What choke/shot combo do you use ?

[132 eight pointer]

For the gun hunters:  What gage, constriction of choke, shot size and load works for you and how far do you feel confident shooting? I am going to use a 12 ga. 3 1/2 inch loaded with Winchester Supreme 2 oz. of #5 shot through a .670 Carlson choke. 40 yd range.

[Lawdwaz]

12 gauge Benelli SBE, 3.5" Federal HW #5 modified choke.  40 yards, no problem.

[132 eight pointer]

Nice! And with a modified choke too.

[G-Man]

I use a mossberg 835 with factory x-full winchester 3 1/2in winchester 6's. And have shot birds at 65yards in a field and usually 45-50yards and can't take a bird under 20 as the pattern is about the size of a quarter.

[Lawdwaz]

I use a mossberg 835 with factory x-full winchester 3 1/2in winchester 6's. And have shot birds at 65yards in a field and usually 45-50yards and can't take a bird under 20 as the pattern is about the size of a quarter.

The reason I shoot a mod. choke is because of the real close shots.  About 5 years ago I almost blew a couple birds due to 15-20 yard shots.  Seems like they were coming in quick and fast for a week or so and when they are bobbing and weaving, running in I have a tendency to MISS!  Fortunately I still load the magazine with a couple extra roman candles. ;D  A  second shot cleaned up both situations that year.

I don't get too many birds hanging up at extended ranges.  Either they're coming right in or I don't even see them, hung up at 100 yards or so. 

Right bird, right day = heavy game bag.

[Mr VJP]

132, I use the exact same load as you do in my Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag with a factory extra Full Turkey choke.  I have killed turkey at 70 yards with one shot with that combo.  When I tested the pattern on paper, I got a nice even spread in a 30" circle at that range.  I'll call them closer if I can, but if they hang up and refuse to come in, I'll reach out there to take them.

G-Man, if I get a close in shot, I'll aim for the area where the turkey's wishbone is.  It's a bigger target and doesn't move as much as the bird's head.  This shot will hit just above the top of the breast meat and darn near take the bird's head off.

[Pygmy]

Remington 1187 SP...21" bbl...Kick's .665 Gobblin' Thunder tube...

Works well with 3"  Win XX Turkey Loads or Federal Premium  and  2 oz. #6 shot...

This combo has also worked well for me with 2 oz. of buffered #4 shot, but a few years ago I switched to sixes for the extra pattern density..

[Doewhacker]

I use a Superfull Choke on my 870 12 gage, it is great out to at least 40. Never patterened beyond that because I have no desire to shoot one that far. I like em up close and personal when I pop them but have shot one at 40. I aim for the feather line as VJP does when they are close.

I forgot to mention I use Remington 3" #5's or Federal 3" #5's.

[Dave]

I use a mossberg 835 with factory x-full winchester 3 1/2in winchester 6's. And have shot birds at 65yards in a field and usually 45-50yards and can't take a bird under 20 as the pattern is about the size of a quarter.

G-man I have the same shot gun and use a turkey choke. I use 12 gauge 3" Mag 2oz number 4 shot. Is this a good load to use and what is the range with this load. Never shot a turkey so this is new to me.

Dave

[Pygmy]

Dave.... That combo SHOULD give a sure kill pattern out to 40-45 yards, or perhaps a tad farther.. However every gun and load is different..

  The only way to be sure is to pattern your gun...You should get a turkey head target ( you should be able to print one online) and shoot your gun from a steady rest at different ranges...The longest range at which you can consistently put 6 to 8 # 4 shot in the head  and neck would be the maximum effective range of your gun.. It will also tell you if your gun is shooting to point of aim..Many guns pattern high, low, right or left....

[Dave]

Dave.... That combo SHOULD give a sure kill pattern out to 40-45 yards, or perhaps a tad farther.. However every gun and load is different..

  The only way to be sure is to pattern your gun...You should get a turkey head target ( you should be able to print one online) and shoot your gun from a steady rest at different ranges...The longest range at which you can consistently put 6 to 8 # 4 shot in the head  and neck would be the maximum effective range of your gun.. It will also tell you if your gun is shooting to point of aim..Many guns pattern high, low, right or left....

Pygmy am I using the correct shot or should I be shooing something different? Is there a better shot to use on turkey than #4? Thanks for the info.

Dave

[Fantail]

Federal #5 3" premium.

Gobble Stopper choke.*

Winchester 1300 / M88 w/500 vent rib.

* fits both.

[Pygmy]

Dave.... That combo SHOULD give a sure kill pattern out to 40-45 yards, or perhaps a tad farther.. However every gun and load is different..

  The only way to be sure is to pattern your gun...You should get a turkey head target ( you should be able to print one online) and shoot your gun from a steady rest at different ranges...The longest range at which you can consistently put 6 to 8 # 4 shot in the head  and neck would be the maximum effective range of your gun.. It will also tell you if your gun is shooting to point of aim..Many guns pattern high, low, right or left....

Pygmy am I using the correct shot or should I be shooing something different? Is there a better shot to use on turkey than #4? Thanks for the info.

Dave

It depends on how well your guns patterns #4 shot...IF you have sufficient coverage for consistent head/neck shots at a given range, # 4 shot works great.. I've probably killed more birds with # 4 shot than any other size..However, if your pattern  has a lot of holes in it at a reasonable maximum range, say 40 yards, you may be better off with smaller shot such as #5 or # 6 to get more pellets on target... The only way you will know for sure is to pattern your gun...

[G-Man]

Dave, 4's are big maybe good in foliage but 5's or 6's will usually give you a lot better pattern as you get a lot more pellets per oz. but shoot what patterns best out of your gun. as an example, i have a friends father i took out he wanted to shoot 3" reemintion duplex loads so i made him pattern his gun with them it was aweful, tried some win 3" no 6 and it was a bit better, he had some rem 2 3/4 5's shot those and the pattern put 11 pellets into the head neck turkey target at 40yrds. he now shoots them and immediately went and bought 2 boxes. He had never spent the time to actually pattern the gun before, it could shoot 3in so thats what he was going to use but the gun shoots much better with 2 3/4. try a lot of different makes/shotsize and length to see what works best.(it can get expensive and i would try a shell from a friend if you could)(don't worry about patterning high/left right, that can be corrected with a sight/scope later).                                            AS for the mossberg with the factory turkey choke it is devastating, my gun perfers winchester 3 or 3 1/2 xx 5 or 6's but my turkey hunting mentor uses federal 3 in no 5's for his 835. everygun is different! Good advice from pygmy pattern that gun on a turkey target! In my opinion mossberg 835 best turkey gun for the $$.

[Dave]

G-man/Pygmy thanks for the good advice. I will give it a try and see which load patterns best. May 1st not too far away.

Dave

[Dinsdale]

#5's, modified(fixed choke)......28 ga

[G-Man]

wow a 28gauge. .. what kind of range do you limit yourself to?

[Dinsdale]

My pattern is good to 25 with some custom reloads......

But 20 is my personal limit for a clean shot, I seem to have birds either right on top of me or out of even 12 ga range. ;D

[G-Man]

i usually go with blk power the 1st week for my first bird(i'm on vacation) after that i like the reach of my 835 on my time limited hunts. First i ever heard of a 28 for turkey i'll have to look up what the pellet count would be....

[Pygmy]

I've had a couple of 28 gauge guns, and although I never used them on turkey, they seemed to kill birds up to the size of pheasants as well as a 20 gauge, ithin reasonable ranges, say 30-35 yards..

The standard shot charge for the 28 is 3/4 oz. of shot, although at one time Federal loaded a 7/8 oz. load and Winchester loaded a "magnum" with a full 1 oz. of shot...Of course, handloading increases your options, as Dinsdale has discovered..

I think  if I were to hunt gobblers with the 28, I'd  try # 6 or, even better, # 7 1/2 shot to increase pattern densities and limit my shots to 25 yards or so.. At such short ranges, the small shot has suffcient penertration to do the job... For a period of time I used a Browning Citori for turkeys, and in the under barrel I used a handload of 1 7/8 oz. of 7 1/2 shot with an IC  choke tube....At ranges of under 25 yards, a big gobbler will literally WILT from a dense load of 7 1/2 shot, and the bigger pattern made it easier to hit the close in target...I used a full choke with 2 oz. of #6 shot in the over barrel for longer shots...

[Dinsdale]

i usually go with blk power the 1st week for my first bird(i'm on vacation) after that i like the reach of my 835 on my time limited hunts. First i ever heard of a 28 for turkey i'll have to look up what the pellet count would be....

Somewhere I have it written down what we were averaging for the load for pellet count, but it escapes me at the moment. I took a hen with it, but would like a tom also. I have a friend in Texas who has taken a large variety of game with his, he loads and shares with me.

Pygmy>>>> This is a buffered load of 5's, tried some 6's and those were good for density and pattern also....but these seem to shoot best for this gun/choke combo. I shoot regular 71/2's for most applications; these Turkey loads are on the hot side, just for the task. I have no trouble letting any game go that falls outside my comfort for weapon in hand for a clean kill, so that will be the limiting factor here.

I've shot most birds with my 870/20 ga/improved, so not much different.

I do have a Mossberg 835/ 12ga....just a horrible trigger and sloppy POS. It needs a major reworking when I get the time.

The 28 I have has adjustable rifle sights that are very good, I have a fiber optic front bead on it. Shot a coyote with it 2 years ago; used a slug at 60 yds. Wish it was legal for deer here.   My slug supply is pittifully low.....some old Remington ammo from the early 80's. I have an Aimpoint H-1 to try on it now, but haven't tried it yet for shotgun, just rifle.

It doesn't have much of a following in the US other than a light bird gun(Quail etc).....some ammo and choices are a bit more popular in Europe. Brenneke makes a few loads, and Federal will hopefully be coming out with more, as Taurus is supposed to release a hand gun in 28, just like the 410/45colt they have now.

Good luck with the black powder! That's something I would like to try also......Details? Gun/load etc.....

[Pygmy]

Yeah, I don't even remember any domestic companies loading  28 gauge slugs as late as the 80s..The few that I have ( actually the only ones I have ever seen)  are in Remington Express green paper casings probably loaded in the 40s or 50s....

As you say, perhaps if that Taurus revolver gains any popularity, perhaps there will be some slugs available... I'm not sure who would WANT one of those monstrosities, though.... ??? ... ...

[Dinsdale]

Shhhhh!

I think everyone should have one of those fine crafted 28ga revolvers

They have cool factor and impress family and friends.

and,

I need loads......

The slug deal really is just a toy for me, I'm hoping to just see a few more offerings along the way and a bit more inventory to play with.

I have an O/U in 28(and with extra set of 20ga also) that is a joy to carry and shoot; this single shot for Turkey is more a novelty than anything. Just having some fun with it......

[G-Man]

I have a knight 12gauge and a traditions 12 gauge. loads are similar except i usually buffer the shot in my traditions. Standard load volumetric 1 1/4 oz of blk powder to 1 1/8 oz of no 6 hardened(non plated shot)I also use a 3in shot cup(winchester) rather than the wad and cardboard standard. I get a good pattern at 40yards and have taken several birds. I little slow for a second shot as the x-full choke tube must be unscrewd to reload,it extends out the muzzle with knurling so it can be done by hand.

[Dinsdale]

Sounds like good medicine......

Best of luck for the season!