20 ga turkey barrel

[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 ?

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.

My barrel is a TVM jack garner (not sure of maker)  .995 at breech in the octagon part and tapers in the round to the muzzle with a muzzle thickness of .09. I don't want my trial charges to get in the danger zone. kick has been very light so far with the charges I've tried  .mostly 90 gr 2f with round ball of .600 and 70 to 90 gr. of 2f with 11/4 oz of shot. are these loads considered light to moderate  and could I go up to 1.5 oz shot for turkey with 90 -100 gr.2f  These loads are measured and not wieght.

[Mike Brooks]

I wouldn't give any advice with a 20 bore  barrel that is an inch or less for these large loads. Any of these large loads you have read about here for 20 bores I personally would  want at least 1 1/8 breech. All of the Carolina guns I have built I'd recommend a maximum 70gr load with a maximum of 1 1/8oz shot. Hoyt has built all of my Carolina gun barrels and they have a 1" breech and are of known quality and breeching. You're on your own for that .995 breech and unknown maker and unknown quality barrel.

[bob in the woods]

I love my Chamber's English fusil, with it's 1 1/4 in breech . Balance is wonderful.  I have had wonderful experiences shooting 28 bore through to 10 bore guns, and will always opt for the larger bores if more power or shot is required. Shot stringing can be a problem if shooting too large for the bore shot loads. As mentioned, this isn't apparent with stationary targets , but is still something to consider. Of all the bore sizes, the 28 has always surprised me in terms of it's performance in the field.  When looking at shot stringing in the smaller bores [ heavy shot loads ]  I think in terms of the possibility of the game [ turkey] being dead before the last of the shot has even reached it . I like larger bores because I get good shot filled larger patterns than with smaller bores. Hope this makes sense.

[BarryE]

I measured the Colerain TC barrel.  It is 1 1/8 inch at the breech.  I agree with those who dislike recoil.  My gun weighs a tick over 7 pounds and load development was a bit interesting.  But, I wanted a gun capable of taking a big gobbler with authority.  I rarely remember the gun going off when shooting at game.  It was purpose built and serves that purpose quite well.

[rich pierce]

Big bore guns run less pressure than small bore guns with equal charges and projectile weight. 1.5 ounces of shot and equal volume of powder is my upper limit for a 20 gauge.

[mossyhorn]

I wouldn't give any advice with a 20 bore  barrel that is an inch or less for these large loads. Any of these large loads you have read about here for 20 bores I personally would  want at least 1 1/8 breech. All of the Carolina guns I have built I'd recommend a maximum 70gr load with a maximum of 1 1/8oz shot. Hoyt has built all of my Carolina gun barrels and they have a 1" breech and are of known quality and breeching. You're on your own for that .995 breech and unknown maker and unknown quality barrel.

The maker of my barrel is Colerain accorrding to supplier with 1" breech. Would this be a carolina gun barrel?

[Mike Brooks]

Colerain does not make a Carolina gun profile. It must be custom made, Hoyt makes all of mine. But, one inch is still one inch, you don't want a Carolina styled barrel for heavy turk loads, these are really light barrels, they weigh right at 3 lbs and make into a 6lbs gun. A 20 bore with a 1" breech isn't intended for heavy loads. I haven't made many 20 bore turk guns. When I did I had a custom barrel made with a 1 1/8" to 1 3/16" breech with a rapid taper. Always with lots of jug of course. The last one I made would shoot 1 1/4oz shoot ALL in a 18" circle @ 20- 25 yards. the owner settled on a 1 5/8oz load.

 All the above is just my opinion of course. Other folks may do things entirely different and may be more comfortable with a 1" breech and heavy loads than I am.

[Daryl]

You guys got me wondering so I measured mine. 1.115" at the breech.  I use 75gr. 2F and an 82gr. (3dram) powder measure of shot with all the standard wads, hard card over powder, 1/2" lubed donnaconna wad, then shot then thin "B" wad.  Shoots like a modern modified choke & powders clays, when I'm "ON".
Havne't shot a living thing with it - yet.

[mossyhorn]

Colerain does not make a Carolina gun profile. It must be custom made, Hoyt makes all of mine. But, one inch is still one inch, you don't want a Carolina styled barrel for heavy turk loads, these are really light barrels, they weigh right at 3 lbs and make into a 6lbs gun. A 20 bore with a 1" breech isn't intended for heavy loads. I haven't made many 20 bore turk guns. When I did I had a custom barrel made with a 1 1/8" to 1 3/16" breech with a rapid taper. Always with lots of jug of course. The last one I made would shoot 1 1/4oz shoot ALL in a 18" circle @ 20- 25 yards. the owner settled on a 1 5/8oz load.

 All the above is just my opinion of course. Other folks may do things entirely different and may be more comfortable with a 1" breech and heavy loads than I am.

MIke you are light years ahead of me in experience with these things --So I'm betting on your thinking!!!

[AsMs]

They suck. You want a barrel with jug choke, not modern taper choke.
[/quote]
Mike,

What exactly is a jug choke.  I know what the turkey chokes look like tapered breech to muzzle inside.  But what does a jug choke look like inside.

AsMs

[taco650]

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

Mike,

What exactly is a jug choke.  I know what the turkey chokes look like tapered breech to muzzle inside.  But what does a jug choke look like inside.

AsMs
[/quote]

Ditto.  Can someone post a comarison diagram please?

[Mauser06]

A jug choke has a portion of the bore removed near the muzzle.   The shot expands into that more open portion, then is restricted back to bore size. That energy transfers into a pattern "better than a cylinder bore".   


My experience is I lost about 10yds by going from a Colerain turkey choke to a jug choke.  130+ pellets in a 10" circle with the colerain at 30yds and 85ish with the jug....and that's shooting a wide range of combination of shot, powder, wads etc


Nice thing with the jug is the ability to shoot round balls. 

[Mike Brooks]

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=0BB5C217911F83A3105EE78503B9D6FF4DBDCD35&thid=OIP.FCesXfsqVE7aear-6kOwsAHaBh&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hallowellco.com%2Fchoke-darwing---recessed.jpg&exph=309&expw=1500&q=jug+choke&selectedindex=3&qpvt=jug+choke&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6

All jugs are not created equal, depends on who does them and what they know.

[Daryl]

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

Mike,

What exactly is a jug choke.  I know what the turkey chokes look like tapered breech to muzzle inside.  But what does a jug choke look like inside.

AsMs

Ditto.  Can someone post a comarrison diagram please?
[/quote]

Not quite. This diagram will show cross section prints of the various chokes.

 "G" is a jug choke.
"E" is a standard choke, Euro version with end-choke (between the tightest more, to the muzzle) of constant size, the length of the shot column.
"B" and "F" are standard chokes, US versions.  There is some overlap into the Euro version in some US chokes.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Choke+boring&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi23-eJ-KDgAhXKwlQKHSNvDN0QsAR6BAgDEAE&biw=1760&bih=886#imgrc=r0HhL8E9g7AN4M:

This one, appears to be the ultimate Jug Choke.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=A8190146F756D12558AF82F8CE5A1DFC0476C760&thid=OIP.-DOmo7qHpqiTDO9A-DWdaQHaBe&exph=120&expw=600&q=jug+choke&selectedindex=9&qpvt=jug+choke&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6&ccid=%2BDOmo7qH&simid=608002647107898995&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.muzzleloaders.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F07%2Fjug-shotgun-choke.jpg