I'm taking my dad on his first turkey hunt this spring. He just inherited his father's j.c. Higgins bolt action 20 gauge with a fixed modified choke. I think it will make a fine turkey gun for his first hunt, even with the mod choke. I was planning on telling him to try federal heavyweight #6 with flitecontrol wad, but I am not certain if the heavyweight shot would be safe in a barrel that old. Date of manufacture is somewhere in the 1940s. Anyone tried it before?
I would look at trying some Hevi-Shot Classic Doubles. They make a great 2 3/4 #4 load that is safe for use in older firearms. Those 4s should pattern well with that MOD and will have some really great knock down too. Hope this helps out and good luck.
you can also try some of the regular old Federal 3" FC #4's or 5's should be good out to 30 yds or so
hrpp20, you need to pattern that before you hunt with it. I am afraid you are going to be disappointed in pattern with anything but TSS. A friend of mine tried an old single shot gun this weekend and it was barely acceptable with TSS.
First thing I would do is clean the shotgun thoroughly, and make sure it's chambered for 3" shells. If it is use the Hw #7's, or the hevi-13 #7's, cause those are probably Gona give you the best pattern with a mod choke. I have an older Stevens 94 20ga. with mod choke, and last year I fired one round at 40yds to for quriosty, and it shot 76 in 10" at 40yds. I wished I had tried it at 30yds, cause that would be max for that shotgun. I would have him fire several rounds at 20yds with game loads just to get a feel were the shotgun is shooting point of aim, plus a little trigger time never hurts.
The Federal Turkey thug lead is good ammo...you can try that...
My old H&R single shot 20 gauge with fixed modified choke get around 135 in a 9 inch circle at 35 yards with federal heavyweight #7's
My daughter was shooting an old youth Winchester ranger. The choke was fixed mod. At 30-35 yards the pattern it through w federal heavyweight 7s was something I would've hunted with. Def try em.
The age of the barrel and modern loads would require more investigation though imo
I have a Stevens 311 20ga sxs imp mod 2 3/4 I patterned it today and the best I found wa some Winchester Texas heavy dove 1oz #8 the imp would do at 30 but the mod was really good at 30. I tried some high brass 6's they were just ok. The first turkey I ever got was with a Remington 1100 20ga 2 3/4 mod and the best in it was the Texas heavy dove #6 it to 30yrds. The 1st one meant a lot my grandfather bought it for me when I was 12 now I want to get one with the 311 it belonged to my grandfather and I rabbit hunt with a all the time.