I was a little skeptical of the 20 at first, but after seeing the patterns and how they will absolutely hammer a gobbler, its all I have carried the last 6 or 7 years.

It may help to think in terms of ounces of shot and gun weight rather than gauge. My son's 20GA O/U is a 5.5# gun throwing 7/8oz od T10s with a full choke. It is pleasant to shoot, easy to hit with and makes 40 yards.

My 3.3# .410 kicks like a 30/06. I draw a fine bead lest I pull the shot. Missing is easy. It is a fifty.yard gun all day every day on paper; though I have yet to kill one past 35 with it. It is about as effective as a 3" 12ga like we used 20 years ago. Maybe a little more. I haven't done the 40 yard dash in a long time, but that was part of the game every time back then.

If bloodthirsty, I carry my 6# 20ga O/U, throwing 1 5/8oz of pure death. It's more gun than that old 935 with 2oz lead ever was.

I have tested it with a factory full choke to fifty yards. Good grief. That's 3 feet wide and nary a hole in it. You couldn't miss. You couldn't eat the bird neither but you'd not miss.

I hunt with a single shot 20 gauge. I had it cut to 18.5” and threaded. With 1 3/8oz of 9s, it will kill them from as far as I want to and then some. The entire gun is 30”, and less than 4lbs.

Hunt with what you got. Been hunting with a 12 for a long time and still am. I do have a 20 I could hunt with.

I’m too superstitious, been lugging this ole 1187sp 12 for the last 23 years. I’m real picky about how a turkey gun points while I’m sitting down next to a tree, I like the height of the rifle sights on my sp barrel.

Been hunting with a Benneli M2 12 ga for 13 years. It does a good job killing them out to 60 yards. Going to a 20 ga shooting less pellets at them seems like a downgrade to me. You don’t fix what ain’t broke. I can understand why some would want to hunt with a 20 though. My daughter is shooting .410 with 9.5 tss and I know what it can do. Maybe one day I’ll kill one with it just for the challenge but not yet.

A 20 gauge has no advantage over a 12, other than being easier to carry. And a 12 has no advantage over a 10. I use a 20 these days because with TSS it is more than adequate to kill turkeys.

I believe I was the first one to use a 12 gauge 3.5" TSS load. If anyone else had one, they didn't post about it on any of the turkey forums. It would hammer a turkey, but after using it a few seasons I decided it was overkill. But there is no reason at all to not use a 12 gauge if you want to do it.

I have a 12 1100 magnum with a 21” barrel and a 870 20ga with h a 21” barrel, haven’t toted the 12 in years but I toted both last season and the weight difference wasn’t too bad. I might carry both again this year.

I will carry both - SBE2 12 and 20 gauge

I have both and usually carry both in the truck. It’s hard for me to grab a 20 when my 12 is right beside it. Nothing against the 20 because I love it. It’s a compact 870 that would definitely get the job done. I’ve just never given it the opportunity.

Damn I'm behind the times . I hunt with a bps 10ga 30in barrel
Or
S&W 916T 12ga 30in full choke barrel

20th century. Lol.

I was kind of a 20-gauge guy a long time ago before it was cool. I shot a lot of birds and small game with one. I never felt undergunned. I was slipping into a duck spot one morning back when I was a waterfowler and there were some geese standing on a weedy sandbar right where I was going. I think I had steel 3’s in the gun. I raised up and smoked the goose I could see best. I was astonished when I got over to it and there were two of them laid out from a single shot. I plastered a fox once with a load of 6’s too. That said, TSS really is the game changer for turkey hunting with a 20. Also, a Sims Limbsaver recoil pad will make those lightweight 20s much more pleasant to shoot. The factory pad on a 3020 is like a rock.

I have a Remington Sp-10 that will fold up specks like paw paw’s flannel. When Apex started sponsoring the outfitter I guided for we would get the clients to first shoot their setup, then run a shell of 10ga tss through her. All of them would switch. Nothing better when they go boom but that wasn’t always the case

I still carry a model 12, uncle's, for the first kill, a 60's made 1100, uncle's, for the second, a fifties A5, dad's, for the third, and roll back to the model 12 for the rest of the birds. All are in 12 gauge and none can shoot the new stuff, only lead. I've carried a model 12 for about 48 years for turkeys. I think I will stick to this setup for the my time I have left. I have a fiberglas barrel 12 that is a pretty light gun for my granddaughter when she gets older.

What's wrong with the old stuff? I've killed my share over the years. I guess my handle should be changed to old school.