Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Benelli Nova and Primos Jellyhead choke

Okay guys, I need some input. I shot my Nova turkey gun for the first time today with the proper Jellyhead choke. I had a good amount of shot in the head and neck at 30, but the 3" Longboards and 3" Triple Beards patterned to the left 4-6"'s. It was tight and to the right, tons of pellets in an 8" circle. I was getting only about 16 in the head and neck with both loads. I went to the standard full and it shot pretty much a standard pattern. Still not impressive. I shot the normal full at 50yds and put 18 and 22 in the kill area. If I could see if anyone has had the same issue or are shooting a different load that it likes better I'd sure like to hear your experiences. Thanks in advance.

Nitro Company. give them a call, tell them your Shotgun/ choke set up and they will tell you what will work best with their ammo. kind'a pricey but hands down the best I've ever used.
My 2 cents.

If it’s not shooting where you want it with what you want to shoot get some Williams Universal Slugger sights with the ghost ring rear.

That’s why every turkey gun I have or will have in the future will drilled and tapped for scope base. Only exception is a little O/U 20 I have. As tight as most will group, you can easily miss with a POA/POI impact being off more than a couple of inches at 20. Knock on wood, I’m never missed a bird with a dialed in red dot or scope.

One 870 super mag I briefly owned way back threw a pattern over twelve inches left of center.

Sights or scope/dot

I talked to Truglo and I'll probably go that route. I see Nitro is being used a lot in these with the Jellyhead.. Thanks!

Nitro will fix you up. They are awesome albeit very expensive.

This.

Although I'm no Benelli fan (I tell my kid he shoots an Italian Mossberg), the Novas seem to consistently be the best patterning pump guns going. Were it me........rather than start your gun a lifetime addiction to insanely overpriced ammo, I'd get a different choke. Buy yourself an Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike tube and continue to shoot the Longbeard XR shells.

Hear me now and thank me later.

When I still lived in Alabama I learned about Nitro but decided against paying the price when 10 gauge Remington #4 worked pretty well in my BPS. One of my friends felt different and ordered some 3 oz loads with copper plated IIRC 5,6, & 7 1/2 shot for his Ithaca 10. According to him it'd just bore a hole thru a jungle and still knockem off their feet. Said it was an amazing thing to see.

I would send it to SumToy Customs in Georgia, have them drill and tap your receiver for a mount. Then I would put on a reflex red dot like a Burris FF3 or Vortex Venom. With an optic you'll be able to adjust your Point of Aim and Point of Impact to match. If it is legal in your state I would find some #9 TSS loaded by either Federal, Apex, or Nitro. Then buy a better choke such an Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike. Call them and tell them what gun you are shooting, and what shell you plan to shoot. They will then be able to recommend a constriction for your choke accordingly. I would look for something that gives an even pattern in the 10" and 20" ring out to about 40-50 yards. If you have too tight of choke and a hot core, I can be easy to miss birds in close.

Put on a set of Williams or Truglo and have at it. Never saw a need for scopes but with these tight turkey chokes you will need some sort of adjustable sights. Also use a 4x4 sheet of paper and draw a 10" circle and get your pattern centered to that.

Ithaca 10 is one shotgun I wish I had bought when they first came out

I put the tru-glo sights on my Nova and dialed it right in. Don’t over think this. The Longbeards will be fine. Mine prefers #5s.