12 gauge Turkey choke tube advice

[gerry]

Looks like we are moving to the southern interior of BC this summer or early fall if everything falls in place. Been wanting to hunt turkey for years and apparently there are some where we are planning to move. I have a light weight 12 gauge 2 3/4" single shot Baikal shotgun that had been threaded for standard Browning Invector choke tubes. I have an improved cylinder choke so will need something tighter

I'm looking at a Carlson extra full choke tube online in stock is that a good choice?
Is getting an extra full ported version worth the extra cost?
I would like to use standard 2 3/4 " 1 1/8 oz loads to keep pressures down in this shotgun which isn't built for magnum loads.
Thinking of lead 7 1/2 shot, should go smaller or will that be fine?

 

[DrMike]

Wow! Should be a good move for you, Gerry. Yeah, hunting turkeys would be a hoot, though it may be as demanding in its own way as hunting goats.

 

[gerry]

Always thought I would end up near you DrMike but it looks like the Shuswap is where we will end up. Mixed feelings of course since this country is part of me.

 

[JD338]

Gerry,
Congrats on the move. I've had the best luck with a .670" choke. I've use a Pure Gold ported choke. The ports are designed to slow down the wad keeping the shot column intact for tighter uniform patterns. The last few years I have been using Winchester Long Beard #5 12 ga 3" Magnum shells. They pattern very well and 50 yards is no issue.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

Always thought I would end up near you DrMike but it looks like the Shuswap is where we will end up. Mixed feelings of course since this country is part of me.

And of course we'd love to see you over here in the Peace, Gerry. However, the Shuswap can be mighty pretty country. You're going to be compelled to train yourself to talk turkey!

 

[hunter24605]

Hard to go wrong with a Carlson tube. I have the long beard XR ported and it’s super tight. Especially with long beard XR shells. Loud though. Killed my last at 55 yards and neck and head were full of shot. Probably could have gone 10 more yards. This was a 3-1/2” #5

 

[NYDAN]

Gerry,
Congrats on the move. I've had the best luck with a .670" choke. I've use a Pure Gold ported choke. The ports are designed to slow down the wad keeping the shot column intact for tighter uniform patterns. The last few years I have been using Winchester Long Beard #5 12 ga 3" Magnum shells. They pattern very well and 50 yards is no issue.

JD338

I agree with Jim. I have had my best 50 yard patterns with Winchester Long Beard ammo. However, I use #4 shot. The pattern is still dense enough at 50 yards to kill a turkey. I use the Remington Super Full choke.

 

[str8meat]

Carlsons coyote choke is what I prefer .

 

[Ridge_Runner]

never had good luck with carlsons, Jebs, nitro, or Indian creek have treated me better.
Go here
www.nitrocompany look aat their recomendations and their ammo is top notch.

 

[FOTIS]

try these

 

[grry10]

Matching chokes and loads seems to be an art and not a science. How two smooth bore barrels from the same manufacturer can pattern differently with the same choke and loads is beyond my understanding. An example of this were my son's and my nephew's Remington 870 Express 12 ga. They required different chokes to pattern good enough at 35 yards to hunt turkeys with. My Winchester A5 Hunter patterns extreemly well with a Jebs choke. My son is using a Pure Gold in his same shotgun. When you find the right match it's great, but it can be frustrating when you can't. Good luck!!

 

[JD338]

Impressive performance

JD338

 

[FOTIS]

Expensive but you will only use a shell or two

 

[grry10]

Midway lists the 3" at $60.99/box of 5, not counting tax and shipping. At over $12 a pop that is more than the turkey is worth!

 

[gerry]

Looking at the Winchester Long Beard that JD338 mentioned they sure look good for a 12 gauge. I did some pattern testing with both my 12 gauge and single shot CIL 402 28 gauge with a fixed full choke. After looking at lots of videos of guys patterning their shotguns I would say that the 28 gauge especially with Federal 34 oz copper plated #6 would be good to 25 yards at least.

Sounds like more 28 gauge with the TSS shot will be coming out in the next few years according to this.

28 Gauge vs 410 for Hunting Turkeys | Field & Stream

In our latest gun test, we pit the 28 gauge vs 410 for turkey hunting. We tested each shell at different distances. Here are the results.

www.fieldandstream.com

There is one of these Stoeger Condor Outback shotguns sitting at our LGS and I have to admit it looks really good. Should work great for Turkey and also be great for camping and hiking since it's only 36" long. Might sell my old single shot and go with it instead and get a couple of turkey chokes for it. Sounds like they use one of the Browning/Winchester patterns.

https://stoegerindustries.com/shotguns/condor-outback-shotguns

It's a really neat shotgun.

 

[JD338]

Here is the Winchester Long Beard 12 ga 3 " #5 through the Pure Gold .670" ported choke at 25 yards.

JD338

 

[gerry]

Nothing is going to walk away from that pattern JD.

 

[gerry]

I ended up selling the shotgun a couple of days ago, I'll look to buy something different when we get down south. I do have my 28 Gauge still and patterned the Federal 1 oz #5 loads. They did as well as the Federal 3/4 oz #6 so I would feel confident to 30 yards at least. If I buy something else I'll update this thread.