Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Turkey/Duck combo gun

Being smart enough to run the chosen gun, whatever that may be, is definitely an advantage to the user.

I dispute the idea of a turkey/duck combo in the first place. It isn't a good mix.

Me? I'd go cheap and pump with the turkey gun. It'll have a couple shots through it all season. Put the right choke on it. Put a scope or whatever you want for sights. Done. We like Mossy 500's and Rem 870's at our camp.

Now, we come to the duck gun. Honestly, I'm going to have trouble advising you on a best choice. I don't hunt ducks, but I know that

a) You're going through a higher volume of shells
b) You're not doing an aim-n-shoot gig like you are with turkey. It's wing shooting
c) How you mount the gun is going to be different. Different clothes, different angles, etc.
d) A semi makes far more sense with ducks.

I started out with a REM 1100 back in the day before choke tubes. I got individual barrels for each purpose. I ended up with 4 barrels-- slug, skeet, modified for general purpose birding, and Trap that doubled for turkey. Very quickly I realized some of these purposes just were not going to work. My biggest problem was that the shotgun was originally a TB Trap gun, and I couldn't get my cheek weld down for general birding. I replaced the stock with a more drop. I then bought a dedicated turkey gun (Mossy 500) that is still my main gobbler-getter. When it looked like I was going duck hunting, I bought another Mossberg 500 for the blind.

Believe me, I've been through the one-shotgun-for-all phase in my life. I'm much happier now that I have shotgun for every occasion.

Another vote for the franchi affinity 3.

I have 2 12's and a 20.

The newer 12 and 20 are set up for red dots for turkey and they have great factory triggers too.
The older 12 affinity never misses a beat trap shooting or duck hunting. I wouldn't have bought the others if I didnt want red dots.

I like the springs are not hidden in the stock like a benelli so they don't rust.
The "benelli click" is potentially still there, but never happens if you don't creep the bolt back to check if a round is chambered.
You can hear the springs move if you thump it though.

I had a HK montefeltro that I wanted a plastic for duck hunting and couldn't get it. The lack of parts support concerned me so I sold it and have the franchi now.
Very happy with my choice..

You have to decide if you want to shoot 3.5 inch shells.

Is it a perfect turkey gun - its pleasantly light, optics ready, and barrels are little too long.
Is it a perfect duck gun - its a bit light for recoil management
Is it a perfect upland gun - possible best use.

If you wanted a gas gun for recoil... Maxus or winchester is where I would start searching.

Perfect pair.... a light turkey pump gun with a decent trigger and a nice auto duck gun for weight

Benelli has supposedly fixed the “click’’ lately, but Retay has modified the inertia system with what they call the inertia plus system , Utube has some vids n the benelli click , check them out

What is your experience with the click issue?

My fave goose gun was a 30" 1100 Magnum.
It was too shiny for turkey (mint walnut gloss model).
Taped it up, killed some toms and sold it................damn thing was like new after I hunted it for a decade.

Got me a 26" 870 Express Supermag in '02
That'd be my choice now, if wanting one gun for turkey and waterfowl (turkey hunting use a saddle mount w reddot).

However, I hate swapping stuff, even bbls on shotguns (or TC Contenders).

My turkey gun the last few yrs has been a 23" VR RC 870 Express Supermag.
Its been great..........up to this yr (my eyes took a dump and the middle bead in low light vanishes).
So now a turkey gun for me, needs an optic.

My other gun is an old 1100 SP I salvaged. It wears a 26" VR RC "steel shot" barrel.
Its doable, but for geese I'd rather have a longer rig.

So...............today I went looking for an 870 Express Supermag 28".
Put that bbl on my old one and move the short bbl to the new one, and drill and tap the receiver.

None around. Armslist, GB, hit three shops.

I only run 3" in turkey.............so could use a reg 870 Express and swap the bbl, as they now are chambered for 3.5" (have some Heavy Metal and Blindside to try).
Talked to one guy at a shop and he told me to find an older rig used. Stay away from the new stuff.

Don't mind an auto for geese, but run n gun turkey........I'll take the lighter pump.

Take a look at these three.

Winchester SX3/4
Remington V3
Beretta A300

Regardless of which gun you pick, unless you find a deal on a 3.5" gun, I'd avoid them. With TSS avaialble now, the benefit of the 3.5" gun for turkeys does not exist. 3.5" for waterfowl is not needed, even for geese. 3" loads typically pattern better as well.

I still say Benelli (M1 or M2) but that's my personal choice as they fit and feel the best to ME. Everyone is different. If you've never lugged a 28" auto through the spring woods, id try one out now before deciding. I use a home defense gun for turkeys because I hate snagging my barrel on every branch. 26" auto will work for all around use but still gets snagged often.

^^^^^ Truth ^^^^^

A 28" barrel PLUS an extended turkey tube and you've got a royal PITA to sling over your shoulder and walk through the woods.

For a dedicated turkey gun, I lean toward 21" - 24" barrels. For a combo gun, I'd settle on a 26".

The longer bbls suck when slung over your shoulder going through the woods.
In the hand they aint bad at all.

With a bad neck, I rarely sling a gun over my shoulder.
Turkey I like my 23" but would tolerate a 26"

25-30 years with Ben M1’s, Montefeltros, and Ultalights. Not one “Benelli clIck.”

I used many different shotguns since the early 60's hunting waterfowl. Most of them I bought used. From Model 12's, Rem 870's, Browning humpbacks, Rem 1100 and 1187, Beretta 302's, Browning BPS in 10 ga and 12 ga. Rem 10 ga Auto, a Double SxS 10 ga Matador, SKB SxS 12g to name a few, they all worked fine to kill ducks and geese. But some were better than others. For me, I found 10 gauge mags were too heavy to hunt ducks and didn't kill honkers any better than my 3" 12 gauges. In the early 1990's when the Benelli Super Black Eagle became available, my buddy bought one and I tried his and fell in love with it. I bought the K&K import with the plastic stock 28" barrel and proceeded to kill all of my ducks and geese with it. ( I even bought a H&K 20ga Montefeltro) I was never disappointed with them. Most of my hunting has been in Michigan and across the river in Ontario, Canada. I have killed a few thousand ducks and geese with it over the past 25 plus years with it. I hunt a lot from opening day to freeze up on lakes then field hunt in the late season. Fortunately I was a police officer over 48 years (recently retired two years ago) and had a lot of time off during the week because I worked weekends during the hunting season so I could hunt without a lot of crowds on the weekdays. I even shot skeet, trap and sporting clays with it to practice with the gun I hunt with. I found that 31/2" shells didn't kill any better than 3". I used it in the snow, rain, sleet and below zero temps, from sneak boat and layout hunting in Lake Erie to the upper peninsular and never had any problems. I would always clean it after I was done hunting for day. My Dad always told me to "never let the sun set on a dirty gun". In the 25 years or more I had it, I only had one "click" and that was my fault when I was stretched out in a layout boat in rough seas in Lake Erie reloading while a big flock of divers were coming back around. It also is my turkey gun and never had a problem bagging my bird using a turkey choke and Hevi shot. I recently sold the SBE and bought a Benelli M2 3"camo. I works as good as my old one and looks nice in camo. I use 3" Fed 1 1/4 Steel in No. 1 for both ducks and geese and I can kill big honkers up to 50 yards with a Carlson's Creator choke. My two sons both shoot Benelli's along with most of my hunting buddies and not one of them have had any problems with them. One more thing, I find they don't kick any more than a gas autoloader if fact to me I think it kicks less. The only shotgun that hurt me real bad was the 10 gauge double SxS shooting 3 1/2 " , 2 1/4 oz lead (when it was still allowed) and I accidentally somehow pulled both triggers & both barrels went off as I was shooting a goose. I thought the gun blew up. My nose was bleeding and my face felt like Mike Tyson landed a knock out punch. I was dazed for about 10 minutes. Whew. Sold that gun!

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Benelli. Also I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 20ga over a 12ga either. I've done most all of my hunting the past few years using a 20ga 90% of the time on ducks,geese,turkeys, and doves. Never once did I feel undergunned with a 20

If you want to see a good example of the ‘’ benelli click ‘’ check this video out on utube : Hunting River Bottom turkeys from Kayaks by SEEK ONE