After blabbering about how much I love the 20's for turkeys, I went and picked up a new 12ga.
Benelli M2, black, 24" barrel. It will be set up strictly for turkeys.
Us turkey hunters are a fickle bunch.
I guess we are eh?
Hard to beat... I have two old H&K M1's that are favorites of mine.
I had one and loved it. Of course I sold it for something dumb I'm sure. Bought a sbeII a few years ago but don't use the 3.5" for anything. LGS had this 24" barrel on the shelf and it fit like a glove and I like the way it swings so I traded the sbeII on it.
I have a few 20's for me and the kids but this can play back up. Usually I use a 870 20ga.
As far as Im concerned Turkey hunting is a 12 bore game.
After hunting with both, I do not feel under gunned with a 20 ga and the proper shell/choke combo.
Love a 24" barrel. Have one on my and my son's SBE.
my sbe is 28" bbl and way too long imo. the 24" is more better.
One of these days I'm going to get me a Benelli with a 21" barrel for turkeys. The 26 I have now works fine, but I just want a short one, for no good reason.
switched over to a 20ga about 6 years ago and have never looked back
I love a 20 as well. More than the 12 but this m2 fit me like a glove!
It also patterns the hell out of win long beard xr #5's.
I will also buy an M2 20ga when funds permit.
I have a 24" M1 lefty, then my teenage Son who is also a lefty, stole my beloved MI for our Turkey hunts,
A year long search ensued for a twin left M1 for him and I finally regained my Gun back,
These 2 Benelli's will be chasing Gobblers this weekend, Our absolute favorite shotguns.
Both are 12 g. Good stuff.
I'll be chasing the WI birds next week with my daughter. She too is a lefty. I'll have to look for one for her too
I'm looking at a LH M2 20 for my son. It has a 26" barrel though, which for turkey hunting is a tad long for me...
Benelli's chrome lined barrels produce the best patterns of all the guns I've tested. They are flat unfair with 2oz of TSS #9's!
I've always wanted one of those Benelli M1 left hand shotguns in 12g. But they are hard to find. How do those M2 compare to the M1?
It will probably fit you the same and still function flawlessly. But the barrels are Criogenically frozen.
Here's the reason from the Benelli site.
The Crio® System combines a barrel frozen to -300° F with a cryogenically treated, longer choke tube. Freezing the barrel…
Relieves the stresses caused by hammer forging
Creates an even-grained, slick surface
Means less resistance against wads and shot
You should enjoy that M-2; I've used one as my wet weather waterfowl gun for the last six seasons or so. Also took it to SD this past fall for pheasant. Pretty reliable shotgun so far.