Which turkey gun?

[JD-ODINSON]

I am looking for a new shotgun for turkey hunting. I've always been a big game hunter and pheasant, but am going to try turkey this spring now. I'm trying to decide between the Weatherby Element turkey or the Mossberg 930 turkey.....

What are the pros and cons between the 2?

 

[Critter Picker]

For turkey (assuming you plan to put optics on it) fit isn't as important as for wing shooting. That being said I would try to locate both and try them out to see which fit me better. Trap shooters usually have a pretty wide selection of firearms. If you know someone who shoots trap or skeet maybe tag along.

 

[Wetwrk]

My dedicated turkey gun is a 20 guage Benelli Nova with a simple fiber optic front bead and a turkey choke. Its the lightest long gun I own. Easy 40 yard head shots. I find no need for a 12 guage hunting turkey, I save that for waterfowl.-WW

 

[birddog 68]

I've got no experience with either but mossberg has been making excellent turkey guns for as long as I remember. I've used a cheap stoeger model 2000 12 gauge until switching to a Franchi 20 gauge last year. There's so many choices I wouldn't narrow it down to two unless you've handled them.

 

[Thunder17]

If I was in the market for a 12 gauge I'd really look at the Mossberg 940 Pro Turkey with 18.5" barrel, it's a sweet gun.
I bought a Retay Masai Mara Turkey 20 gauge this year for turkey season and am satisfied with it.

 

[Rick Richard]

Whatever you decide stick with a 20 gauge using TSS ammo. It kills plenty good enough and doesn't knock the snot out of you when you pull the trigger. Good luck on your choice.

 

[Paul Spaulding]

I kinda like sticking with the classics. Since turkey hunting is typically a single shot game, I like to hunt with my old Winchester single shot Model 37A. It is short (no action that has to cycle), easy to handle, and with a 30" full choke barrel, devastating out to around 50 yards. Turkey loads kick a bit, but I have never felt recoil shooting at any animal.

 

[ridgewalker]

JME&O-
I have taken a couple of dozen turkeys mostly with a 22 Hornet, but maybe 6-8 were with a Remmy 870 12 gauge with shortened 20" barrel and threaded for Carlson tubes. I have a hollowsight mounted on it with a circle and dot. It is quick handling and hasn't failed me yet. #6 or #5 copper plated 3" magnum shot has helped.
I personally prefer a sight and short barrel. The old timers who started the game used 30" barrels because of the sight radius helping accuracy.
I don't believe I ever shot one over 30 yards even with the 22 Hornet. A couple were less than 10 yards. Pretty exciting calling them in that close!
Bottom line, both of your choices seem sound particularly if you can add a red dot sight and find a load that patterns well.
Best of luck, because once you've called one in, you will be addicted!

 

[Elfego Baca]

For the last three turkeys I used a break open single shot 410!

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Doesn't really matter I don't think. Just get whatever fits you the best. Most quality shotguns will give excellent patterns with the proper choke and ammo. One preference I have and recommend is an auto loader. They are just softer quicking than their pump action or single action counter parts. My turkey gun is a winchester sx3 field with winchester Long beard 3in #6 shells. I'm not into spending 60 bucks a box for 5 shells of tss.

 

[turkeyguide]

This is my 29th year as a turkey guide and have experienced most of the good and the bad. One thing I will tell you is to keep the barrel short, around 20 inches is pretty much perfect. The shorter gun is easier to carry and maneuver in the woods and if you hunt from a blind you'll be glad of the short length. As far as choke tubes I like Comp N Choke. I have them in all of my turkey guns and have used them in customers guns. They're good people and will help you decide on a choke dependent what gun you have and what shot size you want to shoot. If the choke doesn't perform the way you want call them and they will swap it out for you, you can also send them your gun and they will test tubes and shells and shot size. Now to get to shotguns, I have several turkey guns all with red dot sights on them, you don't need a scope, a red dot is less troublesome, if the dot is on the turkey it doesn't matter where your head is as long as you have dialed the sight in. Sorry I ramble sometimes. Back to Shotguns, I have 2 Remington 870 spst 12 ga 3 in guns and a Mossberg 835 NWTF Grand Slam Gun 12 ga 3.5 in. These are all pump guns, I don't have anything against auto loaders, it's just what I have. I made some changes to the Mossberg for clients to use if they want to, it probably has 25 kills on it with no malfunction in the field. One year after the season I was cleaning it and noticed the magazine cutoff wasn't right so I called Mossberg and they looked up the serial number and found the gun was one week out of warranty, they still sent me the part free of charge. I replaced the part and the gun has been used in the field ever since killing turkeys. I noticed some of the members recommend TSS shot, it is awesome but it's about $10 every time you yank the hook. I have personally tested it and it does work but then so does the Winchester Longbeard XR shells at about half the price. The one thing we did go for them was in 410 shotguns that we have at the lodge for kids to use. I hope you find what you like and welcome to the life long insanity of turkey hunting. If you want or need any further help you can P.M. me, I will be glad to help.

 

[Groot]

I was dead set on a 930 until the second I put one in my hands, felt cheap and clunky and the tang safety just wasn't for me. As others have said grab them and handle them if you can. I bought a weatherby sa459 turkey and it's a sweet rig for about 6-650 dollars everything that I was looking for without sacrificing anything. I've recently started working on an 870, shortened the barrel to 22 inches, rechoked it, new thumb hole stock, and plan on lengthening the forcing cone and potentially back boring it. If I'd have started with the 870, I probably wouldn't have gotten the weatherby.

 

[JD-ODINSON]

I was dead set on a 930 until the second I put one in my hands, felt cheap and clunky and the tang safety just wasn't for me. As others have said grab them and handle them if you can. I bought a weatherby sa459 turkey and it's a sweet rig for about 6-650 dollars everything that I was looking for without sacrificing anything. I've recently started working on an 870, shortened the barrel to 22 inches, rechoked it, new thumb hole stock, and plan on lengthening the forcing cone and potentially back boring it. If I'd have started with the 870, I probably wouldn't have gotten the weatherby.

I've had a 930spx before and really enjoyed it. I've also shot the Weatherby element for Pheasants and really enjoyed it too. I'm just trying to figure out which may be better turkey wise and if one is more reliabile than the other.. I'm also open to other autoloaders around the same price range

 

[Jon Bischof]

I've killed a few turkeys with Benelli Super Black Eagle. I can tell you the Benelli super full choke patterns better than any aftermarket choke tube I tried and is an aim point centered pattern. Killed a nice gobbler with Heavy shot #5 (13% denser than lead) at about 45-50 yards and he was riddled with full pass through holes all around my aim point.

I experimented with a variety of shotguns and found that Ithaca 37 full chokes barrels were one of the best. Browning also good.

But the Benelli with Benelli X-Full tube is the best so far. I will probably use the Heavyshot before I splurge for TSS because it shoots and kills so well in my gun. TSS might be better, but I have never bought any yet.