Mossberg SA 20 first impression

[Tail Feathers]

I had a little extra gun money and decided I wanted a light weight turkey gun.  After some research, I decided on the 5.5 pound SA 20 and found a good price online.  It arrived at my FFL four days later.  I've had it several days and finally took time to go shoot it some this morning.  It shoots very well, especially considering how light it is.   BTW, my digital fish scale says it's 6 lbs.  It is light in the hand tho. The ghost ring sight seemed to be spot on shooting freehand.
The LOP is on the shorter side of normal at 14.25".  It really hits the sweet spot for me.  Shouldering it fast like a wingshooter, it points like a finger.  I am really liking the weight and feel of this gun.  It has an oversize bolt handle.  I could live without that as I think it will poke me in the side when I have the gun slung on my left shoulder.
I picked up an Allen Ultralite sling and it grips the shoulder very well.  Lighter and more grippy than my Claw slings.  I put a Carlson's .575 choke in it and I'll have a red dot on it before season.  The sights on it appear to be good enough to hunt with, but my old eyes like a red dot.  It comes with a picatinny rail I can put on.  I want a low mount so I'm considering other options.  I haven't patterned it yet, but others here on OG have been real happy with the Carlson's and TSS 9's.   I fired a couple of rounds of heavy 6's into cardboard and what I saw makes me think this will pattern pretty dense.  Further testing with TSS will tell down the line.  I did fire off a few rounds in quick succession to check function.  No problems there.
I'll update this when I get some patterning done.  That will probably happen after I get a red dot on it.  Any way, so far I'm a happy SA 20 owner.

[Dtrkyman]

Mine weighs closer to that 6lb mark as well.

Removed the factory ghost ring and put a tru glo rifle sight, little more compact than the factory and already had it.

Mine had an occasional issue firing two rounds with one trigger pull, degreased the bolt and it seems to have solved the issue, I believe the firing pin was not retracted all the way after first shot?

Been a great gun so far, I have only ever shot hand loads from mine, the factory tube did well and the Indian creek .555 is impressive!  The close patterns are more forgiving with the factory tube but not drastically so I roll with the IC.

Main complaint is the finish is wearing off a bit, but it sees a lot of use!  Gonna keep it as my main gun until someone makes a 3lb 20ga!


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[FL-Boss]

Yes, they do weigh more than the advertised weight. Low 6's ... but still probably the lightest 20GA auto right now on the market. I have had a few of them over the years.. still have one dipped in Greenleaf /Cerekote, only been shot about 10 times. But thinking about selling the gun to start on another project turkey gun.

[Roost 1]

Yes, they do weigh more than the advertised weight. Low 6's ... but still probably the lightest 20GA auto right now on the market. I have had a few of them over the years.. still have one dipped in Greenleaf /Cerekote, only been shot about 10 times. But thinking about selling the gun to start on another project turkey gun.

Let me kno... I might kno a guy.

[Tail Feathers]

Good looking gun Boss.  Does the cerakote add weight?  It looks like it would. 
If I like it, I'm sure I can find a way or two to deal with a poor finish.

Yes, they do weigh more than the advertised weight. Low 6's ... but still probably the lightest 20GA auto right now on the market. I have had a few of them over the years.. still have one dipped in Greenleaf /Cerekote, only been shot about 10 times. But thinking about selling the gun to start on another project turkey gun.

[Jordan121787]

Yes, they do weigh more than the advertised weight. Low 6's ... but still probably the lightest 20GA auto right now on the market. I have had a few of them over the years.. still have one dipped in Greenleaf /Cerekote, only been shot about 10 times. But thinking about selling the gun to start on another project turkey gun.

Let a brother know. I'll be in Florida (destin) in 2 weeks 

[lunghit]

Good luck with the new gun Tail Feathers. I am picking up my new SX4 on Tuesday. The FF3 and Meadow creek mount arrived today.

[Dtrkyman]

What did the cerakote and green leaf dip cost you?

[squirrel_hunter]

I bought one also. I like mine good gun for the money.

[tman74]

How does the synthetic furniture sound and feel? I had one and was hollow sounding and noisy while moving through the bush when branches brushed against it.

[hoythunter]

I have the same gun and really like it. The synthetic stock does not have that hollow sound to it. It had a solid feel and is not noisy.

[Turkeyfever]

I got one back when Mossberg called it the SA 20 turkey thug. I shoot the Carlson 575 in mine and it is a sweet set up. I have a swamp fox kingslayer green dot on mine and it is a shooter! I shoot TSS #9 . You will be pleased! Great gun

[Matt76cmich]

All the good reviews of the SA-20 is really getting me interested in the version that just came out. Just not sure what the main differences are from a Tristar G2 Viper to make it worth the extra money.

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[Tail Feathers]

I haven't counted pellets, but I shot the gun in yesterday and patterned with Apex 9's and the Carlson's choke.  It put 24 pellets in the neck bones and brain area on the target and plenty of others in the flesh part of the pic.  40 yard shot.  I like it.

[Dtrkyman]

It's a shooter, I hear good things about the .575 in it.

Honestly the factory tube is an excellent hunting choke!

Mine did have another double tap, this time it was on a bird not a practice round!


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