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Turkey load, choke, and gun combination

Does anyone want to share their turkey ammo load, choke, and gun combinations that gave good results? I’m going to test a couple different brands of ammo w/ a 930 this week.
 
I can't speak directly for the 930, however, I like the primos titewad and kicks gobblin' thunder chokes (the tightest constriction that you can find) and Carlsons also has a .660 constriction turkey choke that is a good long range shooter with anything #4 or #6 shot and federal flite control shells.

Up close though, you better be dialed in right, otherwise you'll miss because all the pellets will be so tight if you're sights/optic are off even a little will fly right by them.
 
John,
Thanks for the reply. I’m trying out a Carlson’s.660 extended turkey choke on the 930. I’ll get back w/ results later on this week.
 
The Carlson .660 is the tightest constriction for a 12 gauge that I am aware of.

To be perfectly honest, and just to put it out there, .660 it's the same diameter as a 16 gauge cylinder bore choke :cool:

That should tell you just how tight of a choke it is.
 
Hi! You’re speaking my language!!!

I’ve tried a handful of combinations from hype and marketing to a sleeper in the truglo (which the exact model I tried isn’t even made anymore)

I am currently using a Carlson’s extended ported turkey choke in the tightest constriction available paired with the tightest patterning load I’ve found, Winchester LongBeard 3” #6 with shotlock.

I’ve tried the chokes I’ve had with several loads from #4 to #6 in various brands and even different types of the same brand, like Winchester SuperX and DoubleX and so on. Once I got to the #6 LongBeard only two chokes performed equally well (really tight to achieve the longest range possible) and those were the Truglo and the Carlson’s. In fairness, I didn’t try Trulock or Primos and I’m sure a couple others that come up. But I did try chokes branded for certain ammo, like the Carlson’s LongBeard choke which is supposed to work the best with the LongBeard ammo. It didn’t. It was sad and disappointing. Sent it back and got their tightest turkey choke as described above.

I totally agree with what John said about being right on with your sights. I took a shot at around 20 yards and totally missed a slightly downhill shot. Right over it’s head and it escaped completely unharmed. I found the channel cut into the earth by the shot load a ways behind the target. At 40 yards I’m consistently getting 170+ pellets in a 10” circle so I was trying for a clean and human kill and managed to miss.

Winchester’s shotlock does for a turkey load what FliteControl did for buckshot in cylinder bore guns. The epoxy (whatever it is) becomes the buffering for the pellets. I don’t really know what’s going on in there but it works.
 
Winchester says they are using some type of resin in their shotlock shells.

I don't really like linking "the truth about guns" articles because I find their techniques in reporting "questionable" to say the least, but they did have the best photo that I could find.

D7C_4763.jpg


There are other similar methods available to the reloader, but they don't actually seal the shot together.

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Mylar-Wraps/products/120/

While I think they do enhance long range performance, the question then becomes "at what distance do I pull the trigger in order to get the best performance out of it? Shorter range = literally hardly no spread at all. Too long of range = missed bird too." Seems like it comes right back to the same question when you started.
 
You’re right, and in my case I was trying to set up for a Tom that kept hanging out on the edge of the woods nearly 60 yards away. But now I’m hardly set up for stuff that’s 20 yards away.

I guess I need to be better at calling but I can get a bunch of hens to come in. Just not the Tom.
 
Gonna try turkey hunting for the first time this year. It’s not convenient at all and I gotta travel about 4.5 hours from home to get where the turkeys are. But it should be interesting to say the least! I’ve ordered the Primos Tightwad for my 12ga; we’ll be hunting in more “open” and arid country.

Will do some patterning with it and figure out how it’s shooting. If I find the terrain gets to close I’ll just swap out the Tightwad for the modified.I know I can hit pretty reliably out to about 20 yards with a modified choke and #7/8 shot. So I’m sure I’ll be fine with #5 out to 30+ yards.

I think shooting won’t be the problem...it’s gonna be finding something to yummy to shoot at.
 
I’m gonna try to get some video today of what I’m getting from 25 to 40 yards.
 
I just wanted to share this picture that I got this week from my trailcam.

lg02lIc.jpg
 
Nope, Just thought it was fitting for the earlier pic of the pro turkey hunter.

It would seem that if I am deer hunting, I will see a lot of turkeys and no deer at all.

If I'm turkey hunting, I see a lot of deer and won't even hear a gobble or cluck the whole weekend.

So, I have gotten wiser in my older years and if I am wanting to kill a turkey, I tell everyone that I know that I'm going deer hunting before I leave the house.
 
Lol, that makes a ton of sense! I’m going to try that!

Very nice pic too!

I just took a couple shots and I have video if I can put it together. I shot high on both but mostly corrected on the second shot. Even so, it serves to show the important of patterning and emphasizes your point about being dialed on your sights. I have my rear sight adjusted all the way down and I still shoot high. Which I know by now but I still do it. The first shot at 25 yards could have missed entirely, the 40 yard shot would have likely been a good kill despite some of the pattern being high.
 
I have always been a very traditional guy when it came to shotguns. I'd pattern the gun with a bead sight and just get used to how it shot.

But lately, I've been putting some little red dots on my scatterguns so I won't have to guess so much as to where I have to aim any particular gun that I pick up.

To be honest, I have 3 shotguns now that have electronic sights on them.
 
I haven’t tried to edit the video together yet but I do have pics.

Carlson’s extended ported turkey choke and Winchester LongBeard 3” #6, 25 and 40 yards. You can see what I was saying about shooting high. The first I held center and the second I held just below center.

25464620-8B37-49A3-B274-6134A1195C0C.jpeg 69703CF2-4FCF-4E19-A2E0-6DBFF0DF5DD8.jpeg
 
At 40 yards, its' holding together a lot tighter pattern than mine is.
 
I've worked on it quite a bit to get to this point. I had borrowed a Truglo strut stopper choke from RipJack. It patterned the tightest with any load I tried. Sadly, that choke isn’t made anymore and I don’t know why, but it set the bar and was what I compared everything else to.

I’m using an 835, the Truglo has an exit diameter of .670 and my Carlson’s is .675. I was disappointed a lot trying to get a pattern that might allow me to get that Tom that wouldn’t step out of the tree line. After two years, I didn’t see that Tom again and worse, I haven’t seen turkeys on my property the last two spring seasons at all.

In any case, it was a journey to get to this point and honestly, I fell for a lot of hype with choke tubes at first, including Carlson’s. I’ve found their specialty choke tubes to pattern worse for me than their regular line, in this case the extended ported choke.
 
Nope, Just thought it was fitting for the earlier pic of the pro turkey hunter.

It would seem that if I am deer hunting, I will see a lot of turkeys and no deer at all.

If I'm turkey hunting, I see a lot of deer and won't even hear a gobble or cluck the whole weekend.

So, I have gotten wiser in my older years and if I am wanting to kill a turkey, I tell everyone that I know that I'm going deer hunting before I leave the house.
Thought maybe you were poking me in the ribs a lil but it’s apparently my own failure jabbing at me...LOL!!

You’re braver than me John. I’ve just taken to leaving quietly and saying nothing...less to explain when I come back empty handed....
 
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I've worked on it quite a bit to get to this point. I had borrowed a Truglo strut stopper choke from RipJack. It patterned the tightest with any load I tried. Sadly, that choke isn’t made anymore and I don’t know why, but it set the bar and was what I compared everything else to.

I’m using an 835, the Truglo has an exit diameter of .670 and my Carlson’s is .675. I was disappointed a lot trying to get a pattern that might allow me to get that Tom that wouldn’t step out of the tree line. After two years, I didn’t see that Tom again and worse, I haven’t seen turkeys on my property the last two spring seasons at all.

In any case, it was a journey to get to this point and honestly, I fell for a lot of hype with choke tubes at first, including Carlson’s. I’ve found their specialty choke tubes to pattern worse for me than their regular line, in this case the extended ported choke.
The Primos Tightwad is my first choke that didn’t come with the gun. I thought about going with a full rather than extra full and wasn’t hung up on specialty or non, I just hope this patterns well. It seemed to get good reviews when mated to an 870 12ga...not so great for Benelli’s and some of the Mossies. So I hope I’ve made a good choice. However, it’s ordered from Cabelas and if it’s defective in any way I’ll just return it for something else.

Like you say Rossi, not all are created equal and extra $$$ aren’t always a guarantee it’s any better than an average priced choke. My Scottish nature always leans to the cheap side but I’m willing to pay for quality when quality really counts.
 
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