New to Turkey Hunting, Thoughts on an Inexpensive, Yet Effective First Turkey Gun???

[AlphaHunter88]

I've been an avid whitetail deer hunter for most of my life. Used everything from .30-30, .243, .270, .308, '06, 6mm Rem, and even 12 and 20 gauge buck. I love the outdoors, but have never really gotten all that engrossed with the idea of turkey until recently. Right now the only shotgun I own is a youth model 20 gauge single shot with a 3" chamber and fixed modified choke. Although I have my opinion, I've been told a few times that this wouldn't be great for thunder chickens, especially if shooting more than 20 or so yards. That said, I'm kind of hesitant to waste money on a good turkey load to pattern with it. I'm looking at getting more of a specialized gun, or at least one with more versatility. I'm looking at about a $200 budget within the next couple of months and I really don't care if it's new or used. Of course the Mossberg 88 (Maverick) in 12 gauge comes to mind. I could get it practically anywhere for under $200. I figured outfit it with a good turkey choke and try some good factory loads to see which would pattern best. Any other ideas? Does anyone else turkey hunt with this gun and if so, what is your experience? Should I forget this and go used? Negative feedback about the Maverick is so rare that it seems as though it may be one of the absolute best budget buys in all of firearms. At any rate, I openly welcome all feedback on the subject.

[osbornk]

The Maverick 88 is sold at my local Walmart for $188. I went to buy one but they only had the 20 gauge in stock so I spent a little more and got a Mossberg 500. I found a turkey choke tube on Ebay for around $16. The choke tube also fits the Mossberg 88. The first time I tried it, I could hit a gallon milk jug at 30-35 yards about two thirds of the time. I was pleased at my first attempt and the Maverick 88 should shoot the same as it is the pretty much the same mechanically other than the location of the safety.

[Virginian]

I believe any decent pump would do, but a fancy named choke tube does NOT insure good patterns. You have to shoot some patterns to KNOW what it is actually doing. Good shells and a standard Full tube are usually sufficient for 40-45 yard shots IF everything is working as it should. Best turkey hunter I know used his black BPS Stalker duck gun with a Browning Full tube.

[Blindstitch]

The maverick will do but it's the choke that matters. Most turkey hunters only get one shot anyway.

I have an HS Undertaker choke and it seems to work but of the two loads I have one is more accurate. After turkey season some of the shells were discounted up to 75% so I bought a few other brands but I still need to pattern them with the choke.

[FITASC]

fixed modified choke. Although I have my opinion, I've been told a few times that this wouldn't be great for thunder chickens, especially if shooting more than 20 or so yards.

More than 20 yards with a Mod? Seriously? Whoever told you that knows NOTHING about shotguns, loads or chokes. That said, a single shot is about the worst gun period as far as recoil goes.

Any 12 gauge pump with a M, IM, or F will do the job. Some folks think they need some uber-expensive "turkey" choke that is ridiculously too tight. Chokes that are too tight can result in a blown pattern and be even more open than using a basic M to F.
Another thing, learn to call him in, and you'll be surprised what you can kill a turkey with. Folks have been hunting them since the Pilgrims without special chokes and 3-1/2" shells.

[Blindstitch]

Yeah the calls are really where it's at.

I hate mouth calls so I use box and slate calls.
I have HS, Primos and Knight and Hale.

The HS and Primos slate calls are terrible so I bought a Knight and Hale Wet Willy box call and it works pretty good. I stumbled upon some locator calls by them and some parts were missing so they sent me a new 3 call pack. Thought it was worth a shot to buy their dual threat slate call and it's now my favorite.

http://www.knightandhale.com/dual-th...urkey-pot-call

It has a special striker which may or may not be a big deal but also two surfaces to give two different tones. Two birds for one call. But then I grabbed those HS and Primos slates and with this striker both of those calls sound great but different. So they stay in the turkey backpack too.

[eastbank]

when i hunt turkeys i tie light blue tape on objects at 35 yrds and limit my shots with in the 35yrd range, i know you can kill turkeys at greater ranges, but a lot of birds are wounded and lost at those longer ranges(45-60 yrds). turkeys are wonderful game birds and deserve to be taken cleanly. spring turkey hunting is very special to me and to have two toms racing in to be the first one to dance with a hot hen is worth the ticks,snakes and long still sit downs. i also use slate and box calls, a one sided lynch hen and a double sided ben lee are the box calls i use and custom made slate made by a very good friend and turkey hunter. eastbank.

[AlphaHunter88]

Thanks guys. I'm leaning towards the Mossberg anyway. Prob with a full choke. Thanks also for the great info on calls. That was my next topic.

[bamaranger]

I see no reason at all why the Mossberg 88 couldn't function as a first turkey gun. Similarly, with the improvement of modern turkey loads, a believe that standard full choke guns are shooting the equal of some of the special turkey chokes from a decade or so ago.

As stated earlier, you will need to shoot/pattern any gun with the ammo you intend for two reasons: firstly to insure that you are indeed getting a killing pattern at reasonable ranges, 35-40 yds, and secondly, to confirm that your gun is shooting where it looks.

It is not uncommon to have a scattergun shoot to a different point than where held. That is why I like some typed of adjustable sight on a turkey gun beyond the traditional single bead. If you can't arrange for some type of sights, changing tubes sometimes helps slide a pattern back to center.

As far as loads go, I am a fan of 3" shells, and lean towards the hi-speed 1-3/4, 1-5/8 oz loads as opposed to the heavier 2 oz versions. I am a fan of #5 shot (lead), lots of guys shoot #6, #4 has always been to thin in any of my guns to seriously consider. A problem gun (thin patterns) can often be helped by going to smaller (#6) shot. At any decent range (30-40 yds) #6 should flatten any gobbler whose noggin you center. I have never, and do not intend, to shoot any "space shot" at gobblers. Lead works fine and is more affordable.

Turkey hunting advice could be a whole separate post, but I can't resist diverging. Common mistakes are calling too much & too loud, shooting too far and too soon, and poor set up. If I had to pick one critical element it would be set up. It's hard to call a gobbler where he doesn't want to go, and hard to shoot one you can't see or get in range. If I had to pick one theme...hunt where's there's turkeys. Find out before season, scout. Regards calling, it is integral to the hunt, but I believe not as critical as often made out. Basic calling, simple yelps and clucks, will kill a lot of turkeys if the set up is good. A certain percentage of my kills have been made w/o any calling at all, simply being there at fly down time, or set up in a strut zone or travel route.

[turkeestalker]

When I first started stalking turkeys, my only choice with a 3" chamber was a full choke single shot 20 gauge.
I was going in blind and teaching myself, the little 20 ga. was what I had so it was what I used.
Just meant I needed to get them in close.

My first bird I harvested at 15 feet on my fourth morning of being schooled well by him.
The little 20 ga. was very effective once I figured out how to coax his stubborn 21# butt in close, what an amazing thrill.

That was in the spring of 94, and I was hopelessly hooked for life.
If I had to give up hunting all but one of God's creatures, wild turkeys would be my one and only.

I took one more bird with it that fall at about 30 feet before acquiring a shotgun supposedly better suited to the task.
That little 20 ga. single did just fine though and is now a sentimental prize for me that I'll never part with.

There is some very good advice in this thread regarding location, scouting, and calling.
Concentrate on those three aspects and your shotgun choice won't be too great of a concern.

[AlphaHunter88]

Ended up buying a used 870 Express Magnum 3" chamber, super clean bore with a few rem chokes thrown in. Out the door at my LGS fpr a whopping $180. Think i did pretty good!

[GarandTd]

I'd say you did pretty well, especially considering the added chokes. Did you go with a 12 gauge? I'll be patterning a 20gauge Mav88 and a 20gauge NEF single shot. I have a modified and an xtra full tube for the maverick. The NEF is mod or improved, I don't remember, but it's fixed.

[AlphaHunter88]

Yeah I went with a 12 because that was the best deal. I'd have been just as quick to go with a 20 though. Going to pick up some turkey loads in the morning for the patterning board. Any suggestions for a good 3" turkey load out of an extra full choke?

[osbornk]

I think you will be glad you have a 12 gauge rather than a 20 because there is a better selection of ammo at better prices. There are also more accessories for 12 gauge than 20.

I have a friend who has been a turkey hunting fanatic for the last 50 years (he is 76) and he recommended that I use #6 shot in my 12 gauge but didn't specify a brand. He uses 2 older 12 gauge Remington 1100s with a scope. He said the scope greatly improved his success rate. I don't recall ever seeing a scoped shotgun.

[eastbank]

i shot the biggest turkey of my life so far(73) with a rem 1100 12ga mag with a 2.5x leupold scope at 6:10AM that came up a brush filled draw, with out the scope i still may have got him, but the scope made the shot easy in the low light conditions and i was able to center his head-neck with the pattern. eastbank.

[bamaranger]

I have pal in his mid 60's who has been plagued with bad vision his entire life. After learning that he'd missed the last 2-3 gobblers he's shot at, we put a Leupold 2.5x with a German#1 on his 870.

His confidence level soared, and I expect his success rate to return. We have a drilled and tapped Mossberg 835 here in the house (bamaboys) and may well scope it in the future, as fiber optics are getting abit fuzzy for me these days.

[natman]

Any suggestions for a good 3" turkey load out of an extra full choke?

http://www.winchester.com/Products/s...X123MXCT4.aspx

12 ga, 3", 2 oz, #4 lead.

Did extremely well in this study and I've had 27 one shot kills in a row with it using a Mossberg 500 and Mossberg XFull choke.

I would recommend getting some form of sight, even if it's a simple open sight. It's very easy to get your head too high when shooting seated and shoot over the turkey.

[B.L.E.]

Originally Posted by turkeestalker

My first bird I harvested at 15 feet on my fourth morning of being schooled well by him.
The little 20 ga. was very effective once I figured out how to coax his stubborn 21# butt in close, what an amazing thrill.

If you can get them to come that close, you can probably kill them with a .410 target load.

[bamaranger]

They've gone way up in price since they were first introduced, but the Winchester, 1-3/4 oz "XR" loads are very arguably the best lead loads on the market. My own limited test through my two guns gives pellet counts with 1-3/4 oz. #5 shot, that equal and often exceed 2 oz loads of #6 from other brands of shells!!!!! Winchester buffers the shot column with a hard cylinder of epoxy. The stuff can't dribble out through the crimp over the course of the season(s), and does a super job apparently, of buffering the shot column upon discharge.

Note too, that the study referred to a few post prior, was based on data compiled in 1990. The XR shell was not on the market at that time. But, as I first stated, at Wally World this week, they were nearly $18.00 a box of 10, the most expensive lead load there! I'll still buy them, but that's $6 more then what they sold for when they first came out. I have some stowed away, and that will help.

I've never been a fan of #4 shot, but the "XR's" shoot so tight, that I may try some in that larger pellet. If I can get 175-180 pellets on a sheet of typing paper, I may hunt them.

Their stablemate, the Win Double XX Supreme high speed, is also a very good load, and about $5.00 cheaper.

[stonewall50]

Originally Posted by AlphaHunter88

I've been an avid whitetail deer hunter for most of my life. Used everything from .30-30, .243, .270, .308, '06, 6mm Rem, and even 12 and 20 gauge buck. I love the outdoors, but have never really gotten all that engrossed with the idea of turkey until recently. Right now the only shotgun I own is a youth model 20 gauge single shot with a 3" chamber and fixed modified choke. Although I have my opinion, I've been told a few times that this wouldn't be great for thunder chickens, especially if shooting more than 20 or so yards. That said, I'm kind of hesitant to waste money on a good turkey load to pattern with it. I'm looking at getting more of a specialized gun, or at least one with more versatility. I'm looking at about a $200 budget within the next couple of months and I really don't care if it's new or used. Of course the Mossberg 88 (Maverick) in 12 gauge comes to mind. I could get it practically anywhere for under $200. I figured outfit it with a good turkey choke and try some good factory loads to see which would pattern best. Any other ideas? Does anyone else turkey hunt with this gun and if so, what is your experience? Should I forget this and go used? Negative feedback about the Maverick is so rare that it seems as though it may be one of the absolute best budget buys in all of firearms. At any rate, I openly welcome all feedback on the subject.

Oh YAY! Finally! I get to talk about turkey hunting here. I'm getting myself ready. Here is your recipe for success.

10 inch circle at 30 and 40 yards. You want over 110 pellets in that circle.


You may want to use a number 5 lead. My father downgraded from a 3.5 inch benelli 870 to a sweet shooting 20 gauge semi auto 3 inch. Plenty of gun and he has so many beards on his beard belt that it looks like the top of someone's head at this point.

My first bird was with a 20 gauge 870 at 20 yards. Don't undersell the 20. It works great. Just stick to the above formula for pattern. I wouldn't go lower than a number 5 because they may not have the juice to put the bird down. Nothing worse than hitting it and not killing it.


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[AlphaHunter88]

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[Blindstitch]

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[GarandTd]

I picked up a box of Remington 3" Nitro Magnum #5 shot Turkey rounds to try after they were recommended by a friend. I tested out some 2 3/4" Remington Express XLT high brass rounds in #4 shot. Aside from a little more punch at the shoulder, I didn't see any improvement over basic target loads with the XLR's. I haven't had a chance to try the 3" rounds yet. Both in 20 gauge.

[FITASC]

I wouldn't go lower than a number 5 because they may not have the juice to put the bird down. Nothing worse than hitting it and not killing it.

And yet, on another forum, there is a guy that uses non-tox 9-1/2s and kills them at 35-40 yards with fast lethality.

Always three sides to every coin

[Blindstitch]

Yeah underkill may kill but overkill makes me feel a little bit better about not tracking wounded animals.