Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting $1600 budget which 20 gauge Shotgun would you get?

Mainly looking for a Turkey gun, but would use it for other stuff like doves, deer and squirrels (rarely).

Would like something with a shorter barrel or to be able to buy extra barrels for it.

A400

24 inch barrel Benelli m2. Also the sbe2s are on sale at several places now. Find a 24 barrel camo and have money left over for a bunch of chokes and ammo.

I'd buy an SX3 camo with the 26" bbl and either use a rail on the action with reflex for turkey and remove for wing shooting or I'd buy the 26" model and buy the 24" turkey bbl that has the cantilever mount. You'd be a simple bbl swap away from wing shooting and the reflex would stay zeroed due to the CL mount.

That said, the SX3 is not the lightest 20, so you may want to look at the Benelli if you want to go light.

I have a Benelli SBE2, that I bought because I thought I wanted the "ultimate turkey gun ". I hunted with it for 2 seasons, and killed my limit each year, one shot per turkey, and made a couple of very impressive long shots. Oh, by the way, that was shooting a 3 1/2 inch 12 guage. The following year, I did something I hadn't done in ages....missed a turkey. Then to top it off, the same morning, I missed another. The culprit was the sight, a halo sight, that somehow got off by a smidgeon. Who knows what really happened, but since then I've started using a 20 guage, with an occasional hunt with my first "real" turkey gun, a 12 guage Winchester 1300 pump. My 20 is a Remington 870 youth model that I've added an Indian Creek choke and a scope to. I guess the Benelli would be more versatile, as would the Winchester, but I could also remove the scope from the 870 and use it for other thing. My point is, you could spend $1600 for a shotgun, but personally, I'd buy something a lot less expensive and use the leftover funds for other things. Despite what some folks think, a gun that you're going to shoot a turkey at 40 yards with, does not have to cost a lot of money. It's the shells and the choke that enable one to turn an ordinary gun into a turkey gun.

For $1600, I'd buy 2 guns. An 870 youth model for turkey and possibly deer and I'd buy a Benelli Montefeltro for the wingshooting and have a couple hundred left over to spend on shells or maybe a red dot for the turkey gun.

over under.
Longer barrels will still be shorter than a auto/pump.


although I like C-20_b's advice too along with James advice.

savage 220 for deer
set of rings
and a vx1 3-9x40 on it

some type of combo package 20 gauge pump with
turkey barrel and field barrel

still got plenty of money
to buy your license

still have plenty of money to try several brands of slugs and turkey loads and a couple of good after market chokes
(sell chokes that don't perform well after test patterns)

and put the feedbag on at the Chinese buffet on the way home

What 20 gauge? None of them. I prefer a 12. The more lead at any distance, the better.

Benelli M2 20ga is the best 20ga on the market today in my opinion

I am not sure if they make a 20 gauge anymore, but the Winchester 101 is about the only thing made relatively recently worth owning by the company.

I have the Pigeon Grade 12 gauge/20 gauge hunters set. Way better than any Beretta/Browning/Ruger over and under I have played with.

Good idea there. Check out some of the video's on youtube about them taking deer at 300 yards.

That is the one I have been leaning toward.

Is it light on recoil? My younger son will be using it too.

great advice from a "man" that owns 3 guns

SL

I own 5 you jackwagon......


and they all get used..........

not sitting around in a closet or a safe collecting dust and rust with some wishful intent of usage that never happened....

Benelli's 20 gauge autoloader options are numerous. They've got some ultra light weight svelt little autos. I'm not sure why you want a 20ga. for turkey, but if I were buying a contemporary 20ga. autoloader, it would be one of the Benellis.

Used for you = Wounding animals and never recovering them. Put one to good use and suck start that biatch

I'd save a lot of money by buying a single shot 20 ga. with a choke tube. If I wanted a pump I'd buy a Mossberg 20 ga. youth super bantam --Turkey--- either one with proper choke and shot can be a 50 yd. turkey killer.

Won't get any arguments from me on that statement. I still think the needs of a turkey gun are so vastly different from wingshooting that I would try to get 2 guns for the $1600 budget. I think if you shop around, I think you could get a black m2 and a 870 in budget.

Both will last a lifetime unless you abuse them.

I have two M2 20's and love them dearly. My son just turned 13 and is not very salty but he can shoot a box of 3" mag steel shot on a morning duck hunt and he's never said a word about recoil.

They are super light, swing & point perfect and almost no recoil. The M2 20's are the two on the left, a 24" and a 26". We will be climbing hills and chasing gobblers with them in a couple months.