20 ga turkey barrel

[Daryl Pelfrey]

I'm planning on building a fusil but putting a turkey choke barrel from TOW on it. Anyone familiar with these barrels? Suggestions. Plan on using it for squirrel and turkey.Thanks

[Mike Brooks]

I'm planning on building a fusil but putting a turkey choke barrel from TOW on it. Anyone familiar with these barrels? Suggestions. Plan on using it for squirrel and turkey.Thanks

They suck. You want a barrel with jug choke, not modern taper choke.

[David R. Pennington]

Mike, could you elaborate please. Is it because of loading issues or performance?

[Mike Brooks]

Mike, could you elaborate please. Is it because of loading issues or performance?

Both. I watched guys on the trap line at F-ship for years  struggle trying to get cards and wads down a modern choke or screw in chokes. once you mess up your wads you mess up your pattern.

[David R. Pennington]

Makes sense. Next question; how about patched round ball in jugged barrel? Who can jug my 20 ga. Colerain cyl. bore barrel?

[WKevinD]

I find one of the advantages with a jug choke is the ability to load and shoot patched roundball.

Kevin

[Dave Marsh]

I had Danny Caywood do one and Lowell Tennyson in Iowa do another.  Not sure if Lowell is still doing them.  Happy with both.


Dave

[Matt / PA]

I've had very good luck with the Colerain turkey choked barrel and think its a great option for a dedicated turkey gun or swatting squirrels.....

Here are some patterns that I've shot out of it with a 1 3/4oz load of nickle plated #5's

The brown paper is at 30 yds and that circle is 10"...... the turkey target is 20yds. I'm not sure I've seen a jug choke compare to that pattern density.  It's a head knocker for sure.

Not bad to load with thin overshot cards and soft lubed wool felt wads. A bit of pain to clean, but for a couple shots per year the pattern density gains are worth it IMO.

[Daryl]

That's a pattern a guy could trust.

[smallpatch]

1 ¾ oz of shot in a 20 ga?  Of course you get good density at 30yds.
Pushing that 20 ga pretty hard.  That's a load I'd use in a 10ga.

[Mike Brooks]

That's a really light dose of powder as well for that much shot. As long as it kills I guess you can't argue with it.

[Joe S]

In my 10 bore, that load would have a velocity of about 978 FPS.

[smallpatch]

yeah, in a 10ga, that shot load and 130 g is a good 10 ga load.  But a 20 ?  Wow.

[Matt / PA]

That's a really light dose of powder as well for that much shot. As long as it kills I guess you can't argue with it.

Mike,

When I was testing the loads I was putting heavy Campbell's Chunky soup cans on the target backer behind the paper and those nickle pellets out of that 3F / 95gr load were actually blowing right through both sides of the cans at 30yds.

Even with that, I WAS thinking like you that it has to be right near the line for penetration based upon velocity..... I actually HAVE changed the load a bit since then I just don't have any pics.

I settled on 105grs of powder behind 1 5/8 oz of shot.  A little lighter shot load over a touch heavier powder to give it just a little more downrange snot for the same patterns.
The components are very light too. Just thin paper overshot cards and light lubed 1/8" wool felt.

Works for me......It's bopping them!

[Daryl]

Big birds. That is a big charge for a 20bore , for sure.
I haven't developed a turkey load for mine - maybe a fun experimentation time this summer, coming up.
I really should have a load for them.

[mossyhorn]

Is that much powder and shot considered safe in a 20? Especially 95-105 grs 3 f behind 1  5/8 shot. What is considered a heavy unsafe load?

[BarryE]

I used the 100 gr. FF and 2 oz. of shot load listed on the Colerain website to flatten this one.  Killed a fall turkey at 38 measured yards the previous year.  It's like anything else, when you learn what it likes and how to load it, it will work.

[Joe S]

Is that much powder and shot considered safe in a 20? Especially 95-105 grs 3 f behind 1  5/8 shot. What is considered a heavy unsafe load?

Nobody knows. Most of the barrels we use are made from 12L14, which is not considered to be an optimal steel for gun barrels, at least by modern engineering standards. As far as I have been able to determine, there has not been any scientific testing of heavy loads, or light loads for that matter, with 12L14.

Maybe someone knows how much pressure is produced with these loads, but so far I have been unable to find these data. To paraphrase a platitude, you pulls your trigger and takes your chances.

[Joe S]

Smallpatch – We’re old guys, so we think of square loads for shotguns. These loads were optimized for wing shooting, so 7/8 ounce in a 20 gauge, 1 ounce in a 16 and so forth. But that is for shooting at three dimensional targets. Shooting at two dimensional targets, such as paper or a turkey head is another story altogether. Some factors that are important in shooting flying birds, such as shot column stringing, weak fringes etc. don’t apply to turkeys.

So, the proof is in the data. Two ounces of shot in a 20 gauge would be a poor choice for wing shooting, but it seems to work out OK on turkey targets. The big thing to me would be recoil in a 6 pound gun. I find my 10 ½ pound 10 gauge unpleasant with 1 ¾ ounces of shot and 120 grains of powder. I have no interest in shooting 2 ounce loads out of a light gun.

[Mike Brooks]

I settled on 105grs of powder behind 1 5/8 oz of shot.

That seems more reasonable and probably shoots a good pattern. Using thin overshots and 1/8" wool wonder wads will certainly help you get it loaded. I can't knock your results.


I patterned a customers 10 bore with a full jug and a 50" barrel, the gun weighed right at 8lbs. I was shooting 140gr 3f and 2 5/8 oz #4. Shot it 8 times @ 50 yards @ a turkey head target. Dead turk every time. I was sore for a week after those 8 shots.

[mossyhorn]

I settled on 105grs of powder behind 1 5/8 oz of shot.

That seems more reasonable and probably shoots a good pattern. Using thin overshots and 1/8" wool wonder wads will certainly help you get it loaded. I can't knock your results.


I patterned a customers 10 bore with a full jug and a 50" barrel, the gun weighed right at 8lbs. I was shooting 140gr 3f and 2 5/8 oz #4. Shot it 8 times @ 50 yards @ a turkey head target. Dead turk every time. I was sore for a week after those 8 shots.

Mike what is considered a heavy  load for a 20 ?

[alacran]

I looked at the Colerain site. The loads listed are not their recommendations but rather loads their customers have used.
That being said, I doubt Colerain would publish a load that is unsafe in their barrels.
 By increasing the shot charge you increase the pressure. If you increase pressure you increase velocity, also recoil.
I wouldn't  want to shoot shoot such a load out of my Frenchie.

[Mike Brooks]

I settled on 105grs of powder behind 1 5/8 oz of shot.

That seems more reasonable and probably shoots a good pattern. Using thin overshots and 1/8" wool wonder wads will certainly help you get it loaded. I can't knock your results.


I patterned a customers 10 bore with a full jug and a 50" barrel, the gun weighed right at 8lbs. I was shooting 140gr 3f and 2 5/8 oz #4. Shot it 8 times @ 50 yards @ a turkey head target. Dead turk every time. I was sore for a week after those 8 shots.

Mike what is considered a heavy  load for a 20 ?

Oh, I don't know. Depends on how big your breech is and how well your gun is stocked. I'd say 1 1/2oz and an equal volume of powder is a pretty heavy load for a 20 bore. Remember, the larger the bore the less pressure. Small bores create higher pressure. So, an 1 1/2oz load in a 10 bore is going to have far less pressure than the same load in a 20 bore.

[Hungry Horse]

Shooting fat charges of 3F in a 20 gauge seems like a pretty dangerous move to me. Especially if the barrel is choked. I shoot 2F in my trade gun now but prefer 1F when I can get it.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Choked at the muzzle or not does not make ANY difference. The pressure is dropping very quickly as the charge heads out the tube.  It is always more than the pressure in the tube of the air compressing in front of the ball, along with the stmospheric pressure, which is why it actually exits the tube, but anywhere near what it was at the breech, is impossible. A blip at the muzzle end caused by a choke, will not make enough difference to be noticed and certainly will not increase the pressure to what it was when the charge first went off.

If you view any pressure curve charts for black powder (or even Pyrodex), they are all very much the same.  They peak before 2" of ball or shot charge movement, then rapid decline the rest of the way out, to where muzzle pressure is minuscule in comparison, mere fractions of what it was at peak.
The early peak then rapid decline is why barrels can be tapered, sometimes to very thin muzzles.