Choke tube/newer shot questions

[mountain_man]

I've got a 870 20 gauge that I use for turkey. It has served me well but I didn't connect with a bird that hung up out at the edge of my range. I was debating on getting a 12 gauge to sling more pellets but now I'm wondering if I would be money ahead by adding a red dot to help with the longer shots and switching loads up. I'm looking at broadening my turkey shot horizons. Been using traditional stuff for some time and was looking at the newer loads and trying to make heads or tails out of the new metal types. It's been a while since I have needed to buy a choke tube and apparently a lot has changed. Used to be lead or steel. Now I see rated for tss, hevi shot and bismuth. So which ones are compatible with other kinds of shot. Will a tss work for bismuth, hevi shot, steel and lead or is it tss only? Similarly for the bismuth and hevi tubes.

 

[kalielkslayer]

I’m not a Turkey hunter but TSS, in #9s, is supposed to be some great stuff in a 20.

I started patterning loads for both self defense and upland game 20 years ago.

That will tell you a lot.

Pattern what you use as a baseline, then go from there.

 

[jmr40]

The TSS shells work. But they are also $15-$20 every time you pull the trigger. You could spend $200-$300 in ammo trying different loads and choke tubes experimenting. Plus some of the tubes are $50+ each. But I guess once you find what works $20/shot to kill a turkey isn't all that bad. But it's more than I'm willing to pay.

The safest bet is a 12 ga firing common 3" turkey loads through the factory full choke. That should be effective on turkey out to 40ish yards and most any off the shelf #4, #5, or #6 shot shell. An aftermarket extra full tube will extend that range a little.

If you're going to hunt with a 20 you're going to have to limit your ranges, and choosing the right shell is more critical. I bought one of the 870 youth 20's several years ago, but at the time didn't find a shell that patterned tight enough to feel comfortable with so I kept hunting with my 12.

Two years ago I decided to try again and found a load that I feel good about out to 35 yards. That is good enough for me and I've been using it the last 2 seasons. Where I hunt 35 yards would be a long shot anyway

 

[GooseGestapo]

In my career as a game warden I saw a common event.
It’s also prevalent on the skeet range.
It’s raising the cheek off the stock and shifting focus on the front sight to the intended target.
It causes a miss shooting high!

I saw it becoming prevalent with turkey hunters about the time the shift to tighter and tighter chokes occurred along with sights and scopes. The patterns are almost rifle like..

My suggestion is a cheaper practice load and spend more time on the range shooting from field positions.
The last turkeys I killed, I stumbled up on and dropped both with a 1-1/4oz load of #5’s from my CZ 20ga s/s. Range was 27yds. Improved Modified choke.
2 turkeys with a 50cent shell.
Don’t over think it!