I would like some feedback from some of you guys that know. I have a Winchester 1300 XTR from my youth that I am looking at turning into a dedicated turkey gun. It has a 28" barrel right now. I am looking at cutting it down/re threaded and can't decide on what length. From what I have read the barrel length will not matter if using the proper choke. This sounds right to me. My current 12ga set up is a 1300 short turkey with an 18" barrel and it's a killing machine. I am thinking of cutting this 20ga to 18" and matching it with the 12 but not sure yet that will get me the results I am looking for. Might need to stay at 20 or 21"?
Thanks for any ideas or feedback.
Give William at Sumtoy a pm or facebook him, I'm sure he has some 1300 experience. 18" sounds a bit shy to me, my NWTF 12 gauge 1300 is 21". I dont think Id want to go any shorter than that with a 20. Theres a lot of info on the 20 gauge 870s with some getting great patterns from 21" and others preferring 24-26".
21" is as low as I would dream of going on the 20 gauge for weight distribution and sight alignment. This length has done well in many youth sizes, esp. 870 20 ga.
My 1100 youth is 21 inch and it is as short as I would like for the reasons Killdee has states over.
I have a Remington 870 with a 20" barrel and is about as short has I would want too go. My short barreled turkey gun with the right load and choke are deadly on turkeys. I have had great results with lead loads and Hevi 13.