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Turkey Gun Build & Pattern

Nutterbuster

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2017
Messages
10,062
Location
Where the skys are so blue!
Every year I say I'm going turkey hunting. I never do.

Well, this year I'm 2 boxes of TSS, a turkey choke, and a push-botton call deep in it so I'm definitely going hunting! I just went and blew $40 on shooting 5 rounds of TSS at paper and this is what I learned.

The Carlson's .640 TSS Turkey choke is a little tight for my liking out of a 28" Mossy 500 12 gauge with #9 TSS. I really preferred my Carlsons .700 Long Range Delta Waterfowl choke. It put like 90 pellets in an 8" circle at 50 yards vs 50 for the tighter tube.

But...

The TSS choke was also patterning fairly low and a bit right. I patterned for waterfowl last year and #4 steel seemed to do fine. POA and POI were about perfect. I'm not sure if it's the choke, or the difference between me pointing the gun and aiming it. So...

What are y'all's thoughts on springing for a red dot scope? I'd probably just mount and sight it in for turkeys, and then go back to a single, largeish fiber optic bead for waterfowl. Or should I just figure since I'm patterning low to aim right at his eyeball and pepper his neck area?

I'm not against spending the money on the optics and more TSS to get this right. I'm not spending any other money on turkey gear this year with the exception of gas money to drive to some good spots. I just wanna make sure when I stumble across one I can smack 'em good.

What says the hive mind?
 
Seems like the "serious" turkey hunters are shooting 20 gauges (or .410's) with TSS and red dots, but I'm still plugging along with my single-bead 870 12 gauge (though I've started shooting better shells). I say that to say I'm both cheap and old-fashioned. I think the red dot would be a sweet addition, but then you have to buy the thing and spend some cash on shells sighting it in, which is why I haven't put one on my gun. A cheaper (and darn-near fail-proof) option would be to put rifle-style iron sights on there that you can adjust for windage and elevation. No need to fuss with batteries or dry rags on wet days, and you get the added benefit of being more likely to get your cheek all the way down on the gun to execute a good shot. Plus, you don't have to overpower the adrenaline to remind yourself where to aim when that thunder chicken pops up over the rise in a spot you didn't expect--you just line up the sights and shoot like normal.
 
Seems like the "serious" turkey hunters are shooting 20 gauges (or .410's) with TSS and red dots, but I'm still plugging along with my single-bead 870 12 gauge (though I've started shooting better shells). I say that to say I'm both cheap and old-fashioned. I think the red dot would be a sweet addition, but then you have to buy the thing and spend some cash on shells sighting it in, which is why I haven't put one on my gun. A cheaper (and darn-near fail-proof) option would be to put rifle-style iron sights on there that you can adjust for windage and elevation. No need to fuss with batteries or dry rags on wet days, and you get the added benefit of being more likely to get your cheek all the way down on the gun to execute a good shot. Plus, you don't have to overpower the adrenaline to remind yourself where to aim when that thunder chicken pops up over the rise in a spot you didn't expect--you just line up the sights and shoot like normal.
Ya know...I could just put the rear bead back on. I took it off because it was kinda distracting and made me want to aim wingshooting, but that may solve things good enough for government work.

If I can remember where I stashed it...
 
Seems like the "serious" turkey hunters are shooting 20 gauges (or .410's) with TSS and red dots, but I'm still plugging along with my single-bead 870 12 gauge (though I've started shooting better shells). I say that to say I'm both cheap and old-fashioned ... A cheaper (and darn-near fail-proof) option would be to put rifle-style iron sights on there that you can adjust for windage and elevation. No need to fuss with batteries or dry rags on wet days, and you get the added benefit of being more likely to get your cheek all the way down on the gun to execute a good shot. Plus, you don't have to overpower the adrenaline to remind yourself where to aim when that thunder chicken pops up over the rise in a spot you didn't expect--you just line up the sights and shoot like normal.
X2 on the iron sights solution. Nutter - most of my turkey kills have been inside 25 yards. (I can only think of one exception.) A double-beaded barrel or an iron-sighted barrel is sufficient at that range.
 
I have shot a Stoeger 3020 for several seasons with TSS and it has been awesome, but I wanted a red dot, so I bought myself a Franchi Infinity 3 (factory drilled & tapped) for my birthday with a Burris Fastfire 3 and Sumtoy base. The turkey target was at 60 yds with Apex 1 5/8 oz #9 TSS. The square (12x12") and brown paper (24" W x 30" T showing the full pattern) were the same shot from it at 40 yds, just to show how a poor little flapper 20ga performs (only masochists still shoot a 12ga for turkeys)! TSS does seem to prefer a little more open choke than those sold for it (Carlson's TSS .555), as in .562-.570 for 20ga, and saw the same in 12ga. Your POI being off may be due to the Flite Control was used by Federal in their TSS loads, we have experienced that too.
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Do yourself a favor and run away.

Since your hard headed butt ain’t gonna do that.......if you’re going to shoot tss through a Turkey choke then you had best get yourself a sight of some kind and I would strongly recommend a red dot. Had you not already bought the tss I would recommend you buy some good ol’ copper plated lead and a truglo sight.

I use a Vortex Venom and I sight it in with birdshot then check it with a a Turkey load. I shoot winchester XR, but I do own 2 boxes of tss. Might shoot it, might not. Haven’t made up my mind yet.
 
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I love my Vortex red dot on my turkey gun. Turkey rounds have gotten to tight to look down a vented rib.


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Do yourself a favor and run away.

Since your hard headed butt ain’t gonna do that.......if you’re going to shoot tss through a Turkey choke then you had best get yourself a sight of some kind and I would strongly recommend a red dot. Had you not already bought the tss I would recommend you buy some good ol’ copper plated lead and a truglo sight.
Lol. Yep. I'm in search of something new to figure out. I've about got beer drinking, trash talking, deer hunting, and duck shooting whupped. I need something to keep me humble. ;) I've heard turkeys will do the trick. We'll see...

I just had a phone call with a buddy who strongly encouraged me to just get it over with and buy a fastfire 3. Since I kinda wanted one anyway to go on my hickory creek, I just may say "heck with it."
 
I edited my post to add some more info while you were replying. FF3 or Vortex, whichever you want. I like Vortex and would steer you that direction for customer service alone, but both are plenty. Get the lowest MOA you can.
 
You can go the cheap route, but get what you pay for if you do. This is a Midland Backpacker 20 ga that I had drilled and tapped and put a $25 Amazon special red dot on just for fun as a last resort backup. It performs well out to 50 yds with similar results as the Franchi with TSS and I have about $175 in it total. The gotcha is the red dot is nowhere near as good as the FF3 and can be very difficult to see in bright light, such as a field edge at midday. And most importantly, this little 20 will bruise your shoulder on a sight-in session, even when using a unweighted lead sled.

Is is a problem that I have more turkey guns than saddles?!
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You can go the cheap route, but get what you pay for if you do. This is a Midland Backpacker 20 ga that I had drilled and tapped and put a $25 Amazon special red dot on just for fun as a last resort backup. It performs well out to 50 yds with similar results as the Franchi with TSS and I have about $175 in it total. The gotcha is the red dot is nowhere near as good as the FF3 and can be very difficult to see in bright light, such as a field edge at midday. And most importantly, this little 20 will bruise your shoulder on a sight-in session, even when using a unweighted lead sled.

Is is a problem that I have more turkey guns than saddles?!
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Yeah, I think I'm good with spending on the tss and the ff3. Only other expense I should have this year for turkeys is gas and campground fees.
 
I've been using my Dad's Ithaca and Winchester Longbeard XR. If there is any chance you want a mount, we've found the XR provides good lethality and range, without necessarily delivering the total devastation tungsten sometimes creates. I have a taxidermist in the family, so he sees a lot of birds, and tungsten shot birds are sometimes totally busted up.

Last year I got my Tom at 35-40yds, with that Ithaca and its vent rib and fiber optic bead using the XR ammo.

But, I was wanting a red dot / reflex sight for a bit mor confidence at distance.

My dad didn't want me to tap for a sight. Aimpoint makes a sight you can mount to a vent rib, but I ended up buying a 24" Retay shotgun with a Picatinny rail and added an EOTECH holographic sight. They've really low parallax. The Aimpoint Micro T-2 has minimal parallax as well, but costs a bit more money. Either of these are way more money and performance than needed for turkey hunting, but can be swapped to other platforms for use outside of turkey season which can make them worth the extra cost.
 
Enjoy your first and cheapest year. You are messing with a rabbit hole at least as deep as saddle hunting. One push button call won't cut it for long. Forget the TSS and save your money for all the calls you will be buying. Then there the decoys, blinds, gillie suit, -----, ----, --,
 
Enjoy your first and cheapest year. You are messing with a rabbit hole at least as deep as saddle hunting. One push button call won't cut it for long. Forget the TSS and save your money for all the calls you will be buying. Then there the decoys, blinds, gillie suit, -----, ----, --,

I've never been a call guy. I can count on one hand the number of times I've blown a grunt call, and I have maybe $50 worth of calls on my duck lanyard. Turkeys down here get called at enough that I don't even know if I'll bring my call with me. I see plenty of turkeys by accident just strolling along or sitting in the tree. That's why I want to be able to shoot one further out. I'm not above putting the Choctaw Crawl on one. Heck, the only thing keeping me from shooting one off a limb is the fact that it's illegal.

"My way not very sportsmanlike."

Ain't that right, @swampsnyper?
 
I also say I'm gonna turkey hunt every year and never do, but also decided this year to give it a shot. I have a box call and going to try a mouth call. Not doing anything with my old 12 gauge shotgun. I need to figure out what shells I need to use without a choke, but I'll probably just ask my dad. He never had a choke and went turkey hunting all the time back in the day.
 
I've never been a call guy. I can count on one hand the number of times I've blown a grunt call, and I have maybe $50 worth of calls on my duck lanyard. Turkeys down here get called at enough that I don't even know if I'll bring my call with me. I see plenty of turkeys by accident just strolling along or sitting in the tree. That's why I want to be able to shoot one further out. I'm not above putting the Choctaw Crawl on one. Heck, the only thing keeping me from shooting one off a limb is the fact that it's illegal.

"My way not very sportsmanlike."

Ain't that right, @swampsnyper?

The man who can’t stand a challenge. You can go get a butterball Turkey at Walmart and shoot it for your internet hero pics.
 
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