phutch30

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