My 14 year old daughter previously shot a Mossberg 510 Mini Turkey Thug. The gun is almost too small for her now and the recoil is brutal with a 3" shell. I am considering purchasing either a Tristar Raptor Youth or the Mossberg SA20 Youth. I'm on a budget and am just looking at these two guns. Looking for some of your experience with the two. Also I had a Burris FF3 mounted on her 510. I know the Tristars aren't drilled/tapped for optics but I heard they will accept a Sun Optics dovetail Mount? Anyone know if the Mossberg SA20 is drilled/tapped. I am not looking at the turkey model with the 22" barrel, I know that one is. Just the regular youth model with a 24" barrel. Although I will price both.
I have a full size Sa-20 that my son has shot and it is not drilled and tapped.
I have the Tri star raptor youth and it is available at Walmart for 298 and is a great deal for that price! Yes it accepts a sun optics dove tail mount part # SM7015 The gun is a turkey killing machine with a Carlson .575 and Federal TSS #9. The gun has a chrome lined barrel and is easy maintenance. They use the Bereta/ Benelli choke tubes .If you want to see pictures of what the mount looks like PM your # as I have no clue how to post a picture on here. The gun will kick no where near the pump! The Mossberg Sa 20 is not drilled and tapped but you are correct the Sa 20 turkey is , as I have it also and it's a great gun if you decide to look at it.
SA-20 Turkey is drilled and tapped. Tristar - some of them are - this one is cool, about the same price at SA-20, but more gun IMO -
https://www.classicfirearms.com/tristar-24152-viper-g2-brnz-bottomlands-20-24-ct-3/
I have a few Tristars, SA-20 and SA-459 - as said, Carlson .575 works great in all these Turkish guns.