I need some help. This is my second year turkey hunting. From reading different publications thee seems to be quite the differnce in how many pellets to kill the bird. Which comes to my question.

What to look for or how to pick out a choke? It sounds silly but I have a special extra full turkey choice from Browning for my Gold and Winchester 1300 has an aftermarket Carlson choke. Neither one of these seem to get the pattern you read about but both are specific turkey chokes. I have tried 3 different brands of shells. All had different shot sizes. Should I try more shell and sizes or look for another choke. Choke seem to run from $25 - $70. Some time the constiction is the same what make the big difference. Thanks for any suggestions

Hcliff

You're not going to like my answer much. I say go with whatever you have and concentrate on learning how to hunt these boogers.

A few more specifics. When I started hunting turkeys about 10 years ago I was wrapped up in calling/calling/calling. The little I did regarding the shotgun was to simply buy the Browning extra full turkey choke for my 10ga BPS. It seemed to do the job on the pattern board.

Regarding calling, it took me several years to learn that the ability to sound like those callers in the competitions is way overrated for use in the field. Much like elk hunting, there are many hunters that spend WAY too much time calling.

Don't get me wrong, calling is still important, and it's an absolute gas to have a bird respond and come in to a call, but the absolute most important thing you can do is scout.

My mistake was often to call from the wrong spot when I located birds. It's a bit like duck hunting in that no matter how good the calling sounds, if you're not in a good spot, or better yet THE spot, you're going to have a hard time.

It gets a lot easier when you have some idea of what the bird wants to do independent of your presence. My most reliable spot is at the confluence of several travel avenues for the local birds and I swear I could probably do equally as well simply sitting in the right spot as opposed to doing a bunch of calling.

Lastly, if you can figure out where to be the choke you use becomes much less important because you are often quite close as opposed to being at the outer effective range where the pattern is more important.

I hope that made sense, I'm kind of just typing as I think of this stuff.

Good luck.

Reed

Thanks Reed. That is great advice. And I have been scouting and learning call, etc. You are right that the hunting aspect is the most important.

I guess it is the gun nut in me to have the best patterning gun

Hcliff

Don't be paranoid about chokes. Sick with what you have and pick the ammo that works best. In NY we have to use # 4 to 6 shot . But the old rules for pattern hold . Want atighter pattern ? then use hardened shot or plated shot or buffered shot. I've found the best patterns are with buffered shot.

Most (if not all) of the aftermarket turkey chokes list the recommended shot size for the particular choke. Over-choking (too much restriction) can be worse than an open choke, especially with larger (#4 or #2) shot sizes.

Premium plated shot in a buffered shot shell really does make a difference in patterning. I have a winchester 1300 with a .66 constriction Hasings Compensator choke tube that shoots #5 shot very well. The majority of the pellets are within a 12" circle at 20 yards.

I also have a scoped 870 with a Lohman choke tube with a similar constriction (.65 - I think) that throws excellent patterns with 4, 5 ,or 6 shot.

Even the factory-supplied "turkey" choke tubes were adequate. I have not had any problems with finding a load to pattern properly.

Be careful about a pattern that is too tight. I usually kill a turkey after it gets within 30 yards. Sometimes, if they get too close, you can miss them because of the very tight pattern that the gun shoots.

As stated in previous posts, the real challange is getting the birds within shotgun range, killing them once they are there should be the easy part.

Good luck

cwilson

Hcliff, the gun nut in me made me do the very same thing you are asking, I shoot my guns off a bench to try all combinations out, I will share the pounding I have taken with you so you might not have to. I have almost as many turkey guns as I do rifles, a very good friend and now renowned call maker, taught me how to pattern a shotgun, I gave it a new twist and am confident now the comparisons are good info. First the ammo, the absolute winner in patterns, density and highest pellet count are the High Velocity Winchester Supremes, the new Hevi Shot I tried last year was impressive also and might displace the Winchester on my next outing, patterning should be done as close to this as possible, shoot off a bench with a very good rest, use a tape or rangefinder and put up a 48" by 48" target board at 40 yds., staple at least 36" wide by 36" paper to your board, make a aiming point with magic marker and shoot it. Look over the target and use a compass from a artist supply house to draw 2 circles from the thickest center of your pattern, one 10" circle and another 30" circle, this will be the basis for all testing, try all choke and shot size combinations and COMPARE the pellet count in both circles. you now KNOW the absolute best shot size and choke tube that will cleanly harvest your bird. #5`s should at least average 115 pellets in a 10" circle and the 30" you total all pellets and say you have 326 in the 30" and you know there are 340 in the shell, use a calculator to find the total percentage in the circle. 92% is fairly common, don`t stop, 96% and an ocassional higher one is out there. I would buy Hastings chokes, I have all kinds Rhino, Kicks, Comp-n-choke, Ballistic Specialties, I have found NONE to outshoot the Hastings, some will equal, none will outshoot them. Get yourself a .655" to .670 in .005" increments and some 3 1/2" 2 oz. Winchesters in #6 and #5 and have fun. Ask a question if I have missed something in particular.

Thanks guys for all the good info. I was worried that I would have to buy all kinds of new chokes to try that didn't peform any better than I have.

Tim, I used Winchester Supreme in #5 last year and liked it. Good Stuff with the most pellets in the turkey target kill zone of what I tried. I like that you have me a number to work off of for patterning. Last year I bought Federal #4, Winchester #5 and Remington #6 loads and sat at the bench. Different brands and different sizes.

It looks likes double check the pattern board and go hunting.

Thanks again everyone

Hcliff

I have a Browning Gold in 3.5 inch turkey gun. Black synthetic, tru-glo type sights. I bought a Ballistic Specialties choke for it. Absolutely wonderful! It really tightened the patterns using either 4's or 5's in the Winchester High Velocity shells.

Bob257

I use a Remington 1100 3" Mag with a 26" BBL made for steel shot and I shoot #6 Hevi-shot with a super full Hevi-shot choke. at 40yds I can get 66 pellets in the head and neck with hevi-shot. This is some of the best shot made.