I suspect you will be very happy with the Primos Tight Wad. Incredible choke for under $30. I bought one several years ago for my 12 gauge and have found it throws a mean pattern no matter the load. Never got around to shooting the real fancy stuff out of it, but it keeps #6 Longbeards in a great pattern out to 40-45 yards.
I shoot LB 6s out of my SX3 12 gauge with a Tight Wad and it is mean! It's a pretty shaky 20 yard and in setup though. I barely clipped the bird I shot last year because I was crouching and my mount wasn't good. I bet my entire pattern is smaller than a baseball inside of 20 yards.
Decided to go big league and try some Federal TSS 9s. I'll wait til it's warmer out to test the Tightwad and the Carlson.
How many of you guys pattern at 20 yards with these chokes? What kind of pattern is it? I still shoot a 12 ga., in all honesty, due to that is the ammo I have. I made the switch from a fancy turkey choke to a standard full a couple years back. Have not had a bird I did not kill yet. Did have a bird come in with jakes and hens, and had to wait to shoot him. He got out a bit further than I realized, and he was still DRT. I did pattern a couple Hevi-shot loads in my 20 ga. when a friend was patterning some years ago, and remember thinking, I would probably stick with a full choke (which is all I had), as it had a plenty dense pattern at even 40 yards to kill a turkey with a head-shot. Before purchasing anything special, fancy, or expensive, I would put at least one round through the gun in the full choke (at the furthest range you think you would want to shoot with the gun), and see what type of pattern you get and how much more pattern/density you need. Personally, I would not want a golf-ball sized pattern at 20 yards (where I kill a lot of my birds). Too many other fun turkey toys to purchase, rather than spending money on a choke if it is not necessary.
Unfortunately I don't have a factory full for that youth 20. With my 12 the only setup I've ever used is a tight wad and long beards, and yes 95% of my pattern is smaller than a baseball at 20. Looks amazing at 40 of course but very little wiggle room closer. Last year the bird I shot was at about 15 yards and I barely clipped him. Had to head stomp him. I'm darn lucky that a flyer pellet must have put him on the ground. I'm hoping the tss on the 20 is a little bit more forgiving if nothing else because there's over 450 pellets.
I've been carrying that exact gun for turkeys since '06. I, and my son, have killed a bunch of turkeys with it, and this Remington Super Full is the only choke I've had in it. Used the Hevi Duck 7.5s for several years until they dropped the load and I rant out. Luckily Federal had just come with a Heavy Weight #7 load that patterned even better. Federal dropped that load a couple of years ago, and when I run out of my stash I'll have to start over. My current combo patterns good to 50 yards, and that gives me a 10 yard mistake zone since I don't care to shoot past 40. With this setup I've killed them from 12 to 43 yards. The latter was an error on my part.
