TPhunter

After actuallyreading your post it appears to me thatyou aretrying to do this in the most economical way...I also take it the Mossberg doesn't take screw in choke tubes...That leaves just the Savage single shot with a full choke to try out...I would suggest picking up a box of the new Winchester 20 gauge Xtended Range 3"#5 shotturkey loads and trying them through the Savage since it has the tighter choke...I believe the modified choke is going to be to open andwon't provide a very good pattern past 20 yards...The Savage should pattern pretty well out to 30-35 yards...And yes the new heavier then lead loads will give you a tighter pattern then lead...and to answer your last question...No do not go to 7 1/2 sized shot...they may contain more shot but at 30 yards they will lack the energy to kill a turkey.

20 gauge shotguns are the up and coming gun of choice for turkey hunters...For years they were concidered to light for turkeys but in the past couple of years manufacturers have been really improving the 20 gauges performance to darnednear 12 gauge effectiveness.

Centaur 1

Everyone has a lot of good info on how to hunt turkey with a 20 gauge but i'm not looking to do it as a challenge. I don't own a 12 gauge and I can't afford one right now. My two 20 gauge guns have fixed chokes so buying a choke tube isn't an option either. I know that my lethal range will be short but it sure beats staying at home. I realize that at longer distances a larger pellet size is required in order to retain enough energy to kill a bird. Since these long range shots are out of the question, what is the smallest pellet size that is capable of a clean kill out to 25 or 30 yards? I've heard many of you say that #6 shot is whatyou use, if they are good at longer distances will #7 1/2 shot work at the shorter range that i'll be limited to? I want as many pellets as possible so that I don't handicap myself any more than I have to.

Simp

I didn't realize that you were shooting guns with fixed chokes. That does indeed limit you as to what you should shoot. Having said that, I would definitely try Hevi-Shot. It seems to pattern better than lead in some people's guns. With the fixed chokes, you'll need all the help you can get with patterning. I would try the #6's in Hevi-Shot in both guns and see what kind of patterns you come up with. I would lean toward the single shot with the full choke as the one that'll give you the best patterns with the Hevi-Shot. Good luck! Simp

Branson

In MD, you can't use shot smaller than #6. I'm not sure if your state is the same. Personally I wouldn't use anything smaller anyways. I use #7 1/2s for dove and the occasional squirrel. Just sounds too small for anything much bigger than that (i.e., turkeys).

FLboy77

With the loads out these days and if you get a good extra full turkey choke you could easily kill a bird at 40yds.

Adrian J Hare

I was going to show you a real 20 gauge turkey thumper but as you have fixed choked guns my only advice is pattern some #6 loads and stay within 30 yard range when hunting. I'm sure your going to see your gun will toss a pattern that will kill at that range.


O-O for the choke guys I have a Rhino .575 and beat it with another choke