I bought a 20-gauge youth shotgun for my boys to turkey hunt with a few years back... My oldest killed his first bird at 51 yards with a 2-3/4" shell that first year... verified by me personally with a rangefinder. Now, I couldn't find a pellet in the bird, but he folded instantly regardless. May have been just one pellet which broke his neck My youngest took his first bird in OK last year at 46 yards, again ranged by me standing beside the bird and ranging back to the blind we were in (this time, I had 3" shells in the gun though). The pattern held well, as there were multiple pellets in the bird's head. So ... obviously, I'm getting some fantastic results with just the stock full choke installed. We've been watching a lot of turkey hunting videos and of course every choke manufacturer out there has to push their products on the shows... Guess it's working since I'm asking the question: Do you guys think there's a significant advantage to installing an aftermarket choke such as a Patternmaster or a Jellyhead?
Sounds like what you are using is working well. I've been using a Kicks Gobblin Thunder for the last 10 years in my 870 Super Mag. I tried several tubes and this one has performed the best for me.
To be honest, I don't even know what brand of turkey choke I use as I needed one in a pinch days before the season opened 2 years ago when I bought a new shotgun. I could not find one in a store at that point. Ended up calling my small local gun shop and they had 1 used turkey choke in the shop that would work in my shotgun when I called. The pattern I seen with that turkey choke was much tighter than what I was seeing with my full choke. So yes, I do use an after market choke. I haven't tried other choke brands as I happy with the one I have.
Been reading up on them a bit since I made this post this morning... I'm worried if I did put an aftermarket choke on the gun for the boys that it may tighten the pattern up so much that they'd be more likely to miss short- to intermediate shots; considering they're already knocking them down at fairly good distances, that may not be a tradeoff I'd want.
I am guilty of missing birds that are too close I have move back to the factory choke on my 835 with #6 shot and never had a bird at long range walk away from it.
No way to tell if you can gain something until you pattern what you have on paper. I upgraded to a Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike on my 870 and am shooting 3.5" Hevi 13 with #6's. It's putting 190-200+ pellets into a 10" circle at 40 yards. Previously I was putting 100-150 depending on what load out of the stock choke. What you will find is most guns will kill some birds at 40+ yards, but if you shoot at enough of them at those distances you will get some runners. When you optimize the setup you will kill them every time. I'm sure there are a lot of new options out there since I last patterned everything on the market but I'm pretty happy with my setup, it's killed a LOT of birds including over a dozen that were between 40-55.
Put a scope on the gun. I quite missing birds when I put a scope on the gun. I have a Mueller with the Multi Purpose crosshair and at any distance if it's in that circle it will die.
I have a Benelli SBE II that has killed multiple birds (rangefinder verified) past 65 yards. Dad killed one at 72, I told him to shoot and he shot to prove to me it wouldn't work... flop, flap, dead. This was all with the Benelli TKY choke. I haven't killed a bird with a shotgun in about 7 years. I bought 5 boxes of 3.5" Winchester Supreme #5's on clearance and still have 3 left. I can't say for turkey loads, but I shot the Hevishot Dead Coyote (T shot) out of the same choke on paper at 85 yards. It was a few years ago but there were around a dozen in a 12" circle. I purchased the Patternmaster and the count doubled.
It just depends on the gun & load.. Its been a awhile back but I tried handful of different choke tubes ( Indian Creek, Carlson, Primos, Kicks, and Hevi-Shot) and although the specs were very similar the results were not. I found that the choke tube by Hevi-Shot worked best in my Benelli Super M190. A factory Remington Super Full worked best in my 870. I am shooting Hevi 13 7s for the load. Some people say they are too expensive. I say I am only going to buy one box once every 5 years at best.
I use the HS Strut "the undertaker". Just put it on last year and killed the bird I aimed at. Mine you it was only about 10 yds behind a fence. I used whatever stock choke was on my Mossberg last year. think it was modified. what is everyone's thawt about long distance reaching chokes. what shoots the farthest?
I currently am using a Rhino choke in my SBEII and use a mixed load of 4,5 and 7 triplex in Hevi-shot. I shot a turkey at 72 yards, ranged later, that I thought was closer. DRT. I would not ordinarily take a shot that long and normally limit to around 50 yards for a safe ethical kill.
I've got a comp n choke on the unscoped one, shooting the Winchester longbeards and the scoped one has an Indian creek shooting hevi shot. Both shooting #6 3inch Winchester 1300's
Yes, I shoot an aftermarket choke. I believe it is from HS. It is at least 10 years old. I believe it is the Undertaker.
Well, seeing as how Indian Creek tubes are made 10 miles from my house like I mentioned, I stopped by today and talked with the guys there. Left with a Black Diamond Strike. We'll head to the range later this week and put a few rounds through it and see how it patterns with a few different loads.
Greg - Pick up a box of Hevi 13 #6's with the 2.25oz load. The difference between this and a box of lead #4's and factory tube will shock you. Matt Mickey ended up with the same setup I have and I think Rob has the same setup now too.
The Indian Creek guys recommended Hevi #7s.... Couldn't find any today at our local Academy Sports as all they had were #6s... I may pick up a box of those to try too but I'll definitely get a box of 7s too since that's what they recommended. Keep in mind this is for my son's youth gun, 20 guage with 3" chamber.
