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Ultraligjt 12g

megalomaniac said:
I haven't done a ton of patterning, but in my mind, I would have thought TSS would be MORE susceptible to overchoking in short bbls vs longer bbls? So that seems surprising a .555 would do that well in a short bbl.
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Ive got 20,22,24in barrels and the ic 555 gives me what i want out to fourty, which is the tightest core i can get. When im shooting turkeys i aim at the top of their noggin cause if i get a pellet in the breast i havnt done my job. Now a 555 in a carlson blows it all to crap
 
I know you ask about 12ga I understand
But I'm never turkey hunting again with anything but A 410

I can't shoot past 50 yrd w my eyes at my age and it will stomp turkeys at 50 yards
it's like carrying a red Ryder BB gun
Plus it don't even scare turkeys when it goes off

My family killed a dz this yr w a Stevens 301 410
3 were 42,45,49
My 8 yr old killed 1 at 45 free hand

I am a waterfowl guide and get to see a couple thousand ducks and geese die a yr.
I get guys feeling the need to shoot the biggest gun you can handle.
But a 12 ga Is way more gun than is needed to shoot turkeys and waterfowl

And I truly understand the guy that says I already have a 12 it's what I'm hunting with.

But for the guy looking to buy a new gun a 12 ga would be the bottom of my list

I carry a 12 ga while guiding because I can't afford the cost of shooting a 410 or 28 ga chasing cripples
 
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kevin mays said:
I know you ask about 12ga I understand
But I'm never turkey hunting again with anything but A 410

I can't shoot past 50 yrd w my eyes at my age and it will stomp turkeys at 50 yards
it's like carrying a red Ryder BB gun
Plus it don't even scare turkeys when it goes off

My family killed a dz this yr w a Stevens 301 410
3 were 42,45,49
My 8 yr old killed 1 at 45 free hand

I am a waterfowl guide and get to see a couple thousand ducks and geese die a yr.
I get guys feeling the need to shoot the biggest gun you can handle.
But a 12 ga Is way more gun than is needed to shoot turkeys and waterfowl

And I truly understand the guy that says I already have a 12 it's what I'm hunting with.

But for the guy looking to buy a new gun a 12 ga would be the bottom of my list

I carry a 12 ga while guiding because I can't afford the cost of shooting a 410 or 28 ga chasing cripples
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Understood... my main reason for going up to a 12g was because I'm chopping it off to 18.5in. In my mind, I need the wider shot column to keep a good pattern with a short bbl. If the ultrasound bbls pattern just as good as the 21 to 24in bbls, I would be easily persuaded to go with a 20g.

Bottom line, I'm not willing to sacrifice my current 20g pattern (250/250), even if it is overkill. I'm just wanting to shave another pound and a couple inches shorter with the same finger of God killing power.

Halfway thinking of even form 3'ing a 15in bbl 12g...
 
Personally, I'd stick with that 870 20 ga w/21" barrel. It's as reliable as anything out there and shoots great with a variety of chokes and loads.

A friend of mine has an 18.5" stock barrel on his 870 20 ga and he said he'd swap it for a 21" if given the chance. He said the shorter barrel is definitely more finicky when it comes to chokes and loads.

Being an 870 guy myself, I think you'll eventually go back to it if you end up trying another setup. Just my 2 pennies worth...
 
I couldn't imagine shooting a turkey load from a 15 in barrel in a 12 ga.
But I use to carry a ten guage in the 80's

I remember when we wanted a 100 pellet shot count when we patterned a gun .

Technology is awesome . I get way better than that from a 410 now. And they are not flopping when I walk up to them . They r dead ! Knocked off their feet flipped over on their back .

Here is a 20 ga video.
Patterning any gun with the right choke . Shooting the load the gun performs well with .
Dead Is dead.

 
Savage said:
I've thought a lot about this. I think the place to save weight is in the stock- not the extra 3" of barrel.

The question becomes "how to I maintain structural integrity while minimizing/altering material?"
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I think you are right about the stock being the place to save weight over the bbl. Chopping the bbl is primarily for maneuverability in the nasty thick stuff I have to walk through down here to get to the more open creek bottoms to hunt.
 
kevin mays said:
I couldn't imagine shooting a turkey load from a 15 in barrel in a 12 ga.
But I use to carry a ten guage in the 80's

I remember when we wanted a 100 pellet shot count when we patterned a gun .

Technology is awesome . I get way better than that from a 410 now. And they are not flopping when I walk up to them . They r dead ! Knocked off their feet flipped over on their back .

Here is a 20 ga video.
Patterning any gun with the right choke . Shooting the load the gun performs well with .
Dead Is dead.

Click to expand...

Dead is dead, but I'm not willing to step down to .410 from my current 20g pattern to save weight (250/250). Simply because I have SO much confidence in that level of pattern density. My current gun is somewhere over 30 one shot birds killed, only 1 miss at 15 yards and 1 cripple (both after changing ammo and POI changed and I didn't realize). May be overkill, but there is nothing worse than crippling a bird.

I'm just looking to shave even more weight and overall length without going less than the 250/250 pattern density.
 
Recoil and sound both
Won't be that bad when shooting a turkey

But sighting it in will be like having a come to Jesus meeting!

Wounding a bird is the worst . Ive wounded 2 . Missed 5-6. All w 12 ga .

Never wounded or missed w a 20 or a 410

Would like to shoot one w a 28 . But haven't

I did have a group of hunters I guided this yr kill 120 ducks in 2 days shooting 28ga's w boss shells

My son set up a 28ga at the end of season but was too busy wackin them w a 410.
Between us and friends I know of 35 birds getting shot w 410's . Zero wounded

TSS has changed the wounded game.

The guy who got it started Blake rice comes on guided hunts w me . and him and my son shoot tss from a 20 ga .

It's unreal. I can't afford to duck hunt w it. But it's unreal . They shoot ducks leaving the hole in the butt at 50 yards and they don't even quiver . Hit the water like a sock

But you hit the nail on the head when you said the key word
"Confidence " . Can't buy that
And I have ALOT of it w my 410
 
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megalomaniac said:
wow, you guys are making me 2nd guess....

is the recoil THAT much more than a lightweight 20g with a full 2oz load??? Payload would be the same as my current load, just 150fps or so faster.
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The savage 301 in 12 ga with Rouge 2oz 9 will flat out destroy your shoulder and i used to own a h&r 10 cannon for about 2 shots and it was bad but the 12 will make you think death would be better than to shoot it again
 
I have a light H&R 12 gauge single shot with a mod choke. I got it cheap and decided I'd shoot a turkey load from it one day. I fired one round, a 3" 2oz Winchester load of #5's.


I've shot 375 H&H's, I've shot mossberg 835's with 3.5" HV's, I've shot single shot 10 gauges, I've shot 458 Win Mags. I'd shoot any of them again, I would not shoot a turkey load from that H&R again.


Just weighed my H&R, it's 6lbs.
 
Remi said:
I have a light H&R 12 gauge single shot with a mod choke. I got it cheap and decided I'd shoot a turkey load from it one day. I fired one round, a 3" 2oz Winchester load of #5's.


I've shot 375 H&H's, I've shot mossberg 835's with 3.5" HV's, I've shot single shot 10 gauges, I've shot 458 Win Mags. I'd shoot any of them again, I would not shoot a turkey load from that H&R again.


Just weighed my H&R, it's 6lbs.
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I had an h&r synthetic 3.5in , it would get your attention 😂
 
megalomaniac said:
So does a single shot kick more than a pump if weights are identical and shell is identical? I don't see how???
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It should be the same. But, you haven't been talking about weights being identical. You are after a sub-five pound gun.

It will be brutal to shoot. I think you are hunting with the optimum rig unless you want to drop down to the .410.
 
If I start taking like this tell me to get outta the woods!
pigs leonard GIF
 
Anticipating Recoil and not patterning a gun is biggest 2 reasons for missing or wounding one.


From 0yard to 50 yard every ga shotgun made will kill the crap out of turkey assuming the shooter has prepared and has an adequate set up
And
He knows how to shoot properly including how to judge distance

I should also add having a red dot you trust is a game changer shooting turkeys also .

With tss and red dots it's like having a cheat code . Put the dot where you sighted it in
Pull the trigger
Game over !

The huge advantage w the 410 is that it doesn't make you blink. So you can stare the dot down on the turkey and when the shell goes off you will still be staring at the bird.


You don't have to gather your senses and look up to see if you killed it.
That's the big advantage .

Birdshot from a 12 ga will make you blink
Same for a 20

Targets are so evolved now how many you hit in a 10in circle is not what's important
It's how many hit in the brain,head, and vertebrae.

that's what one should focus on

In the target below I think there is like 200 in the 10 inch circle . Many that were misses! There are 30 inside 5 inches that were clean misses
What was important was the 18 in the brain and approximately 12 more in the vertebrae.
So when sighting your gun in
Worry about those pellets
Not the 180 that hit in a 10 in circle that obviously are misses .

If I shot turkeys past 50 yards I wouldn't carry a 410z but I don't
And I didn't when I carried a 10ga or shot 12ga 3.5's,

Now we all know that a 20 ga will hammer a turkey past 60 yrds w tss.
My eyes aren't that good so I'm out on that

IMG_7053.jpeg
 

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