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Turkey load, choke, and gun combination

I’ve had little success with chokes marketed specifically as being for one load or another. The worst for me was the Carlson’s coyote choke which was supposed to be awesome with Hevishot Dead Coyote, specifically made for that load boasting lethal 70 yard patterns. Man, at $5 per shot, I wasn’t getting close to lethal at 40 yards.

I still have the choke (and I tried several others) but only because I found it useful with other loads. It’s actually decent with 4 buck and it’s like a full choke where my turkey choke is the extra full so I’ll sometimes use that choke for closer hunting where I still want a good pattern but want more coverage too, something a little more forgiving for varmints on the move. I’ve been successful with it using 4 buck, BB, a heavyweight B, and #5 turkey, all 3” loads and all through that one choke. I almost prefer it to the really tight turkey choke because it gives me more options. Just not with Hevishot T. Nothing makes Hevishot shoot decent. Not decent enough to justify the cost by a long shot. Not when you can load 4 buck for less than $1 a round and even less if you load your own.

Fortunately I’ve been able to swap chokes with Carlson’s and Kicks till I found something I like, so while I’ve tried several, the out of pocket hasn’t been terrible except for return shipping and waiting a handful of times.

I still really want to try Trulock though. I haven’t tried to shake down their chokes yet.
 
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....

That's why they call it hunting.

Otherwise, it would be called "just walking outside and shooting something".

We both know all too well that it isn't the latter.

I'm not bashful to admit that I am not like those tv hunters who pay for all of those managed hunts and I go home more empty handed than I started just like every other guy that hunts.

Back to chokes, I have a couple different tightwad chokes that do well. And I also like the undertaker choke pretty good too. Come to think of it, I have chokes from carlsons, Mossberg, H&R, Winchester, primos, kicks, Remington, and a bunch of unknowns. Most do what they're supposed to do. And one may be hands down better in one gun and using a particular load and would not be better in another gun with the same shells. That's why you pattern your stuff. But typically, the tighter the constriction, the better the pattern for lead shot at longer distances.

There is a .660 Carlson that I'm wanting to buy for my latest semi auto. I bought one of their .680 extra full chokes that is doing pretty good for general hunting use, but only out to about 25-30 yards with my regular hunting shot. I would like to try the .660 to tighten the pattern up more for 35-45 yard shots.
 
On the hunting topic, I spent all winter outside hunting. I saw fox twice and didn’t get a shot at either. I’m right there with you guys.

On the topic of chokes, I get as much enjoyment and excitement from patterning as anything.
 
The Primos Tite Wad choke and Winchester Lonbeard XL in #6 is deadly out of my 930. I picked up the Carlsons Longbeard choke but have not had a chance to test it yet.

I killed a turkey on Friday with that combo.

My 835 likes the same loads but patterns better with a Primos Jelly Head choke.
 
I've wanted to try a jellyhead, but unless I ever catch one on the clearance rack, probably isn't going to happen. I have a very hard time paying upwards of $50 for a choke, let alone more than that. That's the main reason why I haven't bought the .660" Carlson xtended turkey choke. It's like $42 shipped at the least expensive place I can find it for the model that fits the gun I want to buy it for.
 
I've wanted to try a jellyhead, but unless I ever catch one on the clearance rack, probably isn't going to happen. I have a very hard time paying upwards of $50 for a choke, let alone more than that. That's the main reason why I haven't bought the .660" Carlson xtended turkey choke. It's like $42 shipped at the least expensive place I can find it for the model that fits the gun I want to buy it for.

I got a deal on the Carlson’s extended ported turkey choke. I found their LongBeard choke on eBay for $20. I tried it with two or three loads and didn’t like it. Contacted Carlson’s and told them I didn’t like it. I told them the patterns I was getting with another make and that their specialty choke didn’t live up to what they advertised. They said to send it back and they’d exchange it for anything else I want to try. That’s how I got the extended ported choke.
 
That's probably the reason why it ended up on ebay in the first place.

It was good of them to stand behind their product.

With that said, Shane Carlson helped me identify the specific choke that I needed to buy for my MX5. Being imported from Turkey and having very little technical support to find out what type of choke the barrel was threaded to take, Shane helped me out and got me pointed in the right direction. He got the specific measurements from the factory choke I had and checked the numbers on their various chokes and found it to be within .002" in all respects to the old Franchi style choke.

With that particular choke being largely out of production for the last 20 years, Carlsons is the only company still making chokes that will fit it, and in small production runs at that. So, they are essentially the only choice out there for that particular gun if I want anything tighter than a traditional cylinder to full choke constriction that Franchi imported decades ago, or to purchase or beg for a set of reamers and shorten the barrel and rethread it for something else.

The Carlson extra full choke that I am using (.680) is performing well, though in fairness, patterns about the same to my eyes as any traditional full choked gun out there. Granted I'm not using specialty shells and wads and other things that we both know will help and are designed to increase range. But with traditional shells, about 30 yards is about the max of where I'd be comfortable using it for turkey head/neck shots.

If I want more range than that, I just have to reach for a different gun.
 
I've wanted to try a jellyhead, but unless I ever catch one on the clearance rack, probably isn't going to happen. I have a very hard time paying upwards of $50 for a choke, let alone more than that. That's the main reason why I haven't bought the .660" Carlson xtended turkey choke. It's like $42 shipped at the least expensive place I can find it for the model that fits the gun I want to buy it for.


I spent more on that than any other choke because it was heavy shot compatable. Once I got it I realized the hevy shot was so freaking expensive that I never bought any. Lesson learned.

It does pattern nice with pretty much anything I've tried in it though.
 
First time turkey hunter here. I bought some 3" rimington turkey nitros #4 shot 1 7/8 load. Going to pattern them in my 88 with a full choke and hope its patterns alright. Or should I bite the bullet and buy an xtra full choke? Not wanting to spend much trying to see if I like it any.

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First time turkey hunter here. I bought some 3" rimington turkey nitros #4 shot 1 7/8 load. Going to pattern them in my 88 with a full choke and hope its patterns alright. Or should I bite the bullet and buy an xtra full choke? Not wanting to spend much trying to see if I like it any.

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I’m all for trying what you have before spending any coin.
 
Yeah, I'd pattern it and see if it performs as well at the distance that you anticipate to need before you buy a new choke.

In not knowing how far you'll be shooting, makes it difficult to guess, but a piece of poster paper or cardboard box will tell you for sure.

If you make a 3 inch circle for a bullseye, at bare minimum, I like to have at least a dozen pellets inside of it for me to feel confident enough for turkeys at that distance.

Being a 3 inch shell, will be an advantage already due to the extra pellets that fit inside of the shell as compared to 2-3/4" shells with 1-1/8 or 1-1/4 oz payload.
 
Yeah, I'd pattern it and see if it performs as well at the distance that you anticipate to need before you buy a new choke.

In not knowing how far you'll be shooting, makes it difficult to guess, but a piece of poster paper or cardboard box will tell you for sure.

If you make a 3 inch circle for a bullseye, at bare minimum, I like to have at least a dozen pellets inside of it for me to feel confident enough for turkeys at that distance.

Being a 3 inch shell, will be an advantage already due to the extra pellets that fit inside of the shell as compared to 2-3/4" shells with 1-1/8 or 1-1/4 oz payload.
Thanks the whole hunting thing is new to me. My dad never liked hunting so I never had a chance to go. Im now married into a family that are very active hunters so I'm jumping on the wagon.

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Thanks the whole hunting thing is new to me. My dad never liked hunting so I never had a chance to go. Im now married into a family that are very active hunters so I'm jumping on the wagon.

Sent from my LGUS215 using Tapatalk

Welcome to Mossberg Owners Superman!
 
My Dad wasn't able to take me hunting. We fished a lot, but my Uncle was the one who taught me about hunting.

And a lot of trial and error on my part. There's a lot of that too. I don't think anyone is born knowing how to hunt.

Shoot it at 25, 30, 35 yards and so on until the pattern starts to get too thin for what you think it should be doing. That way you know the limitations of your combination.

And if you need/want more distance and pellets in the bullseye, try the tighter choke and repeat.
 
Can always count on you for great answers John...I just learned something back there! Thanks man! You da best!
 
So I shot at some card board at 20 30 and 35. I wouldn't feel comfortable shooting and after 30. I went from 13 in a 3" circle to about 6 so I think I'll give this set up a try and maybe next year move up to an extra full if its something I like. I do like shooting clays and I like food so I'm sure I'll like turkey hunting. Lol ( if I was smart I would have took pictures.)

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No need for pictures, other than we like them.

The amount of pellets and distance sounds about right.

One little question, did you notice if the gun is patterning in a particular place so you could change your point of aim a little and get better results?

My MX5 for instance was shooting more toward the 11 o'clock and if I aimed a little low and right at about 5 o'clock of the bullseye, would get more pellets in the sweet spot? That was until I added a scope rail and a red dot, but where it's patterning was the point I was trying to make.

This is a possible way to get more pellets where you want them to go, but is the old fashioned way of "Kentucky windage" and there are alternatives these days that they didn't have way back when I was growing up.
 
No need for pictures, other than we like them.

The amount of pellets and distance sounds about right.

One little question, did you notice if the gun is patterning in a particular place so you could change your point of aim a little and get better results?

My MX5 for instance was shooting more toward the 11 o'clock and if I aimed a little low and right at about 5 o'clock of the bullseye, would get more pellets in the sweet spot? That was until I added a scope rail and a red dot, but where it's patterning was the point I was trying to make.

This is a possible way to get more pellets where you want them to go, but is the old fashioned way of "Kentucky windage" and there are alternatives these days that they didn't have way back when I was growing up.
It was just right of bullseye on my first shot and held just left of bullseye on my last 2 shots. I'm lucky enough to have 4'x4' thin cardboard from work witch worked really well for this. I took 3 days off next week in case I don't get any thing over the weekend.

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