Turkey Hunting with the H&R Pardner Compact 20 gauge

[bern]

Here in Alabama, the youth turkey hunt is scheduled to start in a few days.  My son has a 20ga. H&R Pardner compact with the mod. barrel.  Has anyone here tried turkey hunting with this particular gun? 

What kind of range does it have with that barrel?  I wondering how close I will need to call the birds in.  I'm planning on going to the range before the hunt but I'm not expecting too much from the gun though.  I'm hoping that if I get the birds in at least 25 yards it will do the job. 

Any thoughts or experiences??

Thanks.

[plumberroy]

below is my opinion on patterning a gun for turkey I to lazy to type it all out again only difference is with a 20 modified  I would start shooting at a popcan at 25-30 yards I patterned my dads 410 and decided 22 yards was max using above method (dad was in poor health) I called in a big jake to about 17 steps dad got the job done with the 410  so it can be done

     Re: Newbie here
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2008, 12:20:04 AM »   

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contrary to what the ammo makers,gunmakers, chokemakers  and gunwriters want  you to believe turkeys are not armor plated!(they are trying to sell you something) I shoot a gun at news papper with a dot on it to check point of aim and if the pattern has any thin spots(several times) then go to my pop can test  with a 16 or 12 ga starting at 40 yards, shoot at a 12 oz pop can if I get more than 8-10 pellets hitting target I more it back a yard or two and try again if I don't get 8-10 hits  I move it closer once  I get in the 8-10 hits range I fire several to make sure of consistancy that Is my max range  use #4's #5's or #6's for turkey witch ever give you the best pattern. using the right shot for the game you are hunting this method seems to work for about any small game IMHO
 

[Doublebass73]

I think your gun will be just fine out to 30-35 yards. Just make sure you try some different ammo and see what works the best.
It's probably not a good idea for a kid to be shooting past 25 - 30 yards on a turkey anyway so if you can call him into 25 yards or less
that would be ideal.

Let us know how it works out.

[Busta]

The 20ga MOD choke will work fine with 3" 1-1/4oz #6 Federal Turkey loads. I purchased a 20ga MOD H&R Topper Jr. Classic NWTF JAKES gun for my son back in the mid 90's. It is a nice little shotgun with camo laminate checkered squire stock. It was the start of the H&R/NEF addiction for me. The first day out in Michigan he floored a Gobbler at 22 yards, and 11 days later he doubled up with me on a couple nice Gobblers at 25 yards down in Missouri.

We had acceptable patterns out to 30 yards, but wanted to keep things under 25 yards. Just make sure you find out what loads it likes and it's maximum effective range. Every gun is an individual, your particular one may be better or worse than the next one. Also make sure the POI is where the POA is, if not you may need a better sight.

We used light loads for practice, then I shot the mag turkey loads to determine max effective range, then he shot a couple at 20 to check POI.

To be honest, I think a MOD choke is better for young hunters, gives them a little lee-way if they get the shakes, and they will.

Good luck!

[Cookiemann]

Even "Old Farts" like me get the shakes 

cookie

[greg916]

i'll be using a 26" mod this year. it throws a pretty good pattern out to about 30 yards. mine likes remington 3" #5 turkey loads. they are a bit stout though.