Okay, I'll throw my hat into the ring. I've loaded most of the powders recommended for 20 ga. 7/8 oz loads and patterned them all including factory loads as a standard.
Years ago, and many 10's of thousands of shells ago, I settled on using Winchester WSF for 20-7/8 loads. It patterns well and consistently, recoil appears moderate, burns as clean as any, and it meters extremely well. Until the recent powder shortage it was not difficult to find. I did find some during this shortage however, just had to look a bit harder.
What I load:
Rem STS or Gun Club
7/8 oz shot
Win 209 primer
Claybuster 1078-20 wad
16.8 gr. WSF
Something less than 1200 fps
Pressure in the 10,500 range
I've shot this load in sub-zero to blistering hot weather with no discernable difference in performance although there is always some degradation in cold weather. I cannot remember ever getting a squib load or anything similar. I do not push my hulls until they fall apart though as some folks do.
After all of my testing I concluded that 20/28 would be my second choice but have no experience beyond my initial testing.
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