Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting best turkey choke for 12 gauge?

my cousin asked me, but i dont know much about turkey hunting

It depends how heavy a load you shoot and what shot size. If you look at the Kick's chokes website it suggests different constrictions for different loads. I use 3.5" Hevi shot magnum blend with a .665" Carlson's choke in my SPR 453 and a Cabela's brand .670 dia choke with Hevi 13 3" 6 shot in my 870.
I think most of the chokes out there are pretty good with most loads. If you really want to know you have to pattern your gun with a bunch of different load/choke combos.
There are a ton of great chokes out there, I don't think you can say which is best, it is just personal preference. I get great patterns with my Carlson's and it cost less than $40. There are $100 chokes out there too. Comes down to how much you want to spend and what you want out of it.
To kill a tom at 40-50 yards I think most of the tubes on the market and some Hevi 13 6's will kill em. I really like the Hevi 13 for the patterns, but you certainly don't need it. I used lead 5's for years with good sucess.
The federal loads with the flitecontrol wad shoot good out of most factory full choke tubes from what I read. They don't need a lot of choke like conventional loads do.

Indian Creek Shooting Systems makes a fine choke when you are using off the shelf, factory ammo.

Yes, IC would be a great place to start. For the most part, out of a 12ga, all turkey chokes will throw good enough patterns to kill at 35yds or so. If he wants to reach out another 10-15yds, it's becomes more critical to get a shotgun, choke and load that are functioning well together.

So, I'd suggest buying three chokes (e.g. Pure Gold, Primos, Kicks-if using lead, etc.) and try two or three loads in each of them. Then, determine the load and choke that works best at the patterning board.

When I've done it this way, I usually sell the extra chokes from the process. Even though I lose a little money on the chokes, it's really not all that much considering the cost of shells.

It can get expensive to find the best choke/ammo for a particular gun. This was partially resolved with some gun club members and friends I hunt with. We exchange choke tubes and ammo to experiment and share test results. We have been doing this for about 15 years now.

Your experience may differ, but the "best" combo choke/tube to date in our unofficial test group is the Hunter Specialties - Undertaker with Winchester Supreme 3 inch 5 shot (lead).

Good luck.

Wayne

I have bunch of chokes , Kicks, Cabela Hevi-Shot, Pattern Master and just purchased a Indian Creek from another fire member. My go to is the Kicks Gobbling Thunder and Win 3.5 inch Supreme # 5 shot in my Benelli Super 90

I'd "go to" that Indian Creek choke. I bet it'll pattern better than anything else you have (unless its some weird constriction).

It's hard to beat the Rhino choke and Nitro ammo combo.

I don't shoot the Nitro Pixie Dust any longer. I handload Tungsten shot. I had a custom choke built for my 10 gauge to match the wad I use, and my Indian Creek Choke out performed the custom one. I'm shooting a Remington SP-10. I haven't tried a head to head comparison between my Rhino Choke and my Indian Creek Choke. I probably should; it's awfully hard to beat a Rhino Choke.

If super tight patterns are your main goal, I don't think you could improve the 80-90% patterns you said you average at 40yds from your current configuration. Don't think I'd give the Rhino a second look.

While I prefer patterns at 45-50% 10" center density at 40yds, I've never seen or even heard of anyone who was averaging much beyond 60%, even with tungsten.

Yes, I know you have serious doubts about my veracity.

Indian Creek BDS, Kick's GT, and Pure Gold are all excellent.

Don't forget Rhino Chokes; they belong in that elite group of chokes you listed above.

I was speaking from hands on experience with multiple examples of the three companies I listed. I have none with the Rhino choke. For a less expensive alternative I might add the Primos Jellyhead. The Jellyhead might not be as pretty and might not get quite as many hits in the 10" @ 40 yards, but for the money it'll usually do pretty well.

The Primos Jellyhead is a good choke. I don't have a lot of experience with it, but it did fine in limited testing. While it didn't come out at the top the heap, it outperformed a couple costing significantly more.

+1 to the Jelly Head

I've been killing gobblers for 20 plus years with the factory full choke that came with the Remington 870. Ranges are from 10 yards out to 40 yards. Tell him to try the factory full with a turkey load of #6's-----I bet it will be just fine.

I'm still using the factory full on my Browning Gold Hunter 12ga. My dad really likes the Undertaker on his 870 12ga. My uncle is a big fan of the Kicks Gobbling Thunder on his Mossberg 835.

Everyone has their favorites; don't think you can go wrong with any brand that patterns well for your load. I like the Pure Gold .670 myself with Hevi-shot Magnum Blends (12ga 3" 2oz.)

Nu-Line Choke in my First 12ga 870 SP Shoot'in Win 3" XX Mag. 6's like a Dense Swarm of Bee's coming at Cha out to 45 yrd's.. Next are my Custom Briley's in my BSS 12 with the same load..
Now I'm work'in a AL 390 and it looks like the Jeb's .655 is the ticket with this Un..