FinBonZ
Life Member
I would be hesitant to get too tight of a choke put on a gun for a youth. Depending if you are going to limit the length of your daughter's shots, an extremely tight choke will shoot about like a rifle at close range. Not much room for error. I am sure someone will have some specific advice, or personal experience. I am interested to hear any advice also.
HorseDoctor
PMA Member
Agreed, better to limit range & have some wiggle room for a less than perfect shot. Aside from that, the choke that produces the tightest pattern depends a lot on the load, the shot type, shot size, choke style and the individual gun. The hard core competitors try a BUNCH of different loads & choke brands and diameters searching for the "Holy Grail" of turkey patterns. Hardly a youth gun, but I know that my SP10 with 2 1/2 oz. of heavy-shot in shoots a very lethal pattern it 60+ yards through a Rhino 0.720 tube (though I would never take a first shot at that range). At 20 yards it shoots a baseball which can miss a turkey head.... Don't ask... 
Bowtech84
Well-Known Member
I have a jelly head on my youth 870 20 gauge and it holds a great pattern. Like others have said tho there's not much room for error. With the youth season extension tho that might not be a bad thing. If the youngsters miss you will get more time in the outdoors with them.
dedgeez
death from above
Check out Pure Gold, Kicks, and Indian Creek. These are 3 top of the line choke tubes. I run a pure gold .670 out of my 12 and have a .555 for the 20. They recommend 6 shot and smaller out of the 20 gauge. These chokes will throw some serious patterns with heavy shot.
Check em out, you won't be disappointed.
Check em out, you won't be disappointed.
Daver
PMA Member
A couple of thoughts...what shell/load are you planning to shoot? I ask because the hot new load this year, the Winchester blah, blah, blah is one tight grouping son of gun. I actually did NOT use my normal turkey choke tube and went with the factory supplied Improved Modified so I didn't have such a tight pattern. This new load is specially designed to stay tighter at longer distance and from what I can tell, it works as advertised.
So I felt like if I used my tighter turkey specific choke AND this new shell that I would have a pretty small diameter for a pattern at say 20 yards. I did kill a turkey at about 35 yards with one shot out of this combination and he was DRT, so it seems like a pretty potent load to me.
With that type of a load, I would not hesitate to use a standard factory tube and with a youth hunter "behind the wheel", I might even go with a modified tube and keep the shots under 30 yards say.
So I felt like if I used my tighter turkey specific choke AND this new shell that I would have a pretty small diameter for a pattern at say 20 yards. I did kill a turkey at about 35 yards with one shot out of this combination and he was DRT, so it seems like a pretty potent load to me.
With that type of a load, I would not hesitate to use a standard factory tube and with a youth hunter "behind the wheel", I might even go with a modified tube and keep the shots under 30 yards say.
Im a big hevi 13 fan but I also had to try that new winchester long beard.
It shot horrible at 40 yards "the normal testing range" out of my gun. But inside of 25 it was more of a baseball sized hole than a pattern.
For a youth or inexperienced turkey hunter I would look for a more open but very even pattern. It will give them alot more room for error, nobody likes to miss.
If I were setting up a youth 20 guage I would order some hevi-13 7's and try them out of a standard full choke first before I bought a tube.
And yes 7 shot will flat out knock the waddles off a gobbler
It shot horrible at 40 yards "the normal testing range" out of my gun. But inside of 25 it was more of a baseball sized hole than a pattern.
For a youth or inexperienced turkey hunter I would look for a more open but very even pattern. It will give them alot more room for error, nobody likes to miss.
If I were setting up a youth 20 guage I would order some hevi-13 7's and try them out of a standard full choke first before I bought a tube.
And yes 7 shot will flat out knock the waddles off a gobbler
Daver
PMA Member
What choke did you use Rich? I am certainly not an expert on it as I have only taken one shot with it to this point, but that one shot seemed pretty deadly.
Booner
Well-Known Member
X2, if you don't mind us asking Rich?
I killed both of my birds with the new Winchester longbeards. First bird was at 42 steps and 2nd birds was inside 30. Both birds, stone cold dead. I'm shooting a HS strut undertaker choke. I personally witnessed 2 other birds get hammered with the same shells; both of my buddies were using factory full chokes and one was killed inside 15 and the other was just outside 30. So far I'm sold, as they have performed flawlessly and the price is significantly cheaper than the hevi shot (which is also a BA shell, however for 38.00 i'll pass for the winchesters everyday, all day)
I shot one 3" #5 at a 10" circle at 37 yards and I believe it was around 100 hits.
Followed by the same round at 25ish yards and it was like a softball blew through the target.
Shot from a 23" barreled rem 870 super mag with a .665 jellyhead.
My wife actually used the same 3" load on her bird "only 3" loads I had and shes a great shot" exactly 20 steps and almost decapitated her bird. Great load if your gun will throw a pattern at 40 yrds and alot cheaper than hevi.
I have some still shots from the video of my wifes bird if someone wants to post them. You can see the wad and the shot all in one baseball sized pile.
Its a great concept and maybe the most deadly lead shell ever made through the right tube.
Im going to stick with hevi 13 either in the blend or straight 7's I put 229 hits in a 10" at 48 yards last friday out messing around with mag blend. And im not going to pop a bird at 50 yards under any circumstances, was just seeing what it was capable of out there a ways.
My point was for a youth hunter its better to have a bigger but even pattern
Followed by the same round at 25ish yards and it was like a softball blew through the target.
Shot from a 23" barreled rem 870 super mag with a .665 jellyhead.
My wife actually used the same 3" load on her bird "only 3" loads I had and shes a great shot" exactly 20 steps and almost decapitated her bird. Great load if your gun will throw a pattern at 40 yrds and alot cheaper than hevi.
I have some still shots from the video of my wifes bird if someone wants to post them. You can see the wad and the shot all in one baseball sized pile.
Its a great concept and maybe the most deadly lead shell ever made through the right tube.
Im going to stick with hevi 13 either in the blend or straight 7's I put 229 hits in a 10" at 48 yards last friday out messing around with mag blend. And im not going to pop a bird at 50 yards under any circumstances, was just seeing what it was capable of out there a ways.
My point was for a youth hunter its better to have a bigger but even pattern
lovetohunt
Member
I agree with others on not to tight of choke. So this was my first youth season and I made the mistake of using a turkey choke during youth season. I had 2 toms come in to about 15yrds and my son missed and I think it was because it was throwing a super tight pattern at that range. We went home and I switched to a modified tube and went back out 2 days later and he smoked a tom at about the same range.
Previous to season we had shot both choke tubes and knew how they patterned but when toms are strutting and gobbling at 15yrds, steadiness was not as solid as the range. My son is 5 though. I was shooting the Winchester Double X in 20g.
How far are you thinking you will let your daughter shoot? I had a max range of 25yrds.
Previous to season we had shot both choke tubes and knew how they patterned but when toms are strutting and gobbling at 15yrds, steadiness was not as solid as the range. My son is 5 though. I was shooting the Winchester Double X in 20g.
How far are you thinking you will let your daughter shoot? I had a max range of 25yrds.
Thanks everyone for the advice! I'm going to play around with different loads and some tubes and see what the best is for her. She is 13 and has deer hunted with her mother and I. She was with me this year when I shot my tom and said she would like to try it. I won't be letting her just hammer at birds, 25-30 yards max. Thanks again to everyone!!! More advice if anyone has more to add.