It's my thinking, listening to the voices in my old head argue the need for a specialized, "Turkey Gun." When Turkey Hunting first opened up here in Wisconsin many years ago I tried my Remington 870 12 ga 2 3/4 using 2 3/4 magnum 4 shot. This proved to be a disappointment, primarily because the shotgun had a modified fixed choke barrel so did not really pattern that well. Dicks sporting goods, who at the time sold firearms had Remington 11-87 shotguns on sale. There was no price difference between the 3 in and 3 1/2 inch models so I bought a 3 1/2 inch. With a Caldwell long range turkey choke screwed onto the barrel it held a very tight group out to almost 70 yards. In other words it was quite deadly, but exactly a turkey gun, was touted more as a waterfowl gun. I used that shotgun for just about everything. I hunted with it, I shot trap with it and even tried it for skeet, it was a bit heavy for skeet and was not easy to swing fast enough for skeet. Anyway one of the guys on the trap team I was on made me an offer on the shotgun that I couldn't refuse. That was a big mistake. At the time I had a Remington 1100 3 inch magnum, which would not cycle shooting trap loads. I ended up getting another 1100 in 2 3/4, full choke for trap but it just didn't shoot the same as the 11-87. I then migrated to a Versa Max again in 3 1/2 inch. I took it out to the range only to find that the trigger on it was extremely heavy and gritty. It was impossible to shoot trap, much less anything else. It went in to Remington for repair and came back with a better, but not really nice trigger. It did well on Turkeys but as Remington alluded to it having, "Knock Down Performance," I wasn't quite sure it they were referring to the Bird or knocking down the person shooting the gun. After that I bought a Browning A5, this was a 3 inch which also did well on Turkey, but not so good on anything else. While I had the Browning I came across another 11/87, this one in 3 inch which has become, like the last 11-87 my favorite shotgun. It will shoot anything from trap loads to heavy 3 inch magnum loads interchangeably. It shoots well back up in the 20's on trap and is deadly on Turkeys out to between 60 and 70 yards, again with a Carlson choke and Federal Black Cloud (STEEL) 3 inch magnum 4s.
Now since I have drug you through all of this I am just going to say that a dedicated Turkey gun is a lot of hype again by the gun manufacturers as well as their paid gun writers. All their extolling the virtues of their Turkey guns in reality is nothing more than to get into your pocketbooks. In reality just about any shotgun is a good Turkey gun. It doesn't need all the bells and whistle that these people claim will ensure your success hunting Turkeys. That thumb hole or pistol grip stock is not going to make the shotgun shoot any farther or more accurately than a regular shotgun. The full choke barrels, some fixed will not add anything to the effective range of the shotgun. That is entirely dependent upon the choke, shot size and accuracy and abilities of the shooter. I have tried optics on my shotgun, both a shotgun scope as well as red dot. In the end the plain old bead at the front of the barrel held on the beak of a Tom with his head up and looking around will turn Tom into dinner. A miss is a miss no matter whether it's your brand new Turkey executioner or your trusty old shotgun that you use for everything including Turkey.
In the end, it is your money to spend in any manner that you care to. My point is simply to make a point that you don't need to spend a lot of money on a special Turkey gun. Your trusty Remington, Mossberg, Winchester or any other shotgun is capable or maybe even more capable of putting Tom on the Table.
In closing, if I need to do that...probably not with this crowd anyway is, "The money you save may be your own." Instead of spending it on a gun that is mostly Hype, put it in your piggy bank and save it for that once in a lifetime Elk hunt or Safari to the plains of Africa.
