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poorcountrypreacher · April 20, 2013, 11:12 AM

I hope everyone will forgive me for bringing up a thread from 2 years ago, but this thread is how I found The Firing Line and my desire to thank Denster for his posts on SXS shotguns is one of the reasons I finally decided to join.

My interest in a SXS shotgun started in 1963 when my dad borrowed a Winchester .410 sxs from our neighbor and I carried it on my first squirrel hunt. I managed to get a squirrel, and I begged my dad to buy that gun for me. The neighbor wanted $40 for it, and Dad said that was too much. I think it would be worth about $3K now, but times were hard. I wound up getting a Winchester Model 37 20 gauge as my first gun.

When I got a little older, I wanted a repeater, and an uncle sold me a beautiful Spanish-made SXS 12 gauge. I was able to have my first success in wing-shooting doves and quail with that gun, but it turned out that its beauty was strictly on the outside. After a couple of years of use, it would no longer fire and I never did find a gunsmith who could fix it. I got an 1100 and it became the only shotgun I used for many years. I always wanted another SXS, but never had the funds to buy one that appealed to me.

Although we hunted most everything in our area of AL, my great passion has always been turkey hunting. As I have gotten older, I searched for the perfect turkey gun. I wound up buying a Benelli Super Black Eagle in 2003 and found it to be a great shotgun. Then I found out about a new kind of shot, called Tungsten Super Shot (tss). This shot is super dense, running around 18g/cc, while lead is only 11g/cc. The density allows one to use smaller shot and obtain super dense patterns. I've been hunting primarily with #8 shot the last 5 seasons, but many people are using 9s.

I developed a 3.5" 2oz load for the SBE, and it works great. Actually, is too great and is serious overkill. I know of several folks now hunting with .410s using tss and making clean kills beyond 40 yards. So I started thinking about a new turkey gun last summer, and decided I would like to get the SXS I'd always wanted. A 20 gauge seemed like the perfect choice.

I soon discovered nobody makes a SXS like I wanted. I wanted 24" barrels and as little weight as possible. It also had to have enough metal on the receiver to mount a Burris FF sight; I just can't see well enough to get by without a sight of some kind now. I eventually settled on a Yildiz.

My first concern was whether or not both barrels would shoot to the same POA; I tested it with field loads and it did. So I sent it off to my gunsmith who cut and rethreaded the barrels, lengthened the forcing cones, and devised a way to mount the sight. When I got it back, I found it shot great patterns, but the barrels would not shoot my heavy tss loads to the same POA. With 7/8 and 1 oz loads, it centered them just fine. With my 1.75 oz loads, the right barrel shot 7" to the right and the left barrel shot 10" to the left.

I did a lot of searching and found this thread and began to understand the problem. Those Turks did a good job of making the little gun shoot field loads to the same spot; they never thought of a redneck from AL doing such things to their pretty little gun and shooting an unimaginable 1.75 oz load out of a 20 gauge.

I did find the gun would center ok with certain 1.25 oz loads, but I wasn't satisfied with that, so off the barrels went to Brileys to make eccentric chokes. They assured me their formula would work, but I think its a formula based on shooting lead and it didn't work for my loads. I made new targets and sent it back again, and the 2nd try wasn't a lot better. I did finally mix and match the chokes enough to get the gun to shoot both barrels to the same point, though that point is well to the right. The little dot on the FF sight took care of that, so I now have a 5 lb 2 oz turkey killer and killed a turkey with it Thursday. The open barrel has a nice wide pattern at 25 yds, but is still dense enough to kill one out to 40 yds. The tight barrel with an eccentric choke isn't as tight as I would like, but it is a solid 50 yd gun, and I wouldn't shoot one past that anyway. The whole idea of a SXS turkey gun is to have 2 chokes; one for close range and another for longer range. The little gun does that for me.

So I write all this mainly just to say thanks to Denster for helping me understand that a SXS cannot shoot both barrels to the same POA with every load. Mine doesn't need to; just needs to shoot this one load the same, and it finally does that. It is only 40" long, and comes close to being the perfect turkey gun. It would need double triggers to earn that declaration, and nobody makes one configured that way that would work for my purpose. I'll send it off to be camo-dipped before next season. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread; it really helped me understand my problem.

April 20, 2013, 11:12 AM	#56
poorcountrypreacher Junior Member Join Date: April 19, 2013 Posts: 1	I hope everyone will forgive me for bringing up a thread from 2 years ago, but this thread is how I found The Firing Line and my desire to thank Denster for his posts on SXS shotguns is one of the reasons I finally decided to join. My interest in a SXS shotgun started in 1963 when my dad borrowed a Winchester .410 sxs from our neighbor and I carried it on my first squirrel hunt. I managed to get a squirrel, and I begged my dad to buy that gun for me. The neighbor wanted $40 for it, and Dad said that was too much. I think it would be worth about $3K now, but times were hard. I wound up getting a Winchester Model 37 20 gauge as my first gun. When I got a little older, I wanted a repeater, and an uncle sold me a beautiful Spanish-made SXS 12 gauge. I was able to have my first success in wing-shooting doves and quail with that gun, but it turned out that its beauty was strictly on the outside. After a couple of years of use, it would no longer fire and I never did find a gunsmith who could fix it. I got an 1100 and it became the only shotgun I used for many years. I always wanted another SXS, but never had the funds to buy one that appealed to me. Although we hunted most everything in our area of AL, my great passion has always been turkey hunting. As I have gotten older, I searched for the perfect turkey gun. I wound up buying a Benelli Super Black Eagle in 2003 and found it to be a great shotgun. Then I found out about a new kind of shot, called Tungsten Super Shot (tss). This shot is super dense, running around 18g/cc, while lead is only 11g/cc. The density allows one to use smaller shot and obtain super dense patterns. I've been hunting primarily with #8 shot the last 5 seasons, but many people are using 9s. I developed a 3.5" 2oz load for the SBE, and it works great. Actually, is too great and is serious overkill. I know of several folks now hunting with .410s using tss and making clean kills beyond 40 yards. So I started thinking about a new turkey gun last summer, and decided I would like to get the SXS I'd always wanted. A 20 gauge seemed like the perfect choice. I soon discovered nobody makes a SXS like I wanted. I wanted 24" barrels and as little weight as possible. It also had to have enough metal on the receiver to mount a Burris FF sight; I just can't see well enough to get by without a sight of some kind now. I eventually settled on a Yildiz. My first concern was whether or not both barrels would shoot to the same POA; I tested it with field loads and it did. So I sent it off to my gunsmith who cut and rethreaded the barrels, lengthened the forcing cones, and devised a way to mount the sight. When I got it back, I found it shot great patterns, but the barrels would not shoot my heavy tss loads to the same POA. With 7/8 and 1 oz loads, it centered them just fine. With my 1.75 oz loads, the right barrel shot 7" to the right and the left barrel shot 10" to the left. I did a lot of searching and found this thread and began to understand the problem. Those Turks did a good job of making the little gun shoot field loads to the same spot; they never thought of a redneck from AL doing such things to their pretty little gun and shooting an unimaginable 1.75 oz load out of a 20 gauge. I did find the gun would center ok with certain 1.25 oz loads, but I wasn't satisfied with that, so off the barrels went to Brileys to make eccentric chokes. They assured me their formula would work, but I think its a formula based on shooting lead and it didn't work for my loads. I made new targets and sent it back again, and the 2nd try wasn't a lot better. I did finally mix and match the chokes enough to get the gun to shoot both barrels to the same point, though that point is well to the right. The little dot on the FF sight took care of that, so I now have a 5 lb 2 oz turkey killer and killed a turkey with it Thursday. The open barrel has a nice wide pattern at 25 yds, but is still dense enough to kill one out to 40 yds. The tight barrel with an eccentric choke isn't as tight as I would like, but it is a solid 50 yd gun, and I wouldn't shoot one past that anyway. The whole idea of a SXS turkey gun is to have 2 chokes; one for close range and another for longer range. The little gun does that for me. So I write all this mainly just to say thanks to Denster for helping me understand that a SXS cannot shoot both barrels to the same POA with every load. Mine doesn't need to; just needs to shoot this one load the same, and it finally does that. It is only 40" long, and comes close to being the perfect turkey gun. It would need double triggers to earn that declaration, and nobody makes one configured that way that would work for my purpose. I'll send it off to be camo-dipped before next season. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread; it really helped me understand my problem.