May have a chance to take my boys on a youth hunt for turkey west of San Antonio in a couple of weeks. We duck hunt, so all our gear is for that. Don't know anything yet about the cover or how we will be set up.

We will be shooting a 20 gauge Benelli M2 in either 26 or 28 inch barrel configuration.

Looking for some tips on what type of load we should be trying to source (hope it's not as bad as rifle ammo) and also any thoughts on what choke to go with. I've got the Benelli std chokes that came with the gun and for duck hunting over decoys, we've been using a Rob Roberts T2 or T3.

Many Thx.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/federal-premium-heavyweight-tss-turkey-shotshells

https://www.rogerssportinggoods.com...turkey-loads-20-gauge-3-1-1-2oz-1200-fps

If you can find them, they are king!

What shot size should we be looking for?

Any alternates if the TSS load are too hard to find?

I kill turkeys reliably with factory full choke with Heavy shot #6 from Remington or Heavy shot. First I saw killed with a 20 was a kid I took hunting and I gave him some of the Remington loaded Heavy shot shells, first gobbler that morning was about 10 yards the second was at 42 yards. It works.

TSS is great but expensive and can be hard to find.

When I was a kid I just hunted them with my single shot 20ga and high brass #6 shot. It was good out to at least 35 yards. Good hard lead shot still kills turkeys dead every year the newer heaver than lead shot you can sue smaller shot for more shot in the pattern and the same or higher energy per piece of shot.

These days I hunt turkey with a 20ga Benelli and factory full choke and through patterning it I am comfortable to 45 yards with the heavy shot. I could extend that with the TSS but I like to call the in close and shoot them in the face.

Take a 22

Believe it or not, I don't have a 22 anymore. Sold a 10/22 years ago and then had a Marlin heavy barrel 22 bolt action... sold it too.

Kmon1... thx for advice as always.

On the way back from Norman, I stopped in the Academy just to see what was on the shelf. To my surprise they had 7mm-08 in Hornady SST load. I was looking for that stuff all last year and it was like hen's teeth. Suppose I'll try to trade it for some turkey shot if I come up empty.

I agree that the standard issue full choke works the best. I have used the kicks full turkey chokes and believe it or not missed at 20 to 30 yards. I think the patterns are way too tight or they just don't pattern well with my Benelli M2. My suggestion is to wait for the bird to extend his head and shoot at the base of the neck when he is standing sideways. Others may have a different opinion here and I would love to hear from those that have a lot of success but this is what has worked for me. Hope this helps.

I like to get them to extend their heads up then put the bead where the neck feathers stop on the neck. if a gobbler has his waddles red you can get away with things like a putt or two to get him to extend that neck out or just say something like boo, bang or hey you. Be ready to shoot though when he sticks his head up.

Good luck and have a great time in the woods

TSS is pricy(to pattern) - but it's not like dove hunting.
Winchester Long Beard XR are pretty good - #5 if it patterns good in your gun.
If you can't find either, Winchester Double X, Federal Grand Slam, etc.

In a pinch just get what you can find and pattern it with a full choke. If it patterns high and left, just adjust your aim point accordingly until you have a chance to try a variety of brands to see what works best for the gun you use. I've never used any of the higher end shotshells. The Winchester stuff in 4,5 or 6 shot has been effective for me. Good Luck.

I've killed many with duck/goose loads...3" #2's will smack em.

I didn't want to use the steel shot duck loads due the loss in density as compared to the heavier shot in a turkey load. I just know that at 40 yards some of the bigger ducks smile back if you don't get a good hit. I have heavier metal duck load for 12 gauge, but not for 20 which is what we will be using.

Had a member PM me yesterday that Scheels had some... was able to get some 20 gauge 3rd Degree TSS load (that was about all they had) and get the rebate for it as well. Got 4 boxes... so hopefully enough to pattern and have for several days of hunting.

Have fun!

If your shots are inside 30 yards a full choke load of 7.5s will do. Check for 10 hits in a 2" circle and even spread around in 10". As far as it'll do that is how far you can shoot.

For the tss it's 100 hits in 10" and an even spread out to 20".

Easy to miss at short range with tight patterns. Sometimes it is best to let them step off to where the pattern spreads more.