Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Sight in?

May sound stupid but how do you sight in a turkey gun? I have a Benelli M1 with ghost rings I was thinking of drafting for turkey duty this spring. Can't quite wrap my head around sighting in a shotgun. Choke/load recommendations would be nice too. Thinking Federal heavyweight 7 but choke recommendations would help.

I use an inexpensive target load that patterns well with a full choke in my shotguns. Then simply adjust the sight until the center of the pattern is consistent with your sight picture.

Only then should you move to shooting the expensive turkey loads with your X-full turkey choke. At that point you begin to pattern the loads and chokes until you find the combo that works best. The first time I pattern a new to me turkey gun, I start the patterning process with the same cheaper and less brutal to the shoulder target loads. Most times, the chokes that pattern best with that load will give the best patterns with at least a couple of my selected turkey loads.

If you are considering basic major factory loads (Winchester, Remington, Kent, Federal), the Winchester Double X in #5 have usually done quite well. I have killed at least 5 birds using that load. Lately I have shifted to big dollar loads like Hevishot. Costs a lot more, but definitely patterns better at 40 yards and beyond. Killed a bird with it last year at almost 50 yards. My hunting partner used the same load/choke (Indian Creek) combo to shoot a Tom at almost 60 yards. We have never even considered shooting turkeys beyond 35 yards before going to those loads and chokes.

Stay tuned to your thread as there a few really into it guys that know much, much more about this shotgun stuff than I would ever want to. When they show up, you are in for a good show.

Good luck and enjoy.

You were born with a rear sight for a shotgun. Put your head on the stock, the bead on his head or body and hit the trigger. Shot? 5s and 6s are good, but I've shot maybe 5 turkeys of opportunity while Grouse hunting with 7.5s at 30 yards and under and they worked every time. For myself the big fun of Turkey hunting is having them close.

The HW 7s are good loads, Rob Roberts makes a good choke for them in the Benelli. The easiest way to zero is to pick the choke you want to run and start at around 15yds with light dove loads. Once zeroed, drop back to 40 and try the turkey load on a large 3'x3' sheet of paper. It shouldn't take many of the expensive loads to fine tune.

I've had great luck with the Benelli's due to the chromed lined barrels with Indian Creek .665 chokes. I'd start and probably stop there. Just make sure you deep clean the barrel first before you pattern.

http://allaboutshooting.com/article_info.php?articles_id=282

Here are some patterns thru my SBE with IC with factory loaded Hevi-Shot 7's when I was dialing the Red Dot in. Got some very nice results. These were at 40 yards.





One at 20 yards just to see where the Red Dot was hitting.



Also, shot some of the TSS reloads. The first was 2oz of TSS #9's at 40 yards and the second was 1oz of TSS #9's and 5/8oz Hevi-shot 7.5's at 40 yards.






The easiest way to sight in the gun with a scope/red dot is to use a rangefinder ie not guess and set up at target at 40 yards. Put a dot in the center of a 4'X4' piece of paper/cardboard/etc. Shoot off sandbags for a steady rest while aiming at the dot in the center of the target. After you shoot a tester round go mark on the target where the center of the pattern is with another dot. Go back to the sandbags and put the scope/red dot back on the original dot where you aimed. While keeping the gun as steady as possible have a friend move the scope/red dot until the crosshairs/dot are lined up on the dot you marked in the center of your pattern. Now your gun should be very close. Put up another target with a dot to confirm your pattern is centered. Might take just a little bit of adjusting from there, but doing it this way generally only takes two rounds.

If no partner to move the crosshairs/dot, I generally can get my red dot close at home. I do this by aiming the barrel as close as I can tell at a light switch or something in my shop then I look to see where the red dot is in relation. I move it accordingly until I think I have it close. Then I go to the range and shoot some lead target or dove loads at 20 yards to verify. The lead is lighter so I sight it in high. Then I shoot a shot at 40 yards and adjust from there.