I ended up with with the Franchi SLX 20. A couple friends have the same gun in other gauges and recommended it. In my teens I'd hunt dove and quail with my Dad and his friends and always borrowed Dad's 20, so it's nice to finally have one again.I had been using typical 20 ga hunting lead loads of 1oz of #6 @ 1200 fps. Deadly, and not really all that far removed ballistically from 12 ga generic hunting loads. A bit less payload, but kills them just as dead as the 12 ga loads.
Checked the pattern and point of impact then some quick shots on clays over the weekend. I had grabbed a few boxes of what I could find in 20 at the local Walmarts. Nothing for pheasants at any LGS. The Remington Express XLR 1 oz #6 1220 fps patterned best for me. Winchester Super X was OK but not quite as good. I think either will drop pheasants. Most online retailers are out of typical 20 ga hunting loads too.
Unfortunately this morning on a 'clean up' hunt we were completely skunked for the first time this year- not a single flush. Post season my club operates as a private reserve and there were few birds stocked yesterday and none to be found this morning. We covered a path of about 3 miles in hilly terrain and 'bird magnet' the GSP probably ran a full marathon LOL. Kinda nice carrying a shotgun that only weighs ~5.6 lbs. I have another pheasant hunt at different preserve next week so the 20 will for sure get a workout then.