shotguns for turkey

deersled · Jan 29, 2005

my 14 yr old son wants to start turkey hunting. his shotgun is chambered for 2 3/4" shells with a mod barrel. I realize range will be reduced. is it even feasible to use this gun? if so are there hi-powered shells that you would recommend? if not, would it be possible to have the barrel threaded for chokes or cheaper just to buy a turkey gun? thanx, lucky

Jim Ammons · Jan 29, 2005

Check with Gun docc-he is the specialist here.

Ga-Spur · Jan 29, 2005

The 2 3/4 inch shell is ok for turkey hunting . You need to check the Mod choke on paper for the pattern . The range will be fine . Your son will have to put some pellets into the turkey's head or neck to kill it. A turkey seems like a big target ; but you can't body shoot it and kill it. A 14 year old boy could handle the 3 " shell just fine I believe especially in an auto-loader.You can buy magnum shells in 2 3/4" . I would go with Number 6 shot with this set up.

jeffh1971 · Jan 30, 2005

I used a 2 3/4 inch shell for a couple of years. I had an extra full choke and experimented with different loads and had a pretty good gun out to 40 yards. With a modified choke you may have to keep shots within 30 yards. A few trips to the patterning board will tell the tale very quickly as to how far the shotgun will shoot. But I would say as long as your son can restrict the yardage of his shots, the 2 3/4 inch shell from a modified choke will do just fine.

gblrklr · Jan 30, 2005

The 2 3/4 inch shells are fine for turkeys. The 1 5/8 oz. load will do the trick every time, if they pattern well in your son's gun. They are actually faster by over 100 feet per second compared to the 3" 2 oz shells.

Like most everyone else has said, he will need to spend some time patterning the gun to find out which load the gun prefers and the effective range of his shotgun particularly with the modified choke. All shotguns will vary to a large degree.

futuredoc · Jan 31, 2005

my friend

The first bird my friend ever took was shot at 40 yards with a 2 3/4" 12ga. modified choke. I DO NOT think this was smart, but it did work. I called the bird in and watched him shoot it. I only saw a couple holes in that thing though.

fd

hawglips · Jan 31, 2005

We shoot 20 gauges a lot, but never shot a modified choke. I'd check out the pattern real thoroughly before you decided on maximum range for him. Boys at that age have a hard time with range estimation when one starts strutting in and he's in the heat of the moment, so I'd take extra care on this. I've got one that shot a turkey last year at 55 yds with he Nova -- thought he was "35 yds." Luckily, he was shooting hevishot and a couple stray pellets killed it anyway.

I've got a 2 3/4" 20 gauge (Browning auto5) with a 28" full choke barrell that patterns well out to 30 yards with 1 oz. of #6 magnums.

Hal

shotguns for turkey

deersled

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Jim Ammons

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Ga-Spur

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jeffh1971

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gblrklr

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futuredoc

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hawglips

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