Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Which Shotgun Are You Using This Year???

If you can find one that hasn't been shot to pieces or rusted out, they are pretty sweet. Nice tight factory chokes, light weight, good pointers. The hard rubber recoil plates suck and are crumbly, but a slip on decelerator pad solves that problem. For cheap pawn shop scores, they are worth taking a look at.

Depending on where I'm hunting, either a Browning BPS Upland Special 12 ga. 22" barrel or Franchi Affinity 20 ga. 26" barrel. Heavyweight 7 or TSS #9 loads in most cases. MagBlend if I expect the shot to be really close.

SBE2 12 with jelly head . Win Long beard 3.5 #4s

870 shooting 3 inch federal #9 tss with a jebs .650.

This is an intriguing thread! For the fourth year, my daughter and I will be sitting together and she’ll be carrying her grandmothers customized 12 gauge Remington 870. Includes red dot, adjustable stock and cameo foreend. Being 14, she will still use Remington pheasant loads in #5 2 3/4 inch shells. Starting at age 11 she has harvested a jake, Boss Tom of the property, and last year a double bearded Tom, respectively. The last two were both giant birds! As for me, not sure what I’m shooting this year! We normally don’t get the same season but I am motivated by this post and now have thoughts to pick up an 870 in 16 gauge and customize it to add to the collection!

Same as the last couple years. The picture shows the saddle mount and gobble stopper red dot but I had it drilled and tapped Nd added a Burris ff3 to it before season last year. I like this setup a lot better as it allows me to get down on the gun properly being mounted lower. I shoot a 555 ic choke
I will be shooting the #9 tss LIl Hammer hamdloads


Also have a sx3 that I run a ic 560 choke or a jelly head maximum. I don’t use it much as it has a 26” barrel and the 1187 has a 21” and easier to carry.


Side note, that’s my Daddy with it there and his first turkey, best hunt of the year!!!

835, Rhino .670, tru glo pro series sights, limb saver pad.
16 oz of fishing sinkers and Wally world bags stuffed in buttstock.
Polished out barrel
3.5 Longbeard #6

Throws 265 -275 into 10" at 40 yds.

I'm shopping for a .410 and planning to use TSS #9's. Sounds like a fun deal to me.
The only .410 I have is a 2.5" Mossberg single shot and they don't put TSS in that shell yet.
Darn, another reason to buy a new shotgun.

SBE2 with Jellyhead shooting 3.5 Longbeard 4's

I posted a pic earlier in the thread, but now I completed the gun. Dressed it up with a sig Romeo4h. Ended up going with an Indian Creek .555. Ammo delivery today!

Old Benelli M1 super 90 ( H&K ) 24 " barrel, Williams Fire Sight, special made Pure Gold .655 choke and old Hevi Shot ( White shells ) #6 shot. Bought a case of those years ago and should last me most of my life

No turkey-tactical gun for me. I’ll probably just use my Beretta 471 20 ga SxS. If my gun is any indicator, the difference maker for about any 20 is this load below if you can find them. My SxS is choked IC/IM and has “out-patterned” at 40 yds. my Benelli 12 with an extra tight turkey choke and quite a number of run-of-the-Mill 3” 12 ga turkey loads.

If you can’t read the numbers below, that is 1 1/2 oz @ 1100 fps! And this is not lead; it’s even denser. It’s by far the most potent 20 ga load I’ve run across.

1990's 870 express 12 gauge. Shot a gobbler last year. When I jacked the empty out it was a Remington express no. 4. Shot that gobbler at 52 steps. I hadn't intended on using that ammo. Loading in the dark, I just put in what was in my pocket.

Pretty sure it'll be my old BPS 10 gauge. 24" barrel with a Browning factory extended extra full or something like that. Cartridges most likely will be some old Remington 2 1/4 oz #4 or some not quite as old Winchester 2 1/4 oz #5. Had it Pro Ported and put some Williams open sights on it pretty soon after buying it. Bought a Franchi Affinity a few years back to go lighter weight but never got around to hunting it. Got it for sale in the Classifieds right now. That danged old BPS just won't lay down and everything shot with it died quickly.

If not the 10 then an old A5 standard weight 12 ga 30" barreled full choke made pre-1950 IIRC. I've only killed one with it so maybe it needs to get out more.

Or perhaps this one. I've grown to like it recently.

I alternate between my NEF Single 10ga



And my stubby Benelli SBE (which doubles as a backup gun for shotgun and 3 gun matches, hence the tube).

Ithaca Model 51 Magnum. Bought at JCPenny in '72. Funny when you think about it. Back then you could go to JCPenny and by a gun, get a bowling ball drilled, and get a tennis racket strung.

Winchester 1300 Black Shadow with rifle sights and an Undertaker choke tube:

I have the same exact gun

It has been a good gun, that's for sure.