I am setting up a 20 ga. Stevens 301 for a coworkers grandson to use on a youth hunt. I mounted a red dot, polished the barrel and decided on the Hevi XII load in 3" 1 1/4 oz. #6 at 1350 fps. The gun has a factory extra full that measured .580 or .585 when I checked it. I sighted in the red dot with low brass last night and then shot a few of the hevi loads back at 30 yards. It was good enough to hunt but I believe the pattern could definitely be improved. I am trying to keep the cost fairly low and I was looking at a tightwad (.570) or a SSX (.550) choke to replace the factory choke. Does anyone have any experience with these chokes or any other recommendations?
On a side note - the hevi XII load looks to be a legit 20 ga. shell. It is advertised at 1350 fps, available in 25 round boxes for close to $60. That is better than lead density at a much higher velocity than most other loads with the same amount of shot. The 20 ga longbeard load is 1 1/4 oz. of #6 lead at 1000 fps for comparison. If I can tighten it up a bit I think we will have a really nice setup.
