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.

I would say that it is fairly light on recoil. I could shoot it all day without issue. Then again I don't mind 12ga 3.5s either. In comparison I would say that it is much lighter than my 1100 20ga but has the same or less recoil.

Benelli M2 with 24" barrel. I use it as my main turkey gun and my kids use it too and have all killed turkeys with it. I shoot the 2 3/4" reduced recoil hevi blend loads or federal heavyweights for them. I limit them to about 35 yards but my middle son did kill a bird at 43 yards with the 2.75" heavyweights. I handload TSS in mine and have killed to 71 yards with it. I have killed to 52 with Nitro loads. With a 3" heavy handload the kick is about like a 2 3/4 pheasant load from an average 12ga. Much more pleasant than my SBE2 shooting 3.5" loads and still very effective. With the reduced recoil loads, it's a total lightweight and easy for kids to handle. They are a joy to carry in the field with weight being about 6.5lbs with sling and ammo and Fastfire sight on it.

Get a gun and FF site or something similar and you'd still be under budget.

Lee

Dont slip on my drool puddle

NICE stash you have there

Although I went the first 15 years on one shotgun, I would say turkey hunting cries out for a dedicated gun, and that it should not be expensive. Turkey hunting requires the shotgun to be aimed like a rifle. This is antithetical to wing shooting. If you crawl around in the briars the way we do, it'll get scratched up.

Therefore, I would first think about a decent inexpensive 12 GA pump that has the option of screw in choke tubes. It does not have to be all that fancy. We all shoot 12 GA Mossberg 500 or Rem 870 variants. Most of us at Turkey Camp have spray painted our guns. Why 12? If you're looking for less recoil, just shoot 2 3/4. It's about the same as a heavy 20 GA. You'll have more choices in ammo and choke tubes. We all shoot 3" lead Federal or 2 3/4" Rem Nitro Buffered Magnums.

I'm not knocking 20 GA for turkey. My son shot his first few birds using a 20 GA bolt gun. I'm just saying 12 GA is more versatile, and overall it will be cheaper to get the job done.

Deer? With a used Mossberg 500 you can add on a rifled deer barrel. It'll be good out to 100 yards with slugs. All of our shotguns are D&T's for scopes, whether we use them or not. I'm pretty well stuck with a scope, because my eyes are no longer able to pick up both the bead and the turkey.

Squirrel? Change the choke tube on your turkey barrel to modified and shoot low-brass #6.

With a $1600 budget that leaves you about $1200 for a really nice shotgun for wingshooting.

Rem 860 Youth 20 gauge with bird and cantilever slug bbl. Done!

Older Ithaca 37 12ga. Get good tube installed, forcing cone lengthened, optics added. 1 1/4 oz high brass. Way less than your budget, more versatile, better performance.


Not at all what you asked about.

I can't believe anyone would spend that money on a 20 for turkey..

WCH,

Without a doubt.

Benelli Super Sport

They will crowd the budget unless you go used or look around.


http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=benelli+super+sport

WCH when I purchase something now I try to get something nice I would be proud to hand down to my son. I am not looking for the cheapest or what will get me by. I am looking for quality and something nice. For me it isn't just a turkey gun.

Couldn't agree more. Buy what you want and what you will use and pass along. There are plenty of things that I'm cheap on that other people may not be on. I don't begrudge them for spending money on things they want and saving money on others. I really enjoy my turkey guns and enjoy passing things on to my children. I hunt turkeys in 9-10 states each year and it's worth it to me to spend the money.

You can't go wrong with the M2 and Burris FF combo.

Lee

I have a nice A400 I'll sell you for $1250 and you can take the leftovers and buy an 870 compact. Have a useful one and a fancy one

20 gauges of today are a lot lighter,more compact and mobile than 12 gauges and if you use Federal Heavyweight 7's you have an easy 45 yard gun. If you handload TSS you have a shotgun that can shoot circles around any 12 gauge loaded with factory ammunition.
I used to always hunt with 3.5" magnum 12's....... these days my 20 is as big as I ever carry and I'm gravitating more and more towards my .410
The 12 gets to come out maybe once a year or so for sentimental purposes.
I never thought I'd say this but 12 gauge shotguns for turkey hunting have become totally obsolete

This is a 22" 1187. I plan on this being my main gun this year.



This is a pattern out of my wife's m2 with a 26"

I like both but the shorter barrel on the 1187 is gonna be my pick I think

I'm new to the tss game but I've not had a 12gauge shoot as tight as my little 20s yet.

thank me later.

http://www.benelliusa.com/m2-field-shotgun

An 870 Express 20ga will kill you turkeys to 50+ yards for $350. What more are you looking for?

I have the Benelli M2 in 20 and 12. They both kill turkeys for under $1600. Before that I've used my 870 20ga on countless birds. I think I bought it 15 years ago for $250'ish new and a $50 for a Primos Jelly Head choke.

That's because you haven't used one.

I use a single shot 20ga, tss shot and EF tube just about makes the 3 1/2” 12ga obsolete!
Don’t believe me? Try it!

20's with TSS made me sell all of my 12 ga turkey guns.

Just noticed that this is a 6 year old thread....just saying

You mentioned deer. Look at the Benelli M2 20 gauge slug gun and then pick up a 24" field barrel. The slug guns already come D&T for optics mounting.

But it was resurrected and who knows who'll read it! Lol!

$1600? Just enough to buy my H&R single shot. Contact me via PM To arrange payment.

lol,

I used a 12 ga Benelli M1 with a 24" barrel for years. Tried an 870 youth 20 a few years ago and it took a WHILE to find a load I was comfortable with. But after finding the right load I'm fine using it out to 40 yards.

But I wanted a semi and since I've been satisfied with the M1 in 12 ga I ordered a 24" M2 20 ga a few weeks ago. Should be in in a couple of weeks.

Or a 10.......or a 12......or ANYTHING. 🙄

HOLY CRAP !!!!

Hey, I'm glad you guys brought this up. I saw a guy walk into a damn gun shop the other day when I was buying a new rifle, holding 2 turkey guns. One camo 835 and the other an old 870 express with 3 1/2" chamber. He told the lady behind the counter, whatever you think is fair or $100 each. She is super cool and said, "I think we can do better than that". He walked out with $300.00, but that was still not a lot for what they were. They were well used, but worth more than that. After he left, I could have bought that 870 for $200 even. When I saw this thread, I was thinking, damn you could buy a dog and damn shotgun for $1600.00. Damn near any shotgun choked right will work on a Turkey, if you are using appropriate ammo. Good luck finding them (turkey) though. I suggest you use some of that budget towards the gas money you are going to spend, going to and from your favorite turkey hunting spots..

It's all where a man wants to spend his $$.

Yep. And there ARE those........ 🙄😏

I've pretty much run the gamut. Not because I didn't already know better 35 years ago. But just to do. And STILL......... about $1150 is the most I ever spent on a dedicated turkey gun (before D&T, red-dot, sling and choke tube). Great gun. But another $500 on top of THAT ??? Even though I spend a lot of money on dumb stuff......ain't no way.......

We've both had muscle cars... talk about spending money! Lol!

If one is concerned with $$ on firearms he would have 3, maybe 4 long guns.

I don't know what everyone's financial picture looks like and really don't want to know as it is none of my business.
The way I see it, if you can afford a $1600 shotgun to use as a dedicated turkey gun, well good on you. If you can only afford a single shot shotgun, that is fine too. Does not matter what it cost, just be sure to take the time to pattern it and know the limits of that pattern.

870 20 gauge all they way. 26" rem choke barrel, 21" rifled for slugs and 21" rem choke for turkey and tree game.