Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Highly Customized Turkey Shotguns; What Do You Run?

With all the "Gun Nuts" on this forum, I'm sure I'm not the only nut that has highly customized a (pile) of turkey shotguns... So, what customizations have you made and what's your end result?

I run Burris FF on all mine, trigger jobs, polish the inside of the barrels.
I do this on all my turkey guns. I also play with the chokes until I get what I want with the shells I am using.

I run a 11-87 I had dipped in Realtree AP with a 23 inch tube and an X-full choke, cant recall the maker, high viz sights with a monte carlo stock.

Not a super custom by any means but one I put together the way I wanted it. Shoots gobbler dumpin paterns to 40+, although I hate to shoot much past 35 or so. To me its a game of getting them close, not how far can I shoot one.

Not much need for customization when you can get one of these out of the box:



Mossberg 500, 3" 12 ga, 20" barrel, fiber optic sights. I've done a disassembly, cleaned & polished the working surfaces and a good lube. I've cut a longer forcing cone and polished the barrel and installed a Star Dot choke.

I might switch to sturdier sights or even go with a red dot just to see what the fuss is about. Otherwise this gun is pretty much perfect for the way I hunt. IMO, if a turkey is too far away for a 2oz, 3" 12ga load, he's just too far away.

Beretta Extrema II for me with a comp-n-choke XXfull.

Remington 870 Special Purpose 21" with a new trigger spring, polished barrel and a Kicks .660 choke. Mossberg 835 that I added a set of Williams Slugger sights, polished the barrel, and a StarDot .676" choke.


Not customs by any means but they shoot true and throw decent patterns.

i sold my mossy 835
had tru glo pro series sights
sims pad
polished the bore
rhino .680 choke with nitro ray 501L 3.5 inch 4c5c7h 2 5/8ths oz shell


was a turkey slaying machine


needed the money badly


guy got an heck of a deal for 350 dollars

with 15 nitro shells included



got another mossy 835 a couple of months ago
gonna set it up with the same sights
polish the bore out


no sims pad for it this time
the factory pad on this newer gun seems better than what was on them before

and the .670 strut stopper extreme with the 3.5 mag blend shells
easy to get the shells right down the road at midsouth shooters supply

should be good to go for turkey this spring

Haven't done a whole lot to mine.

1) 870SM in RTHWDs, polished bbl, trigger job, Burris 336 FF mount, FF2, Shur Shot butt stock, Sims pad, JH choke, Hevishot handloads, claw sling

2) 1187SM in APG, Shur Shot, polished pipe, trigger job, FF2 on shortened Weaver rail, SC pad, claw sling, Rhino choke, hevi handloads

3) 870SM in MOBU, MC stock, Sims pad, CL mount, trigger job, polished pipe, Leupie RMs, Nikon Monarch 1.5-4.5x20 in APG, claw sling, hevi handloads

4) 2-3/4 870WM, camo syn stocks, SC pad, vinyl skin on action, 21" RC bbl, polished pipe, trigger job, Williams FO sights, HS HDUT choke, 2-3/4" TSSXHevi 1-3/4oz handloads

5)1300, rattle can stencil camo, trigger job, polished pipe, SD choke, TG FO sights, cheap Allen sling in matching camo, ported pipe, 3" hevi handloads and 3" lead handloads

6) Bone stock SX3 in MONBU, SD choke, hevi handloads

7) In the works: SX2, fixn to get a MOI dip, 336 base and FF, JH choke, trigger job, claw sling

8) Bone stock Charles Daly 3" auto, JH choke, polished pipe, 3" hevi handloads

Have a few others as well, but those are my main turkey sticks.

loder

I gave my favorite 870 Wingmaster turkey / water fowl gun to my son and needed a replacement so I bought this 870 Express.



The first thing I did was fill the butt stock with 4 ounces of lead and builders foam to balance the gun. I put a PVC pipe over the bolt to keep an open access to it in case I ever need to remove the stock or tighten that bolt. After the builders foam was set I removed the PVC pipe.



Then I took it out and shot a round of skeet.

The next modification I made was to dissemble the gun and carefully file and polish the machining burs left inside the action that were hanging up the fired shells and causing every other shot to jam. While I was at it I also polished the trigger and slide rails to smooth out a very rough action.

The second trip to the skeet range I didn't get any hung up hulls, the trigger was better and the action smoother though still rather "tight".

Next I installed the extra full choke and patterned the gun with my favorite 3 inch turkey loads. Those patterns were good. I did the same with the Skeet II choke and my steel duck loads. Those were good too.

So I took it duck hunting. Every two to three shots a fired shell hung up and didn't clear the action. This only happened with the three inch shells. The short shells cycled fine. For a while I could not figure out why the three inch shells were hanging up.

Then I got the cuff of my jacket hung up under the stock forearm when I cycled the action open. It was stuck tight and required some pulling, tugging, and bad language to remove. That's how I discovered that my hand was too far back on the forearm. Those longer shells were hitting my fingers and not clearing the action. I made an effort to correct my hand position but after getting my cuff hung up several more times I decided something had to be done about that new styled forearm. It might look snazzy but it sucks for function.

I removed the forearm and cut it shorter on my band saw. (Don't cringe, it's only a piece of plastic)
That solved the problem of hand placement and getting my jacket jammed up under that damned thing.

During all this BS the gun was patterning well and hitting everything I pointed it at. I broke targets, killed ducks, doves, and turkey gobblers. It seems I can't miss with it. I just had a lot of trouble getting it to function properly.

Here she is after I replaced that newfangled, Benelli looking, POS forearm with the old traditional style forearm, polished and slicked up the moving parts, and shot a case of shells through her.


This is about as "custom" as I ever want to get with a hunting shotgun. I have always liked 870 shotguns and like this one now, but I wish I had kept my old Wingmaster and given my son the "new" gun.

As to the original question about customizing a shotgun specifically for turkey hunting; I have never felt I was missing anything when killing turkey with a standard 870 pump action shotgun. That model shotgun fits me well and hits where I point it. With the correct shotshell/ choke combination it kills turkey as far out as I would want to shoot at them.

I have tried to like the fiber optic sights and can't. I haven't seen a need for three and a half inch shells, cammo paint jobs, or extended choke tubes. About the only modifications I make to change my water fowl shotgun into a Turkey shotgun is to change to a tighter choke and attach a sling.

I'm putting mine together now. Just waiting on the barrel. TC Encore, TC 24" 12 GA. barrel with .665 Indian Creek choke, topped with Nikon TBR (Turkey Bal. Ret.) scope. My buddy has the same setup minus the scope. We polish or smooth out the forcing cone making the pattern a lot more dense. He regularly shoots turkeys 60-80 yds. After seeing the pattern it throws, I believe it. Hope mine will do the same.

Mine was customized at the factory by Remington. It came with a birch stock, 26" matte finish barrel, a J-lock safety, and a plastic mag tube plug. run a Primos Jelly Head choke that will kill turkeys dead at 30 yards with #6 Heavi-13...which is 20 yards further than I like to shoot them at but sometimes I gotta do what I gotta do.

I hear you! I enjoy those "close encounters" with strutting gobblers too. The fact is, I've killed more toms inside 20 yards using a 20 gauge than any other method. It's a rush!

I like talin' to em. Bringing them in close is what I like about hunting them. Knowing they are coming in to see what I was doing.

That and they're so unpredictable. When you think you got em figured out...you don't.

I bought mine from Benelli, figuring a Super Blackeagle II is about right. Then I add a magazine extension, put in the Turkey Choke, then load the magazine with 2-3 1/2 inch #4 Bucksot loads, followed by 1-3 inch #2 Lead, with a 3 1/2 inch #4 buffered Turkey load in the chamber. I figure, with bad shooting and poor luck I can keep on firing out to 60+ yards with that combo.

Mossberg 835 Turkey tactical. Adjustable stock; Burris Fast Fire sight, polished barrel and a Hevi-13 .676 extended turkey choke.



With Hevi-13 number 7's it will do this at 40 yards.

As much of gun nut that I am my turkey gun is the only thing not tricked much. Standard 870 express 3" black synthetic. Only upgrades is the barrel was chopped to 18 1/2" and some clamp on tru glo rifle style sights were added to the rib. Threaed the barrel rem choke and run a dead coyote choke. Plenty accurate out to 60 ish yards with Hevi shot and nice and handy to carry. Also real easy to get out the truck window.

I've got a Remington SP-10. I purchased a 30" barrel and had Denny Tubbs hone the interior to a mirror finish and a consistent bore dimension from the forcing cone to the muzzle. I replaced the factory butt stock with the thumb-hole stock Remington offers. I had it dipped in Bottom Land camo, and I had a trigger job done by the gunsmith that builds my rifles for me. I then sent all the internals to Black Ice for a Teflon coating. I then pinned the barrel. I have an Aimpoint CompM4 red dot sight on it. I have several chokes I use depending on what I'm shooting. I mainly reload with Tungsten shot. For the Tungsten I use a custom choke Denny made when he honed my barrel. It's an honest 70 yard Turkey killer when I have it loaded with 2.25 oz of Tungsten shot.

I have a ridiculous amount of money invested in this shotgun.

I'll never sell it; conservatively I'd lose $1500 ~ $2000. All it is to a buyer is a used SP-10 with two holes drilled in the receiver where I pinned the barrel tang to the receiver.

Pretty simple:

SBE2 matte/synthetic

26" tube with 660 rhino extended choke

Trigger job from Indian Creek (I think)

Burris speed bead

Nitro Company hevi shot loads he recommends

Have many paper plates with over 300 holes in them at 40 yards

Kicks like a mother

Think i will kill 1-2 more with it and switch to a remington 11-87 youth 20 gauge, my bow, or a pistol.

That's how I came by my SP-10. I had a SBEII, Rhino choke and a plethora of shells. I couldn't get it to pattern worth a hoot even with Nitro 4x5x7 shells. I shot over 50 rounds one weekend. By Wednesday my right shoulder was black and blue, and the blood had drained down the inside of my right arm turning it black to the wrist. I took that SBEII to my local gunshop and traded it even for the SP-10. Although the SP-10 is heavy, the recoil is more than a 20 gauge, but not near that of that Benelli blow-back action shotgun.

Yeah but the 20ga for me is less about the recoil and more about having killed enough turkey that i'd rather have a light, compact gun and get them inside 30 yards than i would carry either a 50" long shotgun or a 10 pounder.

I admit it; it's a character flaw. I love long-range, accurate, overpowering firepower no matter what I'm hunting. Lugging that 11.5 lb loooong 10 gauge is a labor of love.

The SBEII was a departure from what I would normally use.

SBE 2 with a 24" barrel, trigger job, Burris 336 mount and Docter sight, Rhino .670 choke shooting Nitro 3.5" 2 7/16 oz. #7's.

Good lookin' scatter gun. Why'd you go with the .670 Rhino? Most follow Rhino's and "Nitro" Ray's advice and go with a .660 choke. Did you get a $120.00 chance to compare them in that gun?

I've got a .660 as well but liked the patterns of the .670 a little better. I like a little more open pattern myself.

Have a couple. Bought a Winchester 1300 NWTF back in 88' (I believe) when they came out for the one year. Laminated stock and forearm. I have since put removable water based camo on the rest. Has killed it's share of turkeys.

Also have a couple Remington Special Purpose in 12 and 20 gauge like the one below.

All have Kick's Gobbling Thunder chokes installed with fiber optics.

I also have the Mossberg 835- It's not so much 'customized', as specialized for its purpose, out of the box. I run Remington turkey loads, 3.5" 12 ga. #5 shot in it. It has accounted for 6 toms to date, all in the 20-40 yard range.
Only thing I don't care for is the rear sight- kinda flimsy, and easy to knock off center if you are not careful.

I like the option of going really long if I need to; I'm getting close to a 80%~90% pellet count inside a 10" circle at 40 yards. But, my pattern isn't much larger than a softball at 20yds~25yds. Not much room for error if one sneaks up on me.

80-90% in the 10" @ 40yds. Really!!?? Even with 18 g/cc tungsten, which you said you shoot, I only average about 50% in the 10 with a .665". That's with #8s which tend to pattern a little tighter than the #9s from my experience. I consider a good, broadly effective pattern to yield to a 40yd pattern of 45% in the 10" and another 40% in the 20".

Personally, I like the #9s as either will kill as far as 99.9% would consider and it allows me to open the choke (.670") a bit and larger patterns yet still get 100 in the 10 to 70yds.

Using your 10ga, how much shot are you throwing? I assume you're going something like 2.25oz and shooting #8s or #9s. Otherwise, why not just shoot a 12ga. Yes?

So, you're getting something like 450 and 640 pellets with #8s and #9s, respectively, in the 10" at 40yd, assuming the low end (80%) of your estimate. I've never heard or seen anything like that before. I can't imagine getting to those percentages with lead, or 13g (Hevi-13) or 15g (Federal HW) shot. All I can say is you're consistently getting 80-90% @ 40yd is you're ready for the NWTF championships. You'd beat the best 2-3X over. Just sayin'...

01Foreman400,

That's a very nice looking rig! Like you, I've come to appreciate the merits of a slightly more open choke. I've used and like the Rhino .660" very much, but I like the uniformity to 15" with the .670" in my Vincis. I just bought a Jeb's in .665 and .670" and the .670" is throwing the prettiest I've ever had, although all barrels are a bit different.

I'd like to hear from your experience on that big Nitro load. From what I've heard, it was mainly made for the Mossbergs and can be fickle in others. I can see the the merits of that load with a relatively open choke with #7s. You could create a big, forgiving pattern to 45yd or so by throwing that much shot. I could appreciate going with #6s with a bit more constriction and taking longer pokes at toms.

BlueK9

I load 2 oz of #4 Tungsten, with 30 grains of filler over 34 grains of STEEL with the accompanying felt to get the shot & filler right to the top and then crimp.

With regard to the NWTF championships, I know the top shooters and I'm not worthy of cleaning their shotguns after each flight.

Interesting choice. There'd only be about 160 pellets in that load given the density. I'd have enough penetration to kill at 100yd+. A common rule of thumb with HTL shot, including tungsten, is patterns degrade by 30% every 10yd beyond 40yd. I've found that to be more or less accurate out to 70yd, but haven't patterned beyond that range.

Your load is good only to 50-55yd before density thins to 100 pellets in the 10" if that rule of thumb holds true. Of course, you may have an outlier there as I've never heard of any load that will consistently deliver 80-90% in the 10" at 40yd. I've had a few loads at 60% during summer dog days when temps are in the low- to mid-80s early in the morning with humidity levels over 80% and no wind -- essentially when the air is thinnest and most stable.

I had a 30" barrel honed by Denny Tubbs so there are no imperfections in the bore and the I.D. is consistent. I also had the barrel cryoed and then I coated the bore with UBC. Denny also machined a choke (also cryoed) for me that was made to go with the wad I use (TPS). In fact, I had everything metal in my SP-10 cryo-treated. I killed a Jake last year with it on the last day at 68 yards. I hit him once in the head and twice in the neck. I couldn't find any in the body.

It is true, the pellet count is awful low when you compare it to a lead payload, but the HTL shot patterns more consistently than lead with a higher % of the load staying in the center of the pattern.

A dubious statitician or college prof...

This is why I found your choice of #4s curious. Frankly, you were very, very lucky to get that many pellets in him at 68yd with #4s given the likely pattern density. Yes, tungsten will pattern tighter, on average, compared to lead other HTL shot. However, it's not enough to overcome the fact that you're shooting #4s of 18g shot, which has far few pellets per ounce than lead.

Why not go with #8s or #9s? To me, and everyone else that I know who shoots tungsten, that's the whole point of going that direction -- dropping shot size to increase pattern density and still retain adequate penetration at extended range. Tungsten #8s offer adequate penetration to 90+yd and #9s to nearly 75yd. Why handcuff yourself with #4s?

Agreed. The whole point of shooting TSS is to drop down to small sized shot like 8's in order to get amazing pattern density without the penetration limitations you would normally suffer with number 8 lead shot. No doubt a TSS number 4 pellet would kill a turkey a hell of a ways out there if it hit a lethal spot but 4's just aren't going to hold a dense pattern nearly as far as 7's, 8's or 9's. So all that energy and power of a TSS 4 is pretty much rendered irrelevant because the pattern with 4's is going to fall apart waaaaaay before the individual number 4 pellets run out of lethal energy. TSS 8's or 9's will hold a lethal pattern way farther than the 4's and kill just as far as they will hold a tight enough pattern.

I can't refute anything either of you've said. Hal asked me the same question when I ordered the #4 shot. Luckily, I have a good supply of #7.5 TSS I bought from the web-site while he was closing out his business. I also have several pounds of #5 TSS.

Put a slip-on recoil pad on it-one of the hardest kickers I've owned. A Merkel 12 gauge.
o

Not really "highly customized", but I've killed...a bunch...of toms with it.

20 Enore Turkey Shotgun w/Aimpoint, and Bellm worked trigger. Factory choke for all but last years birds. I bought into the hype, and tried an Indian Creek.

Glad you ended that 'yote's career of predation.

She was putting the sneaky sneak on "Henrietta" when she recieved a load of 5's in the ear at 15 yards.

Mine came pretty well set up out of the box:
Ithaca Model 37 Turketslayer Storm,12g, 3", Realtree HD Hardwoods Camo, parjerrized,Limbsaver pad,24" ported, free floated barrel,Truglo adjustable sight, 6.75lbs. Shooting Nitro 4x5x7 Hevi-Shot. It will kick some turkey azz!

About the only customizing I have ever done to any of my turkey guns is maybe putting a different fiber optic bead on the end of the barrel or adding a indian creek choke to each gun. Besides a good cleaning these two items are all the "customization" I have ever needed to kill a turkey. I have went to H13 ammo and that has also helped my turkey guns shoot better.

The Ithaca scored again last week. It took 3 hours and 4 set ups ,but I finally got him.

20 is a Rem 870 that started as a youth 21" barrel with Rem Super Full. Stock replaced with Knoxx SpecOps, forearm for synthetic, barrel polished, end cap replace with sling swivel, Limbsaver recoil pad, receiver drilled and tapped with rail, and Burris Fast Fire II with Warbird guard.

12 is a 24" barrel with Indian Creek .665 choke. Stock replaced with SureGrip, receiver drilled and tapped with rail, topped with a Burris FF II with Warbird guard, and tree bark dip job. Killed 9 birds with it last year. Almost wasn't fair with 2oz TSS #9 loads.

Old 870 12 gauge with a slightly shortened barrel and Briley turkey choke.
Scope and sling swivels.
Not highly customized, but can't remember it missing with me or anyone else.

JCC