What general small game loads should be on hand?
Never been much of a shotgun guy.
I have 410, 20, and 12 gauge.
What are good enough turkey loads for 20 and 12 gauge?
Last, I think, a good home defense, I live alone, no concern about shooting through a wall, load?

For all around upland game loads for everything from squirrel and rabbit to grouse and pheasant, I like an ounce of 6's in 20 gauge and 1 1/4 oz of 5's in 12 gauge. For turkeys 1 1/2 - 1 7/8 oz turkey load of 5's or 6's in 12 gauge or 1 5/16 oz of 6's in 20 gauge, though I have killed a bunch of turks with ordinary 1 1/4 oz 12 gauge heavy field loads. For defense I keep 00 and #1 buckshot loads on hand. Some folks dote on 7.5's for upland game. I figure they must like chawin on and/or diggin out shot pellets a lot more than me. I prefer my game not resemble a screen door after being shot.

That makes sense. Eating pellets must keep the dentist happy.

For rabbits and squirrels, field loads of 7/8 - 1 1/8 ounces of #5 or #6's are great. Use #7.5 shot for dove, quail, grouse and informal clay target shooting. For turkey the simplest solution is a full or x-full choke and some Winchester Longbeard #5's. For self defense #1 Buck is as good as it can get for buckshot. 00 Buck is more common and works well also. Add some good Brenneke slugs and your shotgun can cover a lot of chores if necessary.

I like 5s or 6s for rabbit and squirrel. 7 1/2 for any other small game. Not a diehard turkey hunter but reasonable ranges any high brass 6 would work. HD work my 870s are loaded with Federal flight control 00 8 pellet load. I live alone for the most part too and no close neighbors

My grampa shot #7.5's. My dad wouldn't shoot anything bigger than #6's!


My favorite turkey load is 1 1/8 oz #8's, 12 or 16 gauge.
For my .410, I prefer #9's.

I prefer pattern density over shot size.

YMMV

I just bought boxes like 6, of 12ga, high brass #5's.
Some 16ga, a couple 410 shells and one lonely 20ga.
Figures, I prefer 20ga.

Any shotshell that will kill a squirrel will kill a turkeys head.

Kept mine happy , found a #6 in a pheasant breast . Sucked .

My favorite for Squirrel/Rabbit hunting is a 20ga and I hunt with high brass 1oz #5's for squirrel and 1oz #6 for rabbits....If im turkey hunting i will be toting a 12ga loaded with 3" 1 7/8oz #4 or #5 and I keep my 18" barrel Retay pump thats by my bed loaded with high brass 1oz #4 shot....Good hunting neighbor....Hb

My .410 patterns well out to at least 30 yards with 7 1/2s. I shoot clays with it occasionally, but it’s expensive. Might be worth your while to pick up some Brenneke 3” slugs and 000 buck loads too JIC. I have Skeet, M, F, and Turkey tubes for my Henry SS, but if limited to one, I’d take the Modified. The slugs do better from the Skeet, but still stay inside about 3” at 50 yards with a red dot and the Modified, and Fed 3” 000 buck patterns at 30 yards can be covered with my hand. Nothing to sneeze at if you’re on the receiving end.

Lot of people squirrel hunt with shotguns typically people use 6s for squirrels and rabbits and 7 1/2 or 8 for quail and doves.
Lead shot isn't too bad to bite down on. Steel on the other hand can break teeth.

For small game give me #4 or #5. Rather not put much shot into the meat.

Never had trouble killing rabbits or squirrels with either but it has been over 25 years since I used a shotgun on anything other than rabbit hunting with beagles where I used a .410 and #5s.

#4, 5 or 6 fine for turkeys.

7 1/2 for doves or quail.

If limited to 1 shot size for everything I would be okay with #6 shot.

Home defense BB, #2 or #4 shot. If buckshot I am fine with #1, 3 or 4 buck.

YMMV.

I like #6 personally. Most all of my guns shoot it well, regardless of brand of shell. Obviously some are better than other though. That's some of the fun of owning and shooting new guns to you is experimenting to see what your gun likes the best. What patterns you get at particular distances, and so you can shoot and walk back a few steps and shoot again and again until you find the upper limit of what the gun will do.

I only use 7-1/2 or 8's for clays due to having more pellets. But for actual hunting where the goal is to kill it as quickly/humanely as possible, use #5 or 6 shot for them too.

For home defense, either 00 or 000 buckshot. Even though you said you didn't have to worry about over-penetration, I still like either the Hornady TAP low recoil or the Remington managed recoil shells. Mostly because they have less muzzle rise and less recoil and stays on target better if you have to start pulling the trigger to save your life. After all, those are less things to have to deal with when fear and adrenaline kick in.

As for defense, check out Paul Harrell’s voluminous collection of YouTube videos on various shotguns and ammo choices. Sometimes his testing methods drive me a bit crazy, but here he’s done a very thorough job, even to building wall sections to test and demonstrate the penetration (and over-penetration) of various shot types and sizes.

For my part, my Mossberg 590 is stuffed with 3” HeviShot #2s, which should get ‘er done……