20 ga modified choke for turkey?

[419]

I killed my first few turkeys with a 20 gauge. It had a full choke, but as long as the turkey is relatively close, it should be fine.

[Vermonter]

I did not realize how much of a debate this would be. We have not shot the gun yet so I will pattern it and see if I can get a gobbler to voulenteer for some real feild testing this spring.

Thank you all for your input. Hopefully she will not have to resort to the beating and chasing of the bird. Or I could jusf follow up with the 500 full choke 12 gauge that is my turkey gun.

Thanks,
Vermonter

[bamaranger]

Did I read 70 yds for a 12 ga on turkeys???????? Even w/ "space shot" tungsten loads, that's a long way to try a gobbler, like 25 yds to long

Also, I would not generally recommend any lead shot smaller than #6 from any turkey gun. A turkeys head and neck is not a quail, dove and it takes a real pellet to bust same much past 25 yds.

That said, I know of at least one fine old turkey hunter who used 1-1/4 of #7-1/2 from a std 12ga full choke single bbl. That was near thirty years ago, there were few turkey hunters, and fewer birds, and calling one close seemed more common if you located one and got an answer.

Now, the advent of "space shot" the heavy metal stuff, has changed the rules a bit, and I will admit, I know little of it, have never shot it, and don't intend to. (at least at turkeys) A tungsten 7-1/2, that has the weight of a lead 6, might be another critter all together.

The guys who shoot tungsten are much excited about it, but I cannot abide the price. From 35 yds in, plain old lead (#5 for me) works fine.

Finally, I cannot pass up a chance to use a line from a great turkey booK......"there's been many a footrace in the spring woods lost by the hunter" or words to that effect.

[SumToy Custom Barrel]

When I say you can kill them at the 70 yard mark that is with the heavy shot stuff. With lead I don't like to see more then 45 yards. With the good shells and a good choke you can kill at 70. I have stuff that will blow holes at 25 to 30 yards.

[johnbt]

"I guess all the turkey hunters buying turkey chokes (including myself) are simply mis-informed."

Or overgunned. I didn't say it wouldn't work, just that it's not absolutely necessary.

As a kid 50 years ago, I remember the utter joy of finally having a store-bought turkey at Thanksgiving. We could chow down without worrying about breaking a tooth on a stray #6 pellet.

That's also why we hunted squirrels with .22s and not shotguns. That, and we didn't want lead pellets sitting in the jars with the meat after it was canned.

John

[jhog1]

gotta stick with large payloads and superfull chokes..

Horse hockey !

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.

Don't think i would use 7& 1/2's or 8's but I have killed quite a few with 5&6's in a 20 ga Rem 1100 with a fixed mod choke.

[bcarver]

You are getting some bad info on this subject.
Don't worry about is it as good or how good it is.
And secondly, I don't know how close you can kill a gobble but I know you can kill them at about 7 yards(my personal shortest kill) and call them to about 12 feet.
You need to concentrate on making it shoot as good as it can.
First Polish the barrel until it shines like a new penny.
go to old gobbler forum to learn how.
Next get a 3 foot by 3 foot target and make sure Point of aim and point of impact are the same. If not you can't kill birds with it reliablely.
Third get several different loads to see which patterns best.
Try 6 lead or 7 heavy or 9TSS if you reload.
Only let your daughter pratice with 7/8 oz loads until she shoots at a bird.
She won't notice the difference then.
Put a good pad on it.

[johnbt]

"9TSS"

If TSS is Tungsten Super Shot, they're out of business. I don't know if anyone else is selling the stuff. They couldn't make a go of it financially.

The guns I own came with polished barrels, except the hardchromed ones and I'm not trying to polish it.

John

P.S. - "old gobbler forum" Aren't the old ones tough?

[DRT300]

I killed a quail at 40 steps with my 870 youth with a modified choke this weekend, and there were plenty of pellets to kill a turkey. I'd shorten that to range to 30yds. and let her put a whoopin on any turkey that was legal. Get the choke that nitro shell company reccomends and there 20ga. load (5.00+ each round), and you'll have a 45-50 yd gun no problem.

[Vermonter]

Wow am I impressed.

This patterned well.....





This was at 25 yards I believe within 30 we will be all set on Tom and the boys.

Thoughts?

Vermonter

[jimbob86]

P.S. - "old gobbler forum" Aren't the old ones tough?

They are not as good as the young ones taken in the fall, that is for sure!

[DRT300]

I'm looking for an 1187 20ga. right now. With the jelly head choke I have and shooting nitro shells I don't think 40-50 will be a problem for that gun. But you have to stay dead on with them in close it will shoot like a rifle.

[bamaranger]

A dead quail at 30 yds, is not a 20 lb gobbler at 40-50, with bigger neck and skull. And seldom do you get a shot w/ the bird dead in the open, w/o foliage, branches, leaves, stripping pellets out of your pattern. A bird perfectly in the open, you plan for it, strive for it, but you take the best first shot you can get if you want to kill many gobblers. Things can go wrong fast on a gobbling turkey. Coyotes, other stupid hunters, other birds, heck, a squirrel or deer, name it.

You don't plan to shoot though stuff, sometimes you just don't see it. A bigger gun/bigger payload, lets you get away w/ it (sometimes anyhow) when it happens.

Finally, a dose of 7-1/2 will kill a turkey no doubt, Ol' Walt, one of my mentor's, proved that. There weren't even any short magnum shells in those days. But those were different times, when there was little pressure, birds came running, and you could hunt all season and not hear or see another hunter, or even their vehicle. Ol'Walt could hunt him again tommorrow if he didn't get the shot he wanted, but he usually didn't have to, 'cause the birds just paraded on in 9 times out of 10. Not so today. Not where I hunt anyhow.

I don't recommend anything smaller than # 6 lead for turkey, minimally an ounce and a quarter, and full or better choke. And a good feel for what 35 yds looks like in the spring woods.

[bcarver]

Hey john
When I say "TSS" in mean 18grm/cc shot that was being imported by the guy that went out of business with the web sight of the same name.
The shot is still being manufactured.
You can still find it.
I only have personal experiance with Mossbergs,Remingtons,Brownings and New England Firearms. These guns need polishing. I have heard that Benellis also need polishing.
As far as chromed, don't polish them. Chroming is a way to smooth the barrels without polishing.

As far as gobblers being tough..Buy a butter ball for eating.
Wild turkey can't compare. It does make good jerky.

[columbia_shotguneer]

you can surely use a modified choke for turkeys. My NEF pardner shoots great patterns of #6's with copperplated through a modified choke. Full is best for most hunters wanting a head or neck shot.

[bamaranger]

A head and neck shot is the ONLY shot on a turkey w/ a shot gun, well on a standing, healthy bird anyhow. Those great wings are folded across the breast and sides and their is a huge gob of flesh and a fat glob to boot on a spring gobbler, and the crop. The "vitals" of a grounded turkey IS the head and neck, not the heart lungs. The bird is not a goose in flight, breast exposed and built for transcontinental flight.

A gobbler wears a flack jacket around his chest. If one is searching for a pellet to drive through the body of a turkey as a primary turkey load they are going down the wrong path.

Now, this is a different story on crippled/escaping birds. Lots of guys, myself included, use as large and heavy pellet as possible/legal as a followup load, to hit flopping, crippled birds and finish them. But........I've only had to do it a handful of times, usually since I misjudged range and shot to far. A tight load of #5, in range from my 3" 12ga, seals the deal.

[publius]

The only way you will really know is to shoot a pattern board.

[SCBondsman]

Pattern, pattern, pattern...

[whiskey]

I am glad I wore my boot into this thread.

First, the 20ga is plenty for turkey. Same as .243 is plenty for deer. You do not have the range of a 12, but that doesn't mean you can't kill turkey with it. There are lots of guys and gals that turkey hunt with 20ga guns. I have the same youth 20ga NEF single shot and the fact is, you have to pattern your gun. Hevi Shot makes some 3" Magnum blend loads that should give you good results. Try some duck hunting loads too. Anything #5 or #6 should do her well. You probably need to keep her shots at 30 yards or less to be safe. My daughter uses a Mossberg 20ga pump with a turkey choke and I make her keep her shots within 30 yards. It ain't that hard to get turkeys within 30 yards of you. Just like with archery hunting for deer, you have to be a better hunter and get the game closer. Usually it just takes being a more patient hunter.

It is going to kick. Do not be mistaken. That little gun is a handful for my 12 year old with field loads. However, you can let her practice with bird shot, and then she won't notice when she is shooting a turkey.

[Old Grump]

20 gauge, IM choke, 2 3/4" Fiocchi ammo in either #6 or #4 works for me. I set my decoys at 35 yards and don't shoot till they are even with or closer than 35 yards. Dead is dead no matter how big and tough that turkey is. A pellet in the neck from a 20 gauge will kill him as dead as a pellet from a 3 1/2" magnum out of a 12 gauge.

I have yet to meet anybody at a weigh station under 40 who has used less than a 12 gauge and 3" or 3 1/2" shells but I have yet to see any of their turkeys any deader than my turkeys and I don't have a bruise to show for it. Us old dinosaurs who hunt in our farmers coveralls and old shotguns from back in grandpa's day aren't as fussy yet we somehow seem to get the job done. Not sure where we went wrong but so it goes.