Yes those shells are monsters. In fact, its the direction I have seen turkey shell development of late and around the TSS loads, in particular, that have turned me in the other direction and pushed me to look for other guns and means to turkey hunt. Yes, I tried them early on and yes they will flat put a turkey down at obscene ranges, but I reached a place where that wasn't for me. If I can't get one to 35 steps then maybe I am not a very good turkey hunter. I also read not too long ago that "beautiful birds deserve to be hunted with beautiful guns"...I couldn't agree more. So the quest continues for the right Parker (or Repro).

A number of years ago I was having difficulties in skeet switching from the tubes O/U to the 11/87 for the 12 gauge event . So one night after a Bass and or Guiness to many I loaded up a case ( real case of 500) of 20 gauge 1 ounce loads for the 12 gauge and doubles events . Shot a couple rounds at home and crushed the birds . So two days later I was off to Winston Salem for Bruce Evans Piedmont Open at the old Bingham and Parks club . Day we arrived I was shooting a practice round with Robert Paxton with my high octane loads . I crushed all twenty five and he asked me what I was shooting . I told him and he told me every time I pulled the trigger my head cane up off the stock . He handed me a box of factory AA 7/8 ounce and said shoot these and again I rolled them all up and my head stayed on the stock . After that weekend the 20 gauge ounce loads for skeet were over . I realize they weren’t three inch stuff but it works along the same lines . Since that time the ONLY 20 gauge ounce loads I’ve shot were at Pheasents . Now with that being said if I ever acquire a Superposed 20 3” or an Auto 5 20 Mag I wanna pattern some of the Federal 20 gauge 3” #2 buck loads and of course waylay a poor innocent deer .

So I've continued to research this topic and wanted to revisit the question. I found a 3" Winchester Longbeard XR lead turkey load that carries 1.25oz of shot at 1000 fps. Just curious from a recoil perspective how this would compare to a 2.75" pheasant load of 1oz at 1200fps. Am I right in assuming that nobody would be concerned about shooting the 1oz load, but (and I am certainly no expert) would the recoil be that different for a 1.25 oz load traveling 1000fps vs the 1oz load at higher velocity? Of course, my main concern in a repro is stock damage and I understand that recoil is the concern here.

Assuming a 7 pound Parker Repro the 1.25 oz/1000 load would have a free recoil of 20 fp and the 1 oz/1200 load in the same weight gun would be 19.1

Gary - thanks that is very good information and quite helpful. How do you make those calculations? I looked for a calculator tool online but they require the powder charge weight. How do you know what that is for a commercial load?

I've never for the life of me been able to figure out why someone invented the 3" 20ga shell. And in a light Repro, which will kick plenty hard enough with standard 2-3/4" loads, they make no sense at all. Repros have a bit of a nasty habit of snapping at the wrist also, given some of the fancy wood they used on many of them. I know of one that snapped twice using normal loads. Even if the gun will handle them fine, your shoulder will not. I used to have a light 12ga Merkel S/S with 3" chambers. I took along a couple of shells to try while duck hunting. I shot one shell.... and, like Edgar, still have the other. That just plain hurt!

Richard,
A few comments/questions on your response:

(1) what is considered a "normal" load for a 20 gauge repro?
(2) It seems to me that not all 3" 20 gauge loads are created equal. Not sure that a 1.25 oz load @ 1000fps is all that different than a 1oz load going 1200 (at least how I read Gary's analysis above). This again begs the question of what is "normal" and are ALL 3" shells in excess of this "normal".
(3) Are repro stock wrists really as prone to break as I keep hearing?

Thanks,
Rud

I've never had a 3" chambered 20ga so don't really know what "normal" is for them. I don't even like to shoot 1oz loads in a 20ga repro due to the recoil, especially if shooting clays and going through 5-6 boxes of shells. I shoot all 1200fps, 7/8oz loads in my Parker 20's, and they're heavier than the repros and have stouter wrists. A friend had a repro 20 with a very nice curly wood stock that broke through the wrist. He sent it to a gunsmith who replaced the stock with another gorgeous curly pc of wood and when the gunsmith went out to test fire the gun the stock broke on the first shot.

I had a 3" 20-gauge Repro but never fired 3" shells in it... I learned my lesson long ago with my 20-gauge Ruger Red Label. I tried shooting a couple of boxes of 3" Federals with that gun at trap and disliked the recoil intensely. I was a much younger man then too, and much better able to withstand physical abuse but swore I'd never shoot 3" twenties again.
I took a 2nd place trophy for the season at my trap club with that Ruger (everybody else shot 12's) but with 2 3/4" shells, not 3". When I shot those 3-inchers my scores were terrible and not because of the recoil I don't believe... they simply pattern poorly.





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The biggest problem with 3" 20ga is not just the recoil,but the shot string.Each gauge has an efficient shot to bore diameter ratio.When you pass that efficient ratio the shot sting lengthens.If you look at Bob Bristers book "Shotgunning the Art and Science" you will see that the 3" 20 with 11/4 oz of shot has a very long shot string at 40 yards.That is why you shoot at the lead bird and one 4 birds back falls.You will put more pellets on a crossing bird with 7/8 oz than with 11/4 oz because of the shorter shot string of the 7/8 load.