Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Rifles for turkey?

What's your opinion? A few years back I shot my first and only turkey.As I figured the shots would be a little on the long side as well as being a novice turkey hunter I decided to take my 270.The load I used was a Horn. 130 SP loaded way way down over IMR 4759.
My bird suffered no damage other than dyin' but one guy using a 22-250 shot one that looked like it ate a grenade for lunch following an 80 yard shot.
I thought the smaller caliber rifles were all the rage for turkeys????

You had right approach, and most of the guys "serious" about taking down their turkey with rifle use reduced loads also, even in the small calibers.

Where are you hunting turkey with rifle?

Fall season in Pa. allows us to use rifles.Spring gobbler is shotgun only.

i used a 7.62x39 and softpoint remingtons......and was promply made fun of so i quit hunting turkey <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

My understanding is that rounds like the .22 Hornet, .218 Bee, .219 Zipper, .221 Fireball are the cat's ass for turkey hunting. Use a soft point bullet instead of the plastic tipped or hollow point bombs. I say this only from research and interviewing an old poacher, never having shot a gobbler with anything but a swarm of shot. I've always thought it might be fun in the right situation and a petite little accurate rifle. Maybe for a dedicated turkey rifle an accurate, scoped, .22 Hornet with the old 45 grain softpoint or a flatpoint at modest Hornet velocties would be the ticket.

25/20 and 32/20 are the cat's meow on turkeys.

+1

...... 90 gr. cast lead bullets or 86 gr. jacketed soft points in the .25-20 WCF being my favorite.

I'm thinking of using a 243 with 80gr SP, my encore. Might end up cooking feathers, don't know. Have to use a minimum 22mag if going rifle in Wyoming. Just can't get em to come in close, and see so few.

I have killed several with a rifle, mostly during the fall season when I'm out for deer. Bullet placment is of utmost importance no matter what cartridge you use. I prefer the 220 Swift and head shots but placing that 63 grain Sierra through the thigh just above the leg will drop them without dammaging any meat. The first few I shot with a 270 were shot through the craw at the junction of neck and body. That was my favorite shot until I shot two that had craws full of whole pecans. I didn't recover much meat that did not have pecan shells fragmented throughout from those birds. FMJ bullets don't work. The bird runs or flys off and is lost. An accurate, tricked out 10/22 is the ticket for head shots only.

Still, I prefer to call them into shotgun range.

What ranges are you shooting?

That'd determine a lot. Close, the .22WMR and .22 Hornet work fine, and I'd suspect S'head's suggestions would, too.

Out long, the .221, .222, .223, and .22-250 take heads off really clean. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

VAnimrod, Which cartridges have you personaly harvested turkeys with?

i like using my muzzleloader in 50 cal on them

We have used a .22 mag at close range on called birds for the wife and kids.
I have a .222 that I would use if I was hungry. Instead, I carry an old 870 with a Briley choke, a scope, sling and a Decelerator. Fully loaded to absorb some of the recoil. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

pepaw

I have used the 10-22 at shotgun ranges (30 to 40 yards) for head shots only. Those birds were called.

With the Swift and a Leupold 6.5 X 20 VXIII I have made head shots at 120 yards form a deer blind. I've also killed them with that same Swift and shots through the thigh at 200 yards and better.

I have killed one with a bow, one with a 50 cal.CVA Hawken, and one with a head shot from a Ruger MK I target pistol in .22 rimfire. Most of my turkey were taken with a 20 gauge 870 and a 1 1/8 ounce load of 7 1/2's. When my son took over the 20 gauge I switched to the 870 Express 3 inch mag with Federal 2 ounce loads of # 6's.

For each turkey I have killed personally I have called in at least three for other hunters to shoot. I have lost one bird myself trying FMJ bullets. I called birds for one hunter who is a good shot with his .22 rimfire Magnum. I saw him shoot and loose three birds. He finally killed one with a head shot. I have personally killed and eaten birds that had survived 00 buck shot in their breast. And I called a bird in for a buddy who had gotten his reloads mixed up. He killed the bird dead at 30 yards with a head shot of #9 quail loads. We discovered that mixup when he was plucking the bird. He thought he had picked up a box of #6 shot.

In my experience, you can kill them with just about anything if you hit them in the head / neck. Otherwise, it requires precise shot placement with a good bullet that has some horse power behind it. Rimfires just won't do it with shots to the body. And shotguns loaded with buckshot won't either.

Least anyone think that killing a turkey with a rifle is easy. I guess it is easy if you don't care about eating it, but if you do it is a tiny target, and I am talking about the body.

I called one in and shot him at 35 yards broadside at the wing/body junction with a 30/06 using 180grain Partition (doing 2400fps), at the shot the feathers flew, the bird dropped to the ground and then got up and made a dead run for 60 yards before giving up the ghost. Tuff critters...

Pleae forgive me if this sounds rude, but if you have to take a .270 to shoot a turkey at less than 100 yards, something is wrong. I know several guys that have taken them with .17s maybe not at 100 yd. distance, but at the same (or more) distance as a shotgun.

284LUVR said, [color:"green"]"The load I used was a Horn. 130 SP loaded way way down over IMR 4759." [/color]

Sounds like that might be a pretty decent turkey load. Probably less destructive than your friends' fast stepping .17's.

Most people I know don't take a rifle turkey hunting. They just happen to see turkeys while they are deer hunting.

The fall season is open, I have a turkey tag in my pocket, a rifle in my hands, and I haven't seen a deer in the three hours I've been in this deer stand = one dead turkey.

Believe it or not i just sold my 220 WBY rocket to a guy in the lower main land.His intent was head shots on turkey and pheasant.I only shot one coyote with it.Pain in the butt cartridge.Wonder what he'll do when all the ammo i gave him runs out.He's not a reloader.