extra extra full choke

T

tahunua001

New member
hello all,
this spring I bought a shotgun so that I could finally go turkey hunting without having to borrow one or resort to taking my father's very nice Citori out. a LGS had a used like new(never fired) mossberg 535 with pistol grip and M4 stock(of which I was not a fan) and realtree camo dip for only $275 after taxes so I figured I'd get it. now I utterly love that gun but I am having a bit of a dilemma with it. it came with an XXfull choke which is amazing if I'm shooting at anything near 25 yards but the spread is so tight that it offers little margin for error(25 yard spread is only about 8 inches wide). I missed my only real shot at a turkey this spring because the sights were off and I was aiming for a head shot.

I am primarily a rifle hunter and like the idea of accuracy but I find myself wondering if there is such a thing as too accurate when it comes to shotguns. should I keep the XXfull choke or should I get a standard full?
 
some day they will make a choke so narrow that the BBs will have to travel in single file line to get out.

I only use Full, modified and Cylinder
 
When I bought My Benelli M1 90 the steel shot for waterfowl had been just introduced .With the MOD choke I was getting XXFULL with steel BB. I was working out things for Goose. I thought about it and realized it might work on headshots on geese.It did !! :D Aim at the head , no more 'tail feather ' problems ,few pellets in the body.
With shotguns you must always pattern your loads .You might find surprizes like I did. Look for even distribution of the shot within a proper sized pattern for thr turkey head.
 
I have an old Model 12. 30" full choke. Okay, fine, but that was with paper hulls. With modern plastic, it's XXFull. Took me a while to be able to hit doves and quail, although at 40 or 50 yards it was easier.

Main thing, regardless of choke, is to find a load which patterns properly and then make sure of your sighting.
 
I am primarily a rifle hunter and like the idea of accuracy but I find myself wondering if there is such a thing as too accurate when it comes to shotguns. should I keep the XXfull choke or should I get a standard full?
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This is why I have gravitated to IM as my choke of choice for everything from HD to turkey hunting. I'm not a wing shooter so water fowl and upland bird hunting isn't an issue. To change for different game I just change to different shot sizes. I will never be an expert shot gunner but I am good enough for what I use a shotgun for. Could be what you need to do to because like you I am a rifle shooter first. Can I ask what size shot you were using to shoot at your turkey with?
 
Like a couple of smart guys already said, there is such a thing as "to much of a good thing"........at least that's what they ment.

And I think they are right. I'm not much of a turkey hunter but did at least do the pattern thing with my shotgun as those who are good turkey hunters say you need to. What I quickly realized was that from 20 to 45 yards or so my old Mossberg 500 with the stock full choke and a 1 3/4 oz load of shot was more than up to the task.
 
I have an old Model 12. 30" full choke. Okay, fine, but that was with paper hulls. With modern plastic, it's XXFull..............
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Are you really meaning the plastic shot cups(wadds) replacing the card wads and such???? And is your "OLD" Model 12 a 2-5/8" chamber??
 
Main thing, regardless of choke, is to find a load which patterns properly and then make sure of your sighting.
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^^^This. Without proper pattering you are only guessing. What I have found is most of the time, the XXFull and XFull chokes are not necessary and can indeed lead to missed birds at close range. A few years back I called in a Tom for my friend that had a perfect circle about eight inches in diameter shot out of the middle of his tail, In full strut, the hole was right above his head. I figured a hunter in a previous week had not waited till the bird came outta strut before he shot. The small hole showed the pattern to be quite tight, without much margin for error. I knicknamed this Tom "Lucky" as my friend also missed him with his bow. I have also found that shooting heavy turkey loads of #5 or larger shot, the Turkey type chokes generally pattern worse and increase felt recoil much more than standard full chokes. I stick to a standard full choke and use fiber optic sights on my turkey guns. I pattern my gun every year with the ammo I intend to use, even if it's the same as last year. If I can't get them within 40 yards, I don't shoot.
 
special

You missed 'cause your sights were off, not 'cause of a choke to tight. Trying to reverse engineer a system that is not correct to start (a loose enough choke to make up for sighting errors) is backwards logic. Zero the sights, do not play games with choke.

Were the gun "on", and all else right, you'd have a dead gobbler, irregardless of choke. A true turkey gun is a specialized tool, short, tightly choked and with good sights to allow delivering heavey payload into dense patterns to 40 yards or so. Turkey gun sights need to be adjustable and tough. Once on, they should take all manner of reasonable use and some abuse and not need fuss or worry. Old school turkey guns, with their looser full chokes and bead sights were OK, (sloppily compatible?) with beads, to an extent, but give up some range to the "new wave" guns. Today's specialized guns, with super tight chokes and dense special purpose loads, need sights.

Too, make an effort to shoot at a gobbler by holding at about the wattles, (center of neck) not holdding " on" the head. A head hold will throw half your shot charge over the tom, everytime, with everything being perfect. You basically give away half your payload, and are relying on only the "bottom" half of the pattern to do the killling. A gobblers head is pretty animated and articulated, always moving and searching. A head bob at close range at the moment of the shot, and a high "head only" hold, maybe some brush to strip the pattern, and you have all the makings of an educated and safer gobbler and one heart broken gobbler hunter. (ask me how I know).

For me, I want the added reach and clout of a dense pattern. A good sighting system, hold understanding, and a cool head (well 2 out of 3 anyhow) gets me more gobblers. I do not want to give up ten yards of reach for a few inches of slop at close range I should not need.

While I'm at it....I started hunting a combo this year that has real potential, a short barreled full and modified choked over under. The full barrel shoots extra full with premium ammo. The Mod barrel is about old school full with same. With the same load, I can "dial in" the choke I want at the time of the shot. (the gun has single/selective safety. Over dekes from a blind at ambush and close range setups, I can use the mod ( old school full) bottom barrel. In open hardwoods and roaming, I can use the full (extra full) barrel for the bird that hangs up at 40 yds and will not budge.

Just need better sights and a sling rig.
 
Gbro, yeah, the plastic cups.

Y'know, I've never checked for a short chamber. !!! I'd have to get it from the safe and check to see what it says on the barrel, if anything. However, no problems during several cases of ammo, so odds are "It's not that old!" :D

I also have a 1913 vintage Model 12; 20-gauge. Looks like 3/4 size of my 12. I had its chamber reamed for modern shells. It, too, is FC and shoots tight patterns.
 
However, no problems during several cases of ammo, so odds are "It's not that old!"
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I stood side by side in a duck blind and boat for years with a eccentric Finlander and noticed one day that he had some 3" shotshells in his ammo can. When i asked him about them he said he bought a couple boxes the last season and just tossed them all into the same can, un-boxxed. He was shooting a 1897 Winchester. He picked up several empty hulls that he ejected out of that gun and it was obvious that the chamber didn't fit the 3" empty.
As a youngster we used to have to close the old Ranger SxS .410 over the knee when we loaded it with 3" shells. All it says on the barrel is "Proof Tested 410 GA". And I swear that there were 2-1/2" Magnum shells back then that kicked harder than the 3".:rolleyes: If i remember correct they were purple.
 
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