Yeah but the 20ga for me is less about the recoil and more about having killed enough turkey that i'd rather have a light, compact gun and get them inside 30 yards than i would carry either a 50" long shotgun or a 10 pounder.

I admit it; it's a character flaw. I love long-range, accurate, overpowering firepower no matter what I'm hunting. Lugging that 11.5 lb loooong 10 gauge is a labor of love.

The SBEII was a departure from what I would normally use.

SBE 2 with a 24" barrel, trigger job, Burris 336 mount and Docter sight, Rhino .670 choke shooting Nitro 3.5" 2 7/16 oz. #7's.

Good lookin' scatter gun. Why'd you go with the .670 Rhino? Most follow Rhino's and "Nitro" Ray's advice and go with a .660 choke. Did you get a $120.00 chance to compare them in that gun?

I've got a .660 as well but liked the patterns of the .670 a little better. I like a little more open pattern myself.

Have a couple. Bought a Winchester 1300 NWTF back in 88' (I believe) when they came out for the one year. Laminated stock and forearm. I have since put removable water based camo on the rest. Has killed it's share of turkeys.

Also have a couple Remington Special Purpose in 12 and 20 gauge like the one below.

All have Kick's Gobbling Thunder chokes installed with fiber optics.

I also have the Mossberg 835- It's not so much 'customized', as specialized for its purpose, out of the box. I run Remington turkey loads, 3.5" 12 ga. #5 shot in it. It has accounted for 6 toms to date, all in the 20-40 yard range.
Only thing I don't care for is the rear sight- kinda flimsy, and easy to knock off center if you are not careful.

I like the option of going really long if I need to; I'm getting close to a 80%~90% pellet count inside a 10" circle at 40 yards. But, my pattern isn't much larger than a softball at 20yds~25yds. Not much room for error if one sneaks up on me.

80-90% in the 10" @ 40yds. Really!!?? Even with 18 g/cc tungsten, which you said you shoot, I only average about 50% in the 10 with a .665". That's with #8s which tend to pattern a little tighter than the #9s from my experience. I consider a good, broadly effective pattern to yield to a 40yd pattern of 45% in the 10" and another 40% in the 20".

Personally, I like the #9s as either will kill as far as 99.9% would consider and it allows me to open the choke (.670") a bit and larger patterns yet still get 100 in the 10 to 70yds.

Using your 10ga, how much shot are you throwing? I assume you're going something like 2.25oz and shooting #8s or #9s. Otherwise, why not just shoot a 12ga. Yes?

So, you're getting something like 450 and 640 pellets with #8s and #9s, respectively, in the 10" at 40yd, assuming the low end (80%) of your estimate. I've never heard or seen anything like that before. I can't imagine getting to those percentages with lead, or 13g (Hevi-13) or 15g (Federal HW) shot. All I can say is you're consistently getting 80-90% @ 40yd is you're ready for the NWTF championships. You'd beat the best 2-3X over. Just sayin'...

01Foreman400,

That's a very nice looking rig! Like you, I've come to appreciate the merits of a slightly more open choke. I've used and like the Rhino .660" very much, but I like the uniformity to 15" with the .670" in my Vincis. I just bought a Jeb's in .665 and .670" and the .670" is throwing the prettiest I've ever had, although all barrels are a bit different.

I'd like to hear from your experience on that big Nitro load. From what I've heard, it was mainly made for the Mossbergs and can be fickle in others. I can see the the merits of that load with a relatively open choke with #7s. You could create a big, forgiving pattern to 45yd or so by throwing that much shot. I could appreciate going with #6s with a bit more constriction and taking longer pokes at toms.

BlueK9