youth turkey gun

[pseshooter300]

Looking at buying a youth 20 gauge turkey gun for my kid what would be a good one to look at for a kid just starting turkey hunting?

[pseshooter300]

I don't deal with 20 gauge much but what choke tubes work best in the 20 what about shells and how tight of a pattern do you want it shooting for youth

[allaboutshooting]

Looking at buying a youth 20 gauge turkey gun for my kid what would be a good one to look at for a kid just starting turkey hunting?

I'd recommend a Remington 870 or a Mossberg 500. I'd also recommend that you look for one with a 26" barrel, not the shorter ones that many times come on youth or compact guns. The longer barrel will cause less muzzle whip and less pain at the comb of the stock. It will also pattern better than the shorter barrel with less time necessary to find the right choke/shell combo...most times. That's not to say that a shorter barrel can't pattern well, it can but normally the 26" will be much easier to get where you need it to be.

We shoot 20s a lot in both competition and for hunting and have tried, as best I can determine, all of the major commercial chokes. There are a few that do well, some better than others of course. What I look for is consistency in performance with good even patterns. I can recommend a couple based upon our experience.

I'd also recommend that you try the 3" Hevi-13 shells with 1.25 oz. of either #6 or #7 shot. They are excellent turkey loads, readily available and will do the job at ranges up to and including 40 yards.

I like to see good 10" core patterns with a fringe pattern of up to 20" to take care of any movement of the turkey's head and also allow for the "nerve factor" when a big gobbler is out in front of the shooter.

I hope that helps some.

Thanks,
Clark

[tyelper]

weatherby pa08       

[st8tman]

"Santa" brought my 10 year old a 1187 Remington Compact for Christmas. (He is large for his age and has been hunting for 3 years now) Nevertheless, the gun comes with the "Adjustable Stock" whereas you add included spacers as the child grows, up to and including adulthood. Gun is fully camo, and comes with sling swivels. I ended up putting on Williams Firesight/Ghostring for a really nice sight system. I predetermined I wanted to shoot the Fed HW 7's 3" out of this gun. I tried Rem Choke .570, and Trulock .585 neither produced very good patterns. Clark from this forum put me onto a SSX .570 and that proved to be the ticket. Getting 140's with good even patterns, and nice 20" coverage. Like Clark alluded to in the previous post, the short barrel (21") is a little more finicky, but the saved weight and maneuverability for a child outweighed the "convenience/performance" of the longer tubes. I had a hard time finding one of these guns in stock anywhere and eventually settled on Bud's Guns out in Kentucky. Service/shipping excellent. Also the recoil on this gun even with the HW's is very manageable, and kicks considerably less than most pump offerings, which to me was also important for the little one. Sorry for the long post, but always feel compelled to respond when someone is looking to introduce a new hunter, as the future of our sport is truly in their hands!

[dirt road ninja]

I went with the 11-87 compact. It does have the shorter barrel (21") and I would have like a slightly longer one, but I bought it second hand. The first and only choke I tried was the Jellhead in .570 with Hevi 7's. Got 137 @ 40 with an average being a little less.

The little gun is a joy to carry with almost no recoil. My 8 year old has 0 problems with it. I even carry it sometimes when he's not with me.

[msgobblergetter]

"Santa" brought my 10 year old a 1187 Remington Compact for Christmas. (He is large for his age and has been hunting for 3 years now) Nevertheless, the gun comes with the "Adjustable Stock" whereas you add included spacers as the child grows, up to and including adulthood. Gun is fully camo, and comes with sling swivels. I ended up putting on Williams Firesight/Ghostring for a really nice sight system. I predetermined I wanted to shoot the Fed HW 7's 3" out of this gun. I tried Rem Choke .570, and Trulock .585 neither produced very good patterns. Clark from this forum put me onto a SSX .570 and that proved to be the ticket. Getting 140's with good even patterns, and nice 20" coverage. Like Clark alluded to in the previous post, the short barrel (21") is a little more finicky, but the saved weight and maneuverability for a child outweighed the "convenience/performance" of the longer tubes. I had a hard time finding one of these guns in stock anywhere and eventually settled on Bud's Guns out in Kentucky. Service/shipping excellent. Also the recoil on this gun even with the HW's is very manageable, and kicks considerably less than most pump offerings, which to me was also important for the little one. Sorry for the long post, but always feel compelled to respond when someone is looking to introduce a new hunter, as the future of our sport is truly in their hands!

The Rem SSX for 20ga is .550

[pseshooter300]

I found a 500bt mossberg it has adjustable stock I guess is how you would consider it. Can get it with full camo in 20 for around $330

[Hookhunter]

I have a youth benelli nova in 20 ga and run heavi shot mangnum blend through either an undertaker choke or Indian creek .555. The IC is about $50 more and only gave me about 5 more pellets. Youth nova is a nice gun fits me well so your boy should be able to use it for a long time to come. I guess I should say I love an 870 for turkey in fact I use a 3 1/2 supermag myself (for field shots) just bought the nova because it fit better. Good luck hope this helps.

Justin

[st8tman]

My bad MS. I guess my brain was locked in on the Rem Choke as I had high hopes for it. SSX is .550