20 ga modified choke for turkey?

[Vermonter]

Just got a 20 gauge with a modified choke. No idea what this can do but I typically shoot a twelve gauge. I was thinking of having my girl carry this for turkey with me.

Can someone provide some insight on the limitations of the 20 gauge in general?

Vermonter

[jimbob86]

My eldest daughter got her first turkey with her 20 guage this fall....... a load of 6's, 35 yards, polychoke set to "full" knocked the old boss hen over, and she nearly decapitated it with a second shot when the bird tried to right itself as she walked up to it.

[pabuckslayer08]

Killed my first bird at 56yds running with the 20gauge. Since I have shot 2 others and one them was at 45yds. They are a great gun and are just as deadly as a 12gauge and they hold about the same size pattern imo but they just have less pellets in the air.

[Vermonter]

I do not have the full choke option with this piece because it is a modified choke that is not adjustable. Hopefully the pattern is decent we will be shooting the gun when she opens it for christmas.
Vermonter

[mete]

Steel shot will give a tighter pattern.
Plated or hardened or buffered lead shot will give a more uniform and tighter pattern.

[pabuckslayer08]

What model of gun is this, Im sure someone can tell you nearly how it will perform. Usually those tappered guns like that shoot great. I have a Ithica 16 gauge thats a modified and it unbeatable at the local turkey shoots.

[seansean1444]

i killed one at 30 yards with a 20guage mod choke no prob

[Vermonter]

Its a rossi single shot on a combo gun.

[pabuckslayer08]

Your good to go then, it will shoot great for you but Ill go ahead and warn you so it doesnt scare your girl, it will kick. And when I say kick those little rossis will do damge. I got one for a friend and before they shot it I took a few shots and loaded up a high brass and its got a thump. Just tell her to hold onto it and she will be fine. They were 9-10 when my friend got theirs

[seansean1444]

ya my h&r 20 kicks like a mule

[SumToy Custom Barrel]

With the new shells that are out for the 20ga you can make them shoot as hard at 40 yards as alot of 12ga do now. We have saw 180 rang at 40 yards in a 10 inch circle

[badge851]

Originally Posted by Vermonter

Just got a 20 gauge with a modified choke. No idea what this can do but I typically shoot a twelve gauge. I was thinking of having my girl carry this for turkey with me.

Can someone provide some insight on the limitations of the 20 gauge in general?

My wife uses a NEF® 22" barrel fixed MOD choke 20ga Ladies/Youth gun. To get the best possible FULL CHOKE pattern for turkey hunting she uses THIS LOAD in #6 Pb. This load produces amazing full choke patterns from a fixed MOD choke barrel!

[bamaranger]

I'm gonna get scorched for this, but here goes.

A twenty is not the equal of a 12, similarly loaded and choked. Period. A 3" mag 20 is the near equal of a std 12ga field load (1-1/4 oz of shot), but not a 3" mag 12 w/ up to 2 oz of shot.

The fact that your gun is a mod choke is working against it for turkeys. Turkeys are a head shot proposition and different from all other shotgunning. TIGHT chokes and sighting systems rule. Think "a short range rifle that shoots a gob of pellets".

Selecting a turkey gun for a youngster is a pickle. Not only is a 12 to much gun recoil wise, but it it often to much gun period, as in too heavy. And a 20 ga single bbl, with a load in it suitable for turkey, and properly choked full or tighter, will rattle a youngsters teeth.

There are two options: buy a dedicated youth gas operated 20, which the youngster will grow out of as a turkey gun, but could still be useful as a GP shotgun, OR a lightweight alloy/polymer 12 ga pump, loaded down with field loads, as in 1 0z, or 1-1/8 of shot, and a real turkey choke. The NOVA comes to mind. Shorten the butt on the 12 and add a space rubber recoil pad.

As the youngster matures, the 12 can be incrementally loaded up.

BAmaboy started w/ my 20" 12ga., loaded w/ 1-1/8 of shot. It was a bit heavy and he could not support if for extended periods of time as a 12 yr old. He was lanky enough that a factory length of pull worked OK.

Despite these stories of killing turkeys at 40 yds plus w/ a 20 ga. A full choked, heavily loaded 20 is a 35 yd and under turkey gun. Loaded w/ std lead pellets and an oz of shot, it is a 30 yd gun

The down loaded 12's are the same deal 30 yd or so turkey guns (assuming full or better chokes)

[HKGuns]

I'd never shoot a 20ga with that choke at a Turkey.

[Cowboy_mo]

Try some different loads in the gun you have with the wife shooting. When you find what she likes to shoot recoil wise, go buy some shoot nc turkey targets and shoot them at 20, 25, 30, and 35 yards. This will give you the yardage max for a clean kill provided the Mrs. makes a good shot.

Then practice, practice, and practice judging the distance and don't let her shoot at a turkey out of range.

Michael Waddell says "all turkeys should be killed at 20 yds and under" and you don't need a 12 guage 3 1/2 inch magnum with max loads with a turkey choke to do that

[eastbank]

michael waddell shoots tame turkeys and other tame animals, on pay to hunt game farms with 1000,s of acrer of posted lands where they feed them all year, i could kill a turkey there from a blind useing a sling shot. eastbank. ps have you ever noticed that most tv hunters use thompson contender and encore rifles, in the normal world of hunters maybe 3 percent use them,i know if i see 5 a year in the field i,m shocked.

[HKGuns]

Michael Waddell says "all turkeys should be killed at 20 yds and under"

Who's he? Not that it matters much what he says. Have you ever hunted Turkeys? Good luck getting them to come in within 20 yards of you.

michael waddell shoots tame turkeys and other tame animals, on pay to hunt game farms

HAR!! Yeah, now I know why he'd make a stupid statement like the 20 yard Turkey kill!

[johnbt]

A 20 ga. at 30 to 35 yards is fine. Don't let anybody tell you differently, especially the ammo dealers and gun makers. It doesn't take a 12 ga. to kill a turkey.

Prior to the invention of plastic hulls and wad cups, paper shells and a full choke were used - and they threw a fairly open pattern - and a 20 ga. worked then. And everybody I knew used plain old #6 high brass shells.

Why are Mod and IC guns more in demand now? Because modern shotshells throw tighter patterns than the old-style ammo ever did. Probably 80% of the old shotguns had full chokes.

[HKGuns]

I guess all the turkey hunters buying turkey chokes (including myself) are simply mis-informed. Nobody I hunt with would go into the woods after Turkey with a modified choked 20 gauge. You're asking to injure a bird and they deserve to be taken ethically and cleanly.

[Vermonter]

well guys maybe I'll tell her to beat the dam thing to death with the butt stock.

[clemsonbloz]

sounds like a wounded and unrecovered turkey to me.. gotta stick with large payloads and superfull chokes..

[HKGuns]

well guys maybe I'll tell her to beat the dam thing to death with the butt stock.

That would work....You better hope she's fast though, I chased a gobbler through the woods one time and those puppies can flat out haul butt. I'd say they would give a Cheetah a run for his money in hardwoods!

[jimbob86]

sounds like a wounded and unrecovered turkey to me.. gotta stick with large payloads and superfull chokes..

Bah!

Either you can call them into shotgun range or you can't. Their heads and necks are pretty fragile. A 20 guage stoked w/ 2 3/4" game loads of 6, 7 1/2, or 8 shot that will put a suitably dense (no head sized holes in it) to the distance you want to shoot them at will work.

Pattern your shotgun. You might be suprised at the number of gaps you have, particularly if you use those ridiculously powerful T-shot loads. Deformed lead pellets don't make for any sort of uniformity in your pattern. ......and at the prices they sell them at, most folks are reluctant to shoot them at cardboard!

[jimbob86]

Then again, folks find it easier to buy firepower (even if it is inneffective- they can always tell themselves they need even MOAR firepower- How's about that 3 1/2" 10 guage, Cledus!) than learn a skill.......... Any idjit with a minimum wage job, a credit card and a Cabela's catalog can sit in the woods waiting for a turkey to wander within 50 yards of them..... It takes some thought, time and effort and a little trial and error to get them to come to where you want them to.

[SumToy Custom Barrel]

Well I think the 20 is good out to 40. The 12 you can get out to the 70 rang. Have saw one taken at 80 but that was one of them deals the stars was all in a row for that. lol If you can call you can shoot the 20 with a good after market choke and shell. If you not good at calling you need to go with the 12 and grit your teeth as you pull trigger.