I have taken turkeys with a Winchester Super X 2, 31/2 inch and 3 inch 12 gauge, Savage sxs, 2 3/4 inch 12 ga, Remington 870 2 3/4 12 ga and my Ruger Red Label 3 inch 12 ga. All were tolerable except the 31/2 inch shell. I have fired exactly 1 of those and promptly got a mild headache. I can now pass the remainder of that box to my sons upon my death. I will hunt this spring with one of my 20 gauges. I highly recommend anything other than a 3 1/2 shell.
Dedicated Turkey Gun
- Thread starter IndianaMatt
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
Their customer service is atrocious. Took me literally 6 phone calls and 28 emails over months to get my brand new shotgun back after shipping with a defective bent barrel. And when I got it back, they couldn't replace the original barrel, they had to put a 2" longer one on the gun and it came back with a cracked forearm.
If you have one and it works, great, keep using it. Mine works pretty well but my other brand shotguns work too and had better QC and don't have the horrible service reputation.
So I won't be buying another Mossberg.
Ah, I see. I haven't had to use their customer service before. I would be frustrated with them as well. Hopefully they at least took care of the forearm.
Good choice. But you don't have to shoot at 50 yards. Just keep working him in closer if you can. Nice to know you are good at 50 if you can't.
Like the old Timex watch ad, "takes a licken and keeps on ticken", they just always work well. I am really dating myself now, but I have a pair of J.C. Higgins (SEARS) pump 12 gauges that shoot like you wouldn't believe.
It was a small break that hasn't affected function yet so I didn't even bother calling. I was done with them at that point haha.
Get a Stoeger B-2000 I put a red dot on mine and use it exclusively for turkey with an anaconda super-full choke shot my last turkey at 67 steps Bang Flop! I don't have 600 into it and i call it a poor mans Benelli! 3.5 inch shells are not needed for Turkey, stay with a 3" more pleasant to shoot.
I would check state regs. In Illinois it is illegal to hunt turkey with a .410.
I like the Savage 220 Turkey gun. Bolt action, with red dot scope. TSS kills em at 50+. Winchester Long Beard XR kills em out to 50 yards.
I like the Savage 220 Turkey gun. Bolt action, with red dot scope. TSS kills em at 50+. Winchester Long Beard XR kills em out to 50 yards.
Last edited:
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
I bought a 2000 back when they first came out and have had zero problems with it. I've got other shotguns that cost three times as much but usually grab the old reliable Stoeger! Great gun
Eddiejoe12
Member
Sounds awesome, this thread is very informative as I'm not a hard core birder and never realized how specialized the shotgun has become.
BuddyGeorge
Member
As I read the different accounts of everyone's favorite guns it warms my heart! So many different guns but united in the love of the sport. The memories of childhood, family and friends are embedded in those guns.
ADKHTR
Well-Known Member
I have 2, late 90's made 870 super mags, 3.5", and love both of them, my shoulder doesn't however lol.
My first question is, "What is a dedicated Turkey Shotgun?" To my way of thinking it's pretty much any shotgun that has a bead front sight and is chambered tor a 12 ga 2 3/4 or larger shot shell. (sometimes even smaller gauges) Any shotgun is in fact a Turkey gun. The term Turkey Gun is yet another hype from firearms manufacturers to get you to buy yet another gun that you will only use once a year and then let it sit in a Gun Safe for the next 6 or 12 months until the next turkey season comes around. In preparation for my first Turkey hunt in Wisconsin hearing all of the horror stories about how hard it was to kill a turkey I went out and bought a new Remington 11-87 Super Mag. Since there was much talk about putting an optic on turkey guns I went out and got a BSquare scope mount for the 11-87 and put a Burris 4X scope on it. I sighted the shotgun in, well as much as one could sight in a scope on a shotgun and was ready for opening day. It came and several hours later two Tom's on the move together spotted my two cheap foam hen decoys and started to make their moves. It was funny as they reacted like most guys do in a bar on a Friday or Saturday night, moving in on the hot chicks down at the other end of the bar. They came in to about 70 yards and decided to divide and conquer. In a predictable tactical move they circled the hen decoys and started moving in for the kill so to speak (Got to keep this clean here) The one coming in from the left came into his sweetie first and at 30 yards with a full turkey choke lost his head to a single shot of, no not any of the so called suburb specialized turkey loads, but to a single round of Federal Black Cloud #4 steel shot Waterfowl loads. Now one would think that his buddy would immediately be scared sh****** and run for the hills, but no. Seeing his buddy flopping around on the ground the second Tom came over to investigate trying to figure out what new dance his buddy was using to entice the hens. I had a second turkey tag and after watching the second Tom going through his death throes and trying to let him know that it was time to quit fooling around and, Hit the Hens," I couldn't take it anymore and let fly another deadly load of steel #4 shot which ended the entire Turkey seduction dance for the day. OK now you are probably wondering how this relates to dedicated Turkey Guns. Well before the manufacturers decided that they needed to entice you with yet another reason to buy yet another shotgun to be used and configured for a specific purpose while leaving the other shotguns home alone so to speak I had found out that Turkeys were no harder to kill than a Pheasant, had to be coerced into range and a sufficient amount of shot, lead or steel into its head to cleanly kill it, I decided that a dedicated Turkey gun was not needed. My old Remington 1100 3" mag did just as good a job and at the ranges being shot at, 30 to 50 yards the bead on the front sight suitably centered on the beak of an extended head (Ya know they have to peek and see who the competition is) and let loose with a suitable round consisting of 1 1/4 oz of #4 steel shot travelling at 1500 FPS (Federal Black Cloud) and Mr. Tom Turkey will succumb to becoming Thanksgiving dinner in less than 2/10th of a second. The point here is that any shotgun, in my case 12 ga 3 inch or more is fully capable of sending any turkey to his demise. Now the big push is for 20 ga, and even .410 bore shotguns being designated as, "Turkey Guns." It is all hype. to sell guns. Don't waste your money on buying a 410 bore Turkey gun for your 12 year old. Buy him/her a 20 ga 3 inch which will be much more effective. Take your shotgun, stick either a full choke or yes I will give in to a Turkey (or goose choke) and go Turkey hunting. You don't need a specialized Turkey Gun. Think about it, back in the day an old black powder blunderbuss killed about as many Turkeys, (Among other birds) as all the fancy new magnums do today. Don't be Hyped.
Also check out the new Winchester or Savage pump guns. They offer a lot of features for the money. Most shotguns are highly adaptable thee days, meaning you can change chokes and loads, barrels, and stocks quite easily. You can be shooting ducks in the morning and pheasants in the afternoon. One of the common practices is the dual role home defense and turkey shotgun. Change the barrel and maybe add an optic and you are ready to go for turkeys. Though you don't need or want an extended magazine while hunting. The rest of the year you have your home defense gun. I believe Savage offers a combination package for this.
