reasonable range youth 20 gauge

I am going to take my Daughter who is 10 turkey hunting this spring. I picked up a Remington 870 youth 20 Gauge for her. Having only turkey hunted with a 12 gauge myself I am a little unsure of what a reasonable effective range is for a 20 gauge. My initial thought is to have her do most of the practice shooting at 20 yards and hold the max limit at 30 yard. With some practice is a 30 yard shot reasonable? I also want/need to pick up a full turkey tube. Any suggestions on a good one to start with for the Youth 870?

The 20 guage has plenty of power, but it comes down to the concentration of shot placement. I’ve been impressed with seeing some of the targets (paper turkey targets) shot at our sportsmen club by kids with the 20 guages. 30-35 yrds having 5-10 in the head and neck. I wouldn’t hesitate to test it on paper at 35yrds to see what you have.

Randy

What kind of head and neck count would you feel is acceptable for a good killing shot? Do you know what shot loads most are shooting out those youth 20 gauges? How about choke choice?

I wouldn’t want anyone hunting with me that is hitting less than 5. Others may have a differing opinion.

I’m no expert on shotguns. Not my forte’, but I would look for full choke or Extra full. We shoot all 5 shot turky mag loads and have had fantastic results. Though regardless of what works for me, pattern them in your gun first.
Joel nelson I think did a report or video on turky load testing. If i find it, I’ll put a link on here.

Turkey loads and chokes can be very finicky. Drastic differences between loads shot through different chokes and guns.

This combination is very capable at killing a turkey out to 45 yards…That is if she is proficient at that range. There are a couple great options for the youth 870.

The Hevi-13 20ga #6’s are pretty stellar especially when using the the Indian Creek .555…well worth the money. The Hevi-13 choke tube or the TruGlo Strut Stopper Xtreme are other good choke tubes with that gun.

The Federal heavy weight #7 with a Trulock (PHREM20575P) choke is pretty astounding also. Phenomenal 40 yard patterns.

The world of turkey loads and choke tubes can be a crazy (and expensive) mess but when you find something that works it’s special!

Hopefully this helps!

Remember in the world of shotguns the pellet energy is the same whether fired by a 410 or 10 ga if the velocity is the same. All that matters is pattern density at the range you intend to shoot. I would try hevi shot #6 and see which choke tube it patterns the best out of. MY Rem express 20ga did ok with the factory mod tube at 35 yards with 7 lethal hits every time. Only patterning will tell you what works as even the same model with the same brand shells may pattern differently.

No doubt in my mind, no matter what you are shooting, pattern, pattern, pattern!!! You are shooting a shotgun very much like a rifle in a lot of cases, so knowing where your pattern is at will help in aiming as well!!!

Mark

Remington factory x full and #7 Federal Heavy Weights is what we use. Tight tight 40’s and enough energy for more than that.

CW

Lots of good things being said here. I’m all about pellet counts, providing the pellet size/material has enough downrange energy to penetrate and kills. From my experience, copper-plated lead is simply out-performed at the range, in nearly every category by higher density loads like Hevi Shot, Heavyweight, etc.

When I pattern, I’m looking for somewhere around 100 pellets (more is better) in a 10″ circle at various ranges. You’ll typically see a point where the pellet counts really fall off. I’m a fan of smaller pellets (6’s and 7s), as more of them fit in a shotshell and fill in holes in your pattern and deliver more on-target hits down-range.

For alot of well-choked 20 gauges using a hevi-type load, that’s 35 yards plus. Where that range is exactly depends on your patterning for your gun, your choke, and the load you select. Good luck!

Joel