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20 or 12 guage?

Old 08-03-2008, 01:25 AM
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Default 20 or 12 guage?

I have a 12 year old son that will be a new shooter and I want to share an 870 Express combo shotgun with him for deer and for turkey. Should I go ahead and get the 12 guage because he should grow in to it soon or just get the 20 guage? What is the difference between the two in terms of maximum yardage and knock down power?

I was also thinking of getting a 597 22 LR for him to get started practicing with.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
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Old 08-03-2008, 05:00 AM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

I bought my grandsons a 870 20 guage a few years ago and they are nice, proven shotguns. They use it for sporting clays mainly, but with a slug barrel it should be a potent deer gun. Unless he is a bigger than average boy I would start him off with the 20. They use a .243 on deer.
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Old 08-03-2008, 07:15 AM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

The only real advantage you are going to gain with a 12 ga would be with turkey. You will be able to get a larger payload and possibly some extra distance with a 12. However the recoil of these loads is pretty severe. A 20 ga with some good fast pheasant loads and a full choke should work well on turkey. They make turkey loads for a 20 ga as well. And if you are using a rifled barrel for deer and modern sabot loads they work excellent on deer.

Paul
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Old 08-03-2008, 08:29 AM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

It really depends on the your son. I have two sons the oldest at 11 was shooting a 12 gaand the youngest at 12 is still shooting a 20 gu most of the time although thisspring the youngest did shot a 12 gu turkey hunting without any problems and harvest a 3 bearded jake. Take him out with both guns and see which he handles the best. My oldest son was much bigger than my youngest at 11. My oldest is 15 now and is 6'4" tall and weighes 210lbs pretty good size boy for his age.
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Old 08-03-2008, 11:55 AM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

20g fo sho
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Old 08-03-2008, 12:00 PM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

If it was me I would go with the 20ga. You will have less recoil with the 20, plus more accuracy, and range shooting slugs.If you want to reach out there a long ways to shoot turkeys just get you a good choke, and some Nitro's, or to a lesser extent Hevi-13.
Good luck, glad to see another kid getting involved in the outdoors.
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Old 08-03-2008, 12:40 PM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

I would go with the 20. I still like hunting with a 20. It is just as lethal as anything else.

I would not go with the 597 though. I work at a sporting goods store and have many complaints about them. A guy a work bought one and said that every fifth shot doesn't eject. Even after he tried all kinds of amunition it still does it. He wishes he would have bought something else. For a good .22 go with a Savage, Marlin, or a Ruger. They are much better qualityatthe same price or a little more.Just my two cents worth, which really isn't worth two cents at all.
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Old 08-03-2008, 01:06 PM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

i have a mossberg 500 20 ga and a mossbers 535 12 ga, and i like the 12 for everything EXCEPT deer, the 20 isEXTREMELY more accurate and with lightfield slugs, its the 2nd best deer gun ive ever owned (behind a traditions .54 cal muzzleloader)

-but really, it all depends on what youre hunting for
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Old 08-03-2008, 01:27 PM
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Default RE: 20 or 12 guage?

It is settled, I am only going to get him the 20 guage and split it with him. The youth hunt is coming up and I do not want him to miss it! No need to get the 22 for training, he can do it all with the 20 guage.

Thank you all for the decision.
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