Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting 20 gauge Turkey gun musings

We had some unseasonably warm weather today so drug the turkey rig out for some testing. Had Mike Orlean thread my old rifle sighted slug barrel for Rem chokes and did the deep cleaning routine as outlined on the net. Well my hillbilly version where I chucked the cleaning rod in the cordless drill to speed things up. Had a no name xf choke, Carlson extended turkey tube and a Remington super full. Ran all the above at 35 yards with cheap Kent #5 lead, Federal heavyweight #7, hevishot #7 and hevishot magnum blend. Prior to testing I was skeptical of the heavy shot, but not anymore! That stuff is the real deal! So far best patterns came from the magnum blend through the Remington SF and the Federal #7 through the Carlson. Was doing a bunch of reading after the testing and just ordered up a SSX tube at the recommendation of another board member. Anyone have any experience with one? I'm liking what I've got so far, just thinking the SSX might make my rig shine.

Put my little 20 through the paces today also. Win #4 and #5 lead would be great at 30 and iffy at 35. Hevi13 #6's were all in the 120 range at 40yds from my 21" barrel with a .570" Tightwad. I would love to pick up some HW #7's.


The SSX is supposed to be a great choke, let us know how it does.

SSX? Where do you find those?

strut stopper xtreme


allaboutshooting.com probably has them

That's where I ordered mine. Between that and the swarm just went with the cheaper option.

How do they compare to the Indian Creek?

It's about half the price...lol. No idea on performance, but it's supposed to be winning on the competition circuit, or set records or something. Just a shade over $40 shipped.

I've been turkey hunting exclusively with a 20ga for 10 years. My current gun is a Remington 870 SPS-T 20ga w/a 21" barrel. I shoot Fed HW #7s thru a SSX choke and it is consistantly in the 180s at 40yrds. The SSX doesn't seem to do quite as well with longer barrels, but it sure works for me.

Mike

I just ordered a SSX for my 870 youth with the 21" barrel. I'm going to try the Hevi13 #6's and try to find some 7's in either Fed or Hevi13.

I got my #7 at Midway. Make sure to save your receipt for the rebate.

Ok turkey guys. My little 20" barrel will put right at 140 of the heavyweight #7 in a 10" circle at 40. Is that enough? I'm still going to try some loads through my 28" barrel. Am I good or should I abandon the 20 and start ordering chokes and loads for the Benelli 12?

That is plenty enough, those HW 7's are supposed to be bad news. That is a very good pattern, go forth and slayuth gobblers.


Mine went 122 with the h13 #7's from my .570 Tightwad today, still waiting for my .550 SSX to show up.

I was getting about the same out if the hw #7 and ssx today.

That's plenty. That HW #7 load will knock them flat at 40 yds!

Yeah I'm awfully impressed with this little gun and ssx choke. It'll also throw beautiful 20" patterns at 30+ yards with the cheap winchester 3" #5 from Wal-mart.

My sons had pretty good success using Remington Premier 1oz. 6 shot lead loads in a 20 gauge Beretta Auto with a standard factory full choke tube and 24" barrel. It's harvested 7 toms and a jake with 8 shots over the last 5 years. One at about 40 yards the rest from 10 to 30. Looks like that box of shells will last him another 8 to 10 turkey seasons.

I have no idea how many pellets hit in such and such a circle at so many yards. I do know that it kills turkeys as dead as they need to be if they're within reasonably shotgun range.

Here is my 21" youth 870 with a .570 TightWad shooting the Fed HW #7's @ 41yds. That is a 16" circle, the 10" was low 120's.

My BIL DRT's every turkey I've ever seen him shoot with a Little browning youth 20ga. Prettiest corn shucker you ever seen. Uses a Comp-n-Choke and Old Remington Wingmaster HD Hevi. His stock is running perilously low though.

I just found more HW #7's at Able Ammo, so I stocked up...

I run Heavy-13 in my Rem 870 20ga and it works great. I'd have no reservations about taking a 40yd shot on a bird at all with it!