Help me pick a 20 gauge

[g8rvet]

Okay, let me say that the last thing I need is another shotgun.  I have plenty of guns and one to do everything.  I just want one. I want to set up a little 20 gauge for turkey hunting only. It will never be used for anything else.  I have a Win 101 20g that I dove hunt with (and have been using for over 35 years).  I am partial to pump guns and O/U because that is what I have always shot. My turkey gun is an 870 Express 12 gauge, 26".  I have a good load figured for it and know it will kill birds - all of mine have been taken with it.

I have a youth 870 that I have recently set up for my daughter and have found a very forgiving 30 yard pattern with a factory full and Fed HW #7, but I bought a Trulock for it to get a better pattern if and when she is more experienced and confident in not missing a close bird. It is an absolute blast to shoot.   

I have kind of narrowed it down a little.  I am thinking a synthetic stock youth 870 - cheap, tough, already have a choke, very comfortable with the 870.  Also very interested in a Mossberg Inter SA-20.  Another one that has me intrigued is the Weatherby SA-459 Turkey model-the ghost ring sights are a negative-can those be replace with a conventional rear sight?  I don't care at all about pretty (I have those guns) and price is an issue since this will be a one use gun (that I really don't need).  I like low maintenance.

I definitely want ultra short and ultra light.  For no real reason other than to kill a gobbler with a pop-gun when everyone else is carrying a Howitzer.  The youth 870 I have for my daughter has me itching for a 20 now.  I could just carry hers when she is not with me, but worried the POA will be different with 2 different chokes and I just kinda want my own gun to keep (I am sure her youth will end up with a grandkid one day).

Sorry for the ramble, but this place is so full of smart folks with good advice.

[gobblergls]

With the ammo available today and especially with handloading dense tungsten shot, there is no handicap in using a 20 gauge compared with a 12 gauge.  The benefit  is weight savings in both gun and payload. For the ultimate in weight savings and overall gun length, consider break action single-shot 20's.    A break action gun with the same stock and barrel length of an auto, pump or bolt action will be close to three inches shorter than the auto, bolt or pump action.

[cutt down]

I have the weatherby sa-459 20ga & really like it a lot! I posted a pic of it in the turkey gun picture thread on page 24. I removed the ghost ring sight & put a Burris FFlll on it instead. It has a picatinny rail. With a Sumtoy choke I get 180+/- in the 10 @ 40yds with Fed HW 7's. With the Rob Roberts 570 choke I get 165+/- @ 40yds. It's a dream to shoot! I don't even tote my 12ga anymore! The sa-459 uses benelli mobile choke threads. For some odd reason I think the sa-20 uses a different thread pattern but I might be wrong on that but mine does use mobile choke threads.