12 Gauge vs 20 Gauge
 

Is there a big disadvantage with the 20 gauge as far as grouping and distance compared to the 12 gauge?

Yes, but due to improvement in turkey loads and chokes, it's not very much. With a hevi-shot load and a good choke tube, you should be able to take a bird at 40 yd. with a 3" 20 ga.

Im sure you can get a 20ga to kill out to 40 yards... But Im sure what ever you can do with a 20ga a 12 ga will do better...

If you can handle the 12... I'd get the 12ga

The only reason I'm even considering the 20 gauge is because I have some young daughters that are interested in turkey hunting, which I am thrilled about. So I'm sure the recoil is not near as bad with the 20 gauge.

I have a friend thats a nurse that kills birds regularly with a super Black eagle 20g

A few things to consider - a semi-auto shotgun recoil is far less than a pump which is less than a single shot - so keep that in mind.

A 20 ga will do just fine at 40 if you pattern. My daughters used a Remington 1100 with 3" #4 copper shot with no problem at all. I even added a Tru-Glo sight to help them concentrate on the hit zone.
And we always tried to get the bird in at 20 yards or so as that is how I hunt.........

What a 12 does bring is more payload as far as number of shot per shell fired

........but a 20 will kill just as dead......

JW

I agree with the others. There is no need to beat her up with a 12. Just call them in range. It's waaay more fun to have them in your lap.

A Rem 11-87 20ga is what my daughter uses. My gun dealer advised me to buy a regularly sized gun and purchase a youth stock on Ebay, separately. It is less expensive than buying the youth model. Plus, we have a full sized gun later on. But, if I were doing it all over again, I would look into something with a thumb hole stock. Wow, they tuck right in there. My daughter picked one up the other day and loved it.

Well said. I have shot some 20 guage pumps that kicked more than some 12's I have shot. With a decent semi-auto, they have very, very low recoil. That's what I'd recommend. Even a semi-auto 12 over a pump 20. If you went with a semi-auto 12, you could have your daughters shoot lighter loads and have less recoil than a 20 ga pump with more pellets sent down range. Just an idea.

I understand what you guys are saying about the semi-auto, but I don't have the funds to get one. Been looking at the H&R and Mossberg Maverick.

You 12 gauge chest pounders make me laugh...

I've always liked a semi even though alot of times I'll only load 1 shell.Just seems to feel better(to me anyways)

my next turkey gun is a 20. I too have daughters soon ready to shoot but even without that I have seen 20's perform exceptionally well that the idea of lugging a smaller gun around suits me too. I don't need to prove anything with the larger 12 but I do love my current one.

If it's for a girl then yes id stick with the 20...

Careful - My daughter might take offense at that! What does sex have to do with it?

I suggest for any young hunter male or female - AND - At the ages most are getting the youth involved today, the better the experience you can make for the child while out there in the field, the better chance they will WANT tofollow you again in the future.!

Oh my daughter - she will be shooting my Remignton 1187-3" 12 ga this yr. She has outgrown the 20 youth model by about 15 yrs :) People now call her Mom!

JW

GEE Dave,You must be really old.:jaw:

When i first started reading responses on here, money is the first thing i thought of also, a 12 will prob reach farther than a 20 but realistically, eaven for an experienced hunter you want them within 40 yrds, 35 or less i think. At that range a properly patterned 20 with a good shot will kill them just as dead as anything else. Being new hunters the closer the better no matter what they're shooting. But eaven a 20 ga in a single shot with a 3" mag is gonna knock em pretty good. Just make sure whatever you go with they get some trigger time so they know what to expect when the action hits!

Banner year this year for sure - You all will be helping find my retirement! Thank you!

hehe

JW

Adrian, I miss the pics of you with your old turkey gun.........lol. Love my 20 too!

If it can throw a good pattern of shot out to 40 yds. And smack em in the head 12 or 20 doesn't matter. Patterning sessions at the range and the shooters preference is all that's needed. I'd use anything that shot good. I 've had my 1187 supermag for around 11a seasons. I have let youth hunters use it with no problems. My daughter likes her 20 though. Goodluck with whatever you choose.

Your not getting me to do it , LB called me a Girl ! :biggrin:

The 12 has some advantages but IMO overall the 20 is better.

I went with the 20 Gauge Pardner Pump in camo. Have not decided what choke to get for it yet though.

Thanks for the opinions.

Nothing wrong with a 20ga.

If i had a 20ga that would out perform my 12... I'd shoot it...

A 20 gauge gets my vote. I can still clearly remember my childhood and i held the shells in my hand and that told me which one to try first.

I almost edited the original post but wanted to add that what I am trying to express is seeing through a youth's eyes can express fear in handling size. I know you can get lighter loads that make a 12 identical to the recoil as a 20 gauge but young people see physical size differences and get timid. Start them out with a 20 gauge and scrape up in the meantime to but them a 12 later on. A 20 will keep them going on anything a 12 will do in the meantime. Enjoy turkey hunting!

Well the thing is that when you use the choices you have for products in the 20 gauge along with the experence of 20 gauge shooters that have spent the money in finding the formula to make a 20 gauge every bit as good as a 12 gauge then you have cut most of the corners and saved along with gaining what you wanted.

A 20 gauge can shoot every bit as good as a 12. After testing 8-9 different chokes and spending hundreds of dollars I found that the Pure Gold .570 seem to be the best for the hevi shot field of ammo. As far as trying to get copper to shoot the dence patterns your looking for , you might as well yell up a tree, its not going to happen. Another thing is keepmin mind the hevi shot formula is a little different then the coppers sisters were used to shooting. Shot size turns out to be about one size larger then the lead/coper counter parts. Not being perfectly round in shape they make the size 6 look more like 5's and the loads also keep in mind are also much smaller as with 12 gauge your getting 2 oz loads rather then 1 3/8 oz loads in a 20 gauge shell.

By also doing work on your gun and putting time into polishing the forcing cone and barrel you can change the way your turkey gun shoots.

before polishing




after polishing





making sure that the combo will shoot close to the same all the time, so taking a number of shots to see what average count your gun will stay at,




All patterns are at 40 yards, so I would say that if a bird is in that range, the 20 gauge should not have any problem cleanly taking the bird...

Great pics and work AJH!!!! What compound did you use to polish the barrel and did you lengthen the forcing cone on the 20 before polishing the barrel? I have several of my trap guns with lengthened forcing cones and it really made a difference in the patterns, especially at the longer distances I shoot in AA class.

The 20 has set multiple world turkey shoot championships. I know that it set the world record with 43 pellets in a 4" circle at 40 yds with factory Hevi-Shot turkey loads, before Hevi-13 came out and with a Wrights Superior Choke tube.

There is nothing wrong with a 20ga I know a few guys who use a 410

Difference is about 10-15 yards

I only used wd-40 in the barrel, but now understand there is some much better cleaners on the market.

Yes I did have my forcing cone done as I shoot the cheap Benelli Nova it had a very short 3/4 in cone. It made a difference I believe...

My daughter shoots a Mossberg 500 youth model that shoots patterns as good at 35 as my SBE II does. Jellyhead and Hevi-13's.

Well it's time to get in this 20 vs 12 ga. Probably 30+ years ago, I started turkey hunting with a single shot stevens in 20 ga, 26 inch barrel, plus full choke, no screw in tubes back then. I have no idea how many turkeys fell to that old gun and I still have it as a snake gun in my yard (lot of diamond backs, copper heads, and timber rattlers in my area). I started my son now 43 with that gun and he got his limit here in GA with it every year, which is 3 birds.

For years I wanted to go back to a single shot and bought one about 5 years ago that had a crossbolt saftey, no hammer. I had several modifications done to it and even put a scope on it, thanks to JW! It is in a 12 ga. and I believe JW! will back me up, it is a killing machine. Last season I took 3 birds with it, one at 62 steps and one at 64 steps, one at 10 steps. The last time JW! was here hunting with me I questioned/doubted I steped a yard, so we check my step/yardage and we found that at 50 steps I actually was only covering about 43 yards, JW! will have to correct this.

But back to the 20 ga. in 3 inch mag., it will a kill a bird that far with right shells. I'm, as JW!, geting older and now thinking about going back to a 20. Set up right, it will do the job.

My 2 cents and that's cause all I have (broke military retiree and loving it).

One other comment, I don't think JW! is coming down to hunt with me this year and is sad, what a great friend.

dog1

Paul your so right. Yes a 20 can be built to shoot just like a 12 but it does cost. The chances of a new off the shelf gun to perform the same distances is a fat chance...

Second vote for a 20 gauge, haha. Do some realize this is not a ballistics thingy it's more pointed at youth handling?

April 19, 2011 - 09:46hrs
47° F
Elev 2311ft
2 year old bird 1¼" Spurs
25lbs
1 7/8" Beard (Beard Rot Due to Mites)

Mossberg® Mdl 500C 20ga
Wrights® SWARM™ .555" choke
Winchester® Supreme® High Velocity 3" Mag 1200fps 1 5/16oz #4 Pb (STH2034)
Shot at 42yds
Bird was dead before his beak hit the dirt!
Who needs Hevi•Shot®, Federal® Heavyweight®, Remington® Wingmaster HD®, Winchester® Xtended Range® or TSS?

Pb will "Git-r-Done"!

Another proud and successfull owner of Wrights Superior Chokes.