If your shoulder gives you serious trouble.......you may wanna go .410 for turkey.
I have a healthy shoulder. And I've never been very recoil-sensitive. But a 3" turkey load in a single 20 is NOT your average pussycat. Especially if you have to twist out of position at all. My gun has a pretty good pad on it. But it's still fairly snappy on the hind end. Never did the actual math for free recoil. But I'd say it's close to the same as a 9 pound .300 Magnum.
That's food for thought. The local retailer has a stevens 301 in 20 and 410 on the rack... and some 410 tss loads
Looking at the TSS ammo on the shelf.. I saw
410 @ 13/16 oz (vel 1100 fps)
20 @ 5/8 oz (vel 1000 fps)
12 gauge 3 inch @ 1 3/4 oz. (vel 1200 fps)
Thats not much of a step down from 12 to 20
Although looking at physics impulse momentum equations of MxV = MxV would say that 12 gauge load will be stouter because of the higher velocity and mass.
I just dont know if I can do the 410 though.
The shoulder recovered and I went back to a 12 gauge last season. Mostly because I have a lot of 12 gauge shells and will switch to 20 gauge when they deplete or old age gets me.
