Rookie Shotgun Question

I am looking at getting a shotgun for turkey hunting. I am thinking about something reasonably priced like a Rem 870. I see that the ones they advertise as specialized turkey guns have very short barrels....I believe 21 inches.

I want to know if this short barrel is a good thing or would I be better off buying one with a 26 or 28 inch barrel in case I may want to do something else like dove shooting in the future. Does it matter at all to the performance of the gun since they all have screw in chokes? The turkey version and the regular version of the 870 express are very close in price, so that is not a factor.

If I were buying it principly as a turkey gun I would get the short barrel. I like short barrels though. It does not matter much on a pump. The short barrels on the Remington autos will not shoot light loads but that want be a problem on the pump. The 870 is as good as you need.

I own the gun that you are referring to. I got one with a 28" barrell, i use it for dove, ducks and turkey's. Just a change of chokes, for turks, i use a Kick's Gobblin thunder, it's made by the same people as Comp-n-choke, the ports are different though! I like the versatility of the 28" versus the "Turkey model"
-Kwak

I have the 21" 870 and I shoot dove with it as well. I love the gun as it has helped me kill around 50 gobblers so far.

I like the short barrell because it is easy to move around in the woods with and it swings faster for me. I love a kicks choke tube, I wouldn't trade mine for all of the tea in china. I like a 24" barrel for all of my shotguns, but that's just me.

I shoot a Mossberg 500 with the 28" barrell, and have no trouble with the length when turkey hunting. It does well on ducks and doves also.

Hal