I have a question about shotgun barrels for turkey hunting. I ran up on a deal to get a turkey barrel for my shotgun. What are the benefits of having a turkey barrel or is a turkey choke tube all you need or is just a full choke tube all you need? I never hunted turkey but thought about doing it. I just don’t know a lot about the gear needed. Thanks for the info.
I use just a extended full choke. From pattern master. Can’t remember how much I Paid but fairly reasonable. I don’t see a reason for a barrel though.
Before you spend money to solve a problem, find out if you even have a problem to solve.
Have you ever patterned your shotgun using the full choke? What were the results?
A tighter choke isn’t automatically better.
Grouse
Did the barrel you are looking at have any features such as porting, weaver rail or drilled and tapped, extra length?
Some guys think that because it’s only one shot a year they can just throw a choke in anything, and others figure it’s only one shot better have the best. Both can harvest a bird and both can miss. We have two guns here at home that are dedicated turkey guns and are completely worked with porting, forcing cones and red dots. Both guns perform almost too well when you call them into 10 but the extra pattern down range is there when needed. It’s all about what you want to get out of it.
How tight of a pattern are we looking for? The barrel had iron sights and vented port holes. Also what size shell I assume T or BBB in the 3 1/2 inch area.
I use a Carlson extra full steel choke for waterfowl and turkey. It’s plenty tight for turkey, I still get the range needed. Like Grouse said, pattern your gun with the choke you have now and see if you even need a new choke/barrel. Some guns pattern just fine out to 35-40 yards with a standard full choke that came with the gun.
I shoot 3.5″ shells, but many use 3″ and kill turkeys also. Just an FYI you can’t use any larger shot size for turkey than #4 shot. I shoot the winchester black death 3.5″ in #5 shot, but that is what patterns best in my gun. Not all guns are the same. My sons both have the exact same gun as me and one of them doesn’t pattern well with that choke and ammo.
How tight of a pattern are we looking for? The barrel had iron sights and vented port holes. Also what size shell I assume T or BBB in the 3 1/2 inch area.
After patterning alot of guns for turkeys over the years, grouse is right, it’s all in the pattern and the pellet counts.
I’m looking for more than 100 pellets or so at 40 yards in a 10″ circle. If you can do that, you will consistently kill them stone-dead at 40 yards. If you’re getting somewhere in the 50-80 mark, you’re good to 30 yards. Less than 50, and you should be looking to change your load/choke combination. Don’t worry if you don’t fill the 10″ circle with 300 pellets, just adjust your max range when shooting at a turkey. At the end of the day, we all have our own levels of comfort when it comes to hunting turkeys and what ranges we’re shooting at. These have been acceptable levels on the conservative side for me in the past.
Joel
Thanks for the info I never knew about the #4 shot size rule MN is weird sometimes lol. Thats what I was looking for Joel thanks. I live up by Duluth MN and turkeys are making their way up here, but I may never do it. However it has crossed my mind many times.
To be honest, I’ve never heard of a turkey barrel, lots of turkey chokes but never a barrel. Like everyone said, find the right choke/shell combo and you’ll be in the chips. I used to shoot 3 1/2″ thinking bigger was better but a 3″ shell shoots a better pattern. Get turkey loads #5 is a good starting point. A good set of decoys will shorten your shot distance as well, take the barrel money and buy a good set.
Before you spend money to solve a problem, find out if you even have a problem to solve.
Have you ever patterned your shotgun using the full choke? What were the results?
A tighter choke isn’t automatically better.
Grouse
This is excellent advice! I am certainly not a turkey hunting expert, but my son was lucky enough to get selected for the Youth Mentored hunt this past Spring so I set out to make sure he was prepared to do so. I let him use my Beretta A390 12 gauge, 28″ barrel. I bought a Turkey Choke BUT I patterned the standard Full Choke that came with my gun. What I found is that the Full choke performed more than sufficient at 30 yards and I returned the turkey tube.
In the end he dusted a big tom at 15 yards and it never moved.
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