Dedicated Turkey Gun

[squeeeeze]

I went way overkill, shooting TSS in a 10ga

That's what I need for a Sandhill crane gun.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

The hardest recoil I have felt to date was patterning some 3.5" 2oz turkey shells in my Benelli Super Black Eagle II. Sat down and squeezed the 1st one off. Kicked so hard it took about 5 seconds to even realise what just hit me, it stunned me that bad. After about 10 shots my face and cheekbone were sore and swollen bad, not to mention my shoulder. The SBEII handles recoil well for regular shells but not for 3.5" Magnums with 2oz of shot.

My Benelli Super Nova does better with 3.5"'s and has a little more weight to it. I sold my SBEII after that experience lol. My Super Nova is my go to big bird gun.
View attachment 329475

Is that a "Blue Heron"?

 

[squawberryman]

Burris has an on/off switch. Holosun does not. For me it was a game changer

 

[Kelljp]

A quick net search of 20 gauge Turkey guns didn't yield many results any suggestions? I did see a Mossberg 410 but not sure that's enough gun.

Stay away from the Mossberg, I've started several young people with an Rem870, but now with TSS ammo I've found the Savage 301 a good choice. Just keep your shots inside 40 yards.

 

[Groot]

I have a weatherby SA-459 turkey (im pretty sure it's the 459 model) and it was everything I wanted in a dedicated turkey gun and more for about 650 bucks out the door. It's only a 3 inch gun but in all seriousness unless you're looking too shoot birds at 70-80+ yards you don't need anything more. Big boomers are cool but on a perfect Crisp spring morning listening to birds gobble the last thing I would want is to get rattled by a 3.5 12 gauge turkey load. Like many others have suggested a 20 is more than enough with load technology and availability nowadays.

Also the 459 also had a 20 gauge model. I'm not sure if they make them anymore though, might be worth looking into though

 

[biff's reloading]

I went way overkill, shooting TSS in a 10ga

I do too. Technically it's the old original hevishot that I shoot. Bought 30lb of #7 on sale in 06 or 07 roughly. 2oz loads are amazing on ducks. Long cones, tubes bored to .800", .760/.740 choked.
I load 3oz for my turkey gun with sam1 wads and 2400. H&R single cut to 18" with extended .735" Truchoke and long forcing cone. It patterns nearly 100% at 35 yards and 30+ head hits at 55 yards and I dont even worry about distance anymore. I just take the first clean shot I get.
I also load 2oz in 3" 12ga with sam1 and STEEL for a few guys. The stuff is amazing. Every person who has tried them, switches to hevi. Nothing like it.

 

[tomsd]

You probably won't find a Super Black Eagle in 20ga
If you want a "Pistol Grip" and Red Dot you can put on most any shotgun to turn into a "Turkey Gun"
All the major manufactures are making the "BIG" guns for turkey. 3.5" 12 GA.
It is a Culture thing and sales point.
Just an observation I lived in the North and now in the South States.
Every young man (11-12 years old) wants a 30.06 or 12 ga (or their father wants them to shoot). It's a culture thing where GUYS have to have the biggest of everything and pass that one to their sons. Now if they have a daughter or wife, they want a .243 or a 20ga. Just look at the posts on LRH "Looking for a .243 for my wife/daughter" Looking for a 20 ga for my wife/daughter. I was giving about 1K in loaded factory ammo to my neighbor for his son to shoot. Most were 22lLR and 17HMR and was giving him(the young man 11 years old) a case of 20ga #7 1/2 & 8 for doves. The young man said "I want 12 ga Like my father, I don't want to shoot girls ammo". I said Well mister when you grow up you can come back and buy the shot shells from me. I still gave him the case of 20 ga and told him that he can shoot my Benelli if he was man enough. Now all he wants to shoot is a 20GA.
If you really want to make sure that there will be enough pellets flying at your turkey get a 10 ga 36" barrel, XF Choke and a 3 1/2" mag # 4 shot shells. .
One of our BEST Deer rifles are a 700 Mountain DM B&C Stock in .243.
We also have .260 Rem, 6.5x284, 7mm08, 32 Special, 270wsm, 325wsm, 338lmai.
Best and most versatile shotgun is a Benelli M-1 Fiels 20GA.

Well said and good advice. (But I still like my .06 and 12 ga. that I grew up shooting. )

 

[KR260]

I do too. Technically it's the old original hevishot that I shoot. Bought 30lb of #7 on sale in 06 or 07 roughly. 2oz loads are amazing on ducks. Long cones, tubes bored to .800", .760/.740 choked.
I load 3oz for my turkey gun with sam1 wads and 2400. H&R single cut to 18" with extended .735" Truchoke and long forcing cone. It patterns nearly 100% at 35 yards and 30+ head hits at 55 yards and I dont even worry about distance anymore. I just take the first clean shot I get.
I also load 2oz in 3" 12ga with sam1 and STEEL for a few guys. The stuff is amazing. Every person who has tried them, switches to hevi. Nothing like it.

View attachment 329530View attachment 329531

I bought a bottle of number 2 hevi-shot back when it came out. I was loading steel with Alliant Steel and was amazed at how far you could kill geese with it. The factory loads will pierce human skin at over 200 yards according to the reloading book I have. I was shooting all the way through geese at 150 yards with #2 in 3" 12 gauge reloads. Hevi-shot #2 looks like welding splatter. I hardly waterfowl hunt anymore, but TSS sounds amazing.

 

[stringman]

I decided I wanted a dedicated turkey gun for hunting here in Wisconsin. I mostly hunt from a tent type blind and most shotguns are too long my solution was a Benelli 12ga. Which has a 3 1/2 chamber mounted a pro point red dot scope cut the barrel to 20" and threaded for a tight turkey choke. It works great, if you combine it with the new TSS ammo you will have a turkey killing machine.

 

[chav0_12]

It's a pretty inexpensive gun but for whatever reason I like the feel of it. I won a 12ga at a Ducks Unlimited banquet and last year I bought myself another but in 20ga. It's the Winchester SXP, for the turkey gun I bought their "Turkey" model whatever it is, with a 24" barrel. I got the all black one, but it has a drilled and tapped receiver for a pic rail to add optics and it came with rifle style sights. I took the rifle sights off and put a dot on it. It's not terrible but even in the 20ga those 3" TSS still rock pretty good. I'll save the 12ga for the ducks and geese.

 

[Plowboy85]

I prefer Benelli for my automatic shot guns. I have an SBE 3 with the 24" barrel and steady grip, it has a Vortex red dot. I shoot TSS loads from Apex Ammunition out of Mississippi. Yea 2.5oz loads do thump a little but I am the guy that shoots 3.5" duck and goose hunting if I need the range. As other have said heavy turkey loads do have a decent amount of recoil but it's rarely felt when shooting a bird. Because it is my dedicated turkey gun it may get shot once to make sure it's not ready. I will admit I have been looking for a Benelli M2 20 gauge 24" barrel to replace my SBE 3 but it's not really due to recoil, just want one. As others have said, with TSS loads there is really no reason shoot 3.5" but dead is dead!

 

[GRG]

My son shoots a TC Pro Hunter Single shot with a helo sight and I use an 870 with a open sight set up. Neither of us have ever taken a second shot using Federal Premium 3" turkey loads. My son shoots his gun so well, when he hits them they go down and do not move. I have never seen the need for 3 1/2" loads but don't waterfowl hunt.

 

[Reelamin]

Think about getting a 20 gas not inertia to reduce recoil. Or shoot a lighter load.
I had to look up TSS shells. NO WAY IN HELLO WOULD I PAY $12 a shell to shoot any Turkey.....or any other animal I could hunt.

 

[Rick Richard]

Think about getting a 20 gas not inertia to reduce recoil. Or shoot a lighter load.
I had to look up TSS shells. NO WAY IN HELLO WOULD I PAY $12 a shell to shoot any Turkey.....or any other animal I could hunt.

But you will when you can't find nothing but TSS, which was the case for me this past year. Also, how many shots do you typically take in a Turkey season? Just saying.