I am planning to hunt turkeys this spring for the first time. I have a 12 gauge Remington 870 Express. It has a rifled barrel and a scope mounted on the receiver. I bought it to hunt deer and elk.

I am thinking of buying a Remington 870 barrel to use for turkeys. I would probably buy the 26" barrel. It comes with a modifed Remchoke. I have read that I need a choke with an extra full pattern so that means I will probably need to buy another choke for the gun.

Which choke should I purchase to go with the barrel?

Thanks for your help.

The best choke i have used and i have tried most of them is the Kick's Gobbling Thunder.

I am a huge fan of Kick's Gobblin' Thunder chokes and have several of them. However, the Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike just flat out shoots my Kick's chokes and I have two of the IC-BDS chokes now because of their performance. If money were a factor I would look really hard at the Primos Jellyhead. That Jellyhead is the best inexpensive choke I am aware of.

I purchased two Pattern Master Chokes one for my Benelli Super 90 and one for my Rem 870. I haven't patterned them yet, but will try them on the pattern board sometime in the next couple of weeks. I haven't tried the Black Diamond and may order one for my Super 90. As of today the Kicks is my favorite.

bea175,
The Patternmaster chokes have never impressed me. I never got the great patterns I sometimes hear of from a Patternmaster. Rich Cronk had dismal results from his and several other guys I know haven�t seen anything great from them either. They are about an Improved Modified constriction, which is a good place to be with the really large buckshot and large steel, but for the smaller buck and turkey type loads I don�t think it is enough constriction. Just my experience and theory, I hope you have better results.

I have always been a Kick's GT guy. You may know that from my patterning work for predators, I know you are over at PM some. As you know the Kick�s GT is a well made choke and performs very, very, well. I think it is a better looking choke than the Indian Creek if that would mean anything. The Indian Creek is a very heavily constructed choke and obviously of high quality build, but IMHO they are a bit ugly. But the two Indian Creek BDS chokes I have just flat outshoot any other choke I have ever tried � period. And performance trumps all else, I think if you try one you�ll be pleased with the way it shoots. My Benelli M1S90�s both average slightly over or right at 200 pellet strikes within 10� at point of aim with the Hevi-13 3-2-6 load.

I ordered the Pattern Master Chokes to use with Fed # 4 buck for Coyote calling in the woods but will see what they will do with my Turkey Loads.

I use my Kick's GT's for that. Let me know how the Patternmaster works out for you. I'm interested in that stuff...

will do

before you buy another choke tube, shoot (as in pattern) your factory tube, both full and mod if you have them. one gun may throw a great pattern with a kicks choke shooting Federal #4, while the same gun may not throw a decent pattern with win #4. i gave my son a new 11-87 and a couple new aftermarket choke tubes. we had three different factory loads to pattern. you see the variables? 3 loads, 3 chokes. after about 2 hours it was obvious that the tightest pattern was with the rem factory full choke and a remington factory load. just because one buys an aftermarket tube for turkey doesn't mean a tight pattern with your gun and the ammo you shoot. good luck.

My Turkey load is the Winchester Supreme 3.5 inch Number 5 shot. I still have a couple of boxes of the Remington Hevi-Shot 3.5 inch and use the Cabela Hevi-Shot choke tube with them. This one was taken with the Kicks Choke and the Winchester # 5 load

Try A Indian Creek choke tube. Great company to deal with. Call them up, tell them what you want to shoot for shot size, and they will suggest a choke.

Depending on whether you just want to buy another choke tube, or one dedicated to turkeys, I'd suggest you pattern the modified tube that comes with the barrel prior to buying another. You may find, with the load you want to use, that the modified choke will work just fine. Just cause it says "modified" or "full" on the tube does not mean it will throw those patterns with the specific load you want to use. Many shells on the market these days, especially the hard non-toxics, throw much tighter patterns than expected with more open tubes.

I really like Briley choke tubes. If the modified tube doesn't get you what you want, try a full or maybe an extra full. I'm not sure that the specialty turkey tubes are worth the price-- sometimes upwards of $75-$80. Brileys are well made and for the flush or plain extended tube, are much cheaper. IME, the standard Remington tubes are also pretty good, especially for the money.

Before people got decked out like NASCAR drivers to go turkey hunting, tons of people used standard full and modified choke guns to kill turkeys.

Good luck.

I have had real good luck, pattern wise with the H.S.STRUT chokes and the Kicks Chokes on my 870 Remmy's. I am going to purchase one of those Indian Creek Chokes for the Browning Gold downstairs. I saw some great 35yd patters with #6's & #7&1/2's the other day, I was impressed a bunch.