Not being a turkey hunter, I've been surprised to read so many stories in the "Worst Recoil" thread about guys getting creamed by 12 gauges shooting 3 1/2" shells at turkeys. Will a 2 3/4" shell not get it done? Or, does a 3 1/2" buy you an appreciable amount of range?

Just curious,

FC

I don't do a lot of shotgun pattern testing, but must say I have killed plenty of turkeys with pheasant loads (usually 2 3/4 inch #6 shot) out of both 20 and 12 gauges with regular chokes. Ranges from 5 to 40 yards. Unless you're taking shots at 50 or so yards, all that crazy turkey gadget stuff is worthless IMO, especially the "heavy turkey loads".

Personally I like to stack the odds in my favor when it comes to turkey hunting, for me that equals more shot cause I don't usually have a problem getting the birds in front of me...well....except for last year. Lol

Nothing wrong with 2 3/4 12 guage with #6 shot. I shot a lot that way. Have a Mossberg 835 and still prefer 2 3/4 but now #4 copper plated. I like to see them 30 yards or so.

I use and load 2 3/4 shells with no.5 shot.
They have been shot in a lot of different shotguns and in one case the nice fellow shot a turkey on the wing at 45-50 yards.
After hearing this I took the same loads on a chicken hunt and had a blast,the longest was 60 yards on the wing.
They don't have to hurt on both ends in order to work well.

Turkeys don't wear Kevlar. 2-3/4" #5 or 6 shot will do, assuming your gun patterns it decently. Maybe even #4 would be OK, but I never went there. Never tried a 40 yard shot but 30 or closer and the deal gets closed.

2 3/4 works fine, I've killed all but 2 of mine with a 20 ga.

I was starting to think they did, like modern elk do...

FC

Yes to the distance question. The 3 1/2 12's and 10's in no 6 throw around 500 pellets. combine that with an ultra tight choke and you gain considerable distance. I shoot em at 30 yards or less. I wont push it any further with my 20 ga.
A buddy I hunt with pops em at 50 plus all the time. He rolled one at 70 yds with a 10. I would have never taken that shot, but he dumped it like a sack of potatoes.

a 17 Rem is also a hell of a good turkey rig...in case there was any doubt...

I would recommend an assault rifle for serious turkey hunting.

The big magnum 12's with tight chokes will give you some extra range but not as much as you might think. Lesser loads/gauges will kill turkeys every bit as dead if you are content to get a bit closer before pulling the trigger. I used to shoot heavy loads in a 3" 12ga and killed turkeys out as far as 52 yards with it. I switched to a 3" 20ga about 10 years ago. It kills turkeys every bit as dead and only gives up about 10 yards in effective range.

A jeep at about 65 will do the trick but I'm told it is hell on radiators.

I shoot my turkeys with a Vinci with 3 inch chambers, I have not shot anything but 2 3/4 shells in it. My last tom I shot last fall, a load of 6's. I don't shoot to far. And I know the loads work, I spent a lot of time shooting patterns, so I know were I look the shot goes. Last year's bird, Less than 20 yards. The only time I even use a full choke is turkey hunting, most of the time its either Imp Cyl. or Mod. I even done in a few with a 28 ga. Back in the day I did some of my best wing shooting with an 870 pump in 28 ga. I think it was because the shotgun fit me just about right.

Really?

What the hell kinda goddam stupid assed worthless schiot is that anyway ?

It's all about marketing. I've killed gobblers for the past 40 years with my 870 that I bought with money from a delivering newspapers back in 71. But Mossberg, Remington, Winchester need to sell guns & Federal needs to sell ammo.

Just like them elk hunters all need the latest Super Duper Mag---I've been killing them with a Model 700 in 30/06 since 73 again with money from the paper route.

Blackheart He's just an extension of steelheads Large intestin.

He's my new buddy I guess.

Learn to talk turkey, don't now if it will help but it seams to do wounders here.grin

17 would be good, .204 would too...I was in the .223 camp last time on Turkeys...




Holy Moly...they got a head the size of a tennis ball....cant understand why shotguns are popular for them....

You must have misread the post, he was talking about turkeys, not pigeons...

Dat was mean...did I forget to mention I weigh 780 lbs...?

Ingwe I have used the .17 rem for turkeys in the past up to 200 yds..it's perfect for turkeys.
And Kawi is right you gotta get them to you before you can wack em around here.

I got one too, but at least I was using a real man's gun...

I've never done it, but I'd think for calling ( judging by what all I see on Bubbavision...) that a .17 HMR to the noggin would be ideal....

OO ingwe Thank You!! 17hornet in sav 25 walking varminter Ho my! Thanks. It just took a bump to send me over the cutbank.

Oh, sure...a wood& blue and classic firearm snob....

Ive seen those pics you posted of your varmint guns ( slobber...slobber...drool...)

and it makes the old .223 SS/Syn look a little...shall we say..."pedestrian"

Those MT birds look to be 10lbs or less in the pics.

Look like chickadees.

They are both small ones...they make big ones here, and I cant speak for Shrapnel...but to me turkeys are "targets of opportunity".....don't take them too awful serious..until its time to cook them!

I know several guys in PA that use 222s and 22 Hornets for
turkey.

When it is springtime, you need a little less range and a lot more shot. A Benelli SBE II with a Turkey choke and mag extension will let you shoot a lot to an extremely long range if you put 3 1/2 inch #4 Buckshot in the magazine first topped with the usual gentleman loads...

Now... a couple of those birds look all grown up!

Turkeys are the same as grouse to me. I don't shoot them for sport, I shoot them to eat, if that means ground sluicing a grouse or shooting a turkey fetus, it doesn't matter, it is in trouble...

Like to see your fat birds buck this wind.

Exactamundo...they are just white meat on the hoof....

Those are dandy birds. Miriam's? I assume from all the white trim. I wasn't bashing on the lil birds..I'm sure they eat just fine, maybe better than an old tom. I was just surprised to see ones that size. Here we shoot them in spring, and by then, even the 6 month jakes are pushing 20. Hope I didn't ruffle any feathers

Shotguns all that's legal here bud. Course if'n our turks were the size of the ones in your pics I'd probably just use my Daisy 880 !

I reckon so !

We grow thou lanky but a tuff bird here that is why not many people choose stick&string. Wounded? never good remember your pepper spray and bells on your fly zipper in close cover.

Stick and string works too, but it takes a lot more skill. I still like fall hunting as you can shoot either sex and use anything you got...

Heck ya shapnel. Let me guess on the last 38-55?

Nope it's my grizzly killin' 25-35...

OOF!

It is a very real fact that it could happen. The bears are where birds sonder on the easten frunt.

+1 on that.
Every time I've found turkeys I've gone and bought a turkey tag and returned to find bears have run them off. Usually the bears are still there.

Found this one while turkey hunting with no bear tag, or it would have been on the wall by now...

They aren't that hard to kill if you get inside 30 yards.

There are a llot of them in Oregon on both sides right now so getting one isn't real hard. Getting the huge trophy birds is hard but they taste like sawdust.

I saw one last year I am still dreaming about though. Didn't have a shotgun with me as it happened.

Somewhere around 6's, 5's or 4's work. I use a 20 or a 12. It depends on what I have with me.

The 2 3/4" Federal Premium #4 Turkey load did it from my 12 gauge Ithaca with a plain full choke last year.

I took my first one with a single barrel 20 gauge and 6's.

For the last decade I've done most of my spring turkey hunting with a Sauer 12-gauge side-by-side made just before WWII. It's choked the typical German tight and tighter, with 2-3/4" chambers.

Mostly I've used 1-1/4 ounces of #5 shot, either lead or Bismuth, depending on regulations, and have not had any trouble taking gobblers out to 45 yards. My last one was one of the bigger-than-a-pigeon Montana Merriams that weighed 19-1/2 pounds with the guts out, taken last spring.

This spring Eileen and I are going to try to do a combo bear/bird hunt on the west side of the divide, using our German combo guns. Mine is a Sauer drilling 16x16x6.5x57R, while hers is a no-name over-under 16/9.3x72R. Eileen usually uses a 20-gauge but likes the combo gun she decided to step up a little.

In Montana's fall season we shoot 'em with whatever's handy. The .22 Hornet is ideal, but they also die from .270 injection.

I have no doubts your large intestine has seen more cock than a Perdue chicken farm.

I found a 180 gr Ballistic tip, launched from a Krag, to put them down decisively. Due to the distance, and the open sights I took a body shot, thinking the relatively slow velocity wouldn't tear up a lot of meat. Wrong

OTH I helped one guy look for a turkey that he'd shot in the neck with a .270. Where the bird was shot we found bloody grain from a blown up crop spread over a 5 foot circle, then a blood trail a blnd man could follow for 30 yards, then it just disappeared. The hunter was dumbfounded the bird got away. I keep wondering if a bobcat or lion grabbed it and carried it off. It should have been DRT.

It's also interesting to think about something that will decisively kill deer, yet not tear up meat on turkey. I'm told a .54 cal round ball will do it. A drilling found be a fun handloading exercise, too...

So you have trimmed down.

tex n cal,

Oh, I know about those 180 Ballistic Tips in the .30-40! I once shot a prairie dog at around 220 yards with a 180 BT from a High Wall reproduction rifle in .30-40, and the bullet left a 1" exit hole!. Now, it was a big dog (the reason I could hit it at over 200 with iron sights) but still...

I have shot a few wurkeys with deer rifles right up the wazoo when they were facing away, and that placement works pretty well. The bullet does most of the damage where Thanksgiving turkeys are traditionally filled with dressing.

I smell a story here.......

You two need to grow-the-phugg-up.

turkey and elk both can't be killed with "ordinary" stuff

magnums are a must........bs

To me when calling them in to 25 yards or less and they gobble.They seem to be a lot larger than whatever I am carrying.
I have a buddy that shot 2 gobblers with 1 shot out of a Winchester 97 pump at 20 yards.
It took him a minute to get his senses back after the shot,I don't know where he went but he was gone.He was using 23/4 no.5 shot. Full choke.

Yep.

And it's wise not to have your shoulder pressed snuggly against a tree when touching off a 3 1/2 inch turkey load.

If you need that kind of distance, you might as well use a rifle. My last 20 have been killed with a 20 gauge. 2 of 'em shot over 40 yards.

What does it take? Put a head shot on 'em inside of 30 yards with just about anything you got laying around.




Then fire up the grill.

2 3/4's work just fine as does 3"....I only use and used the big guys like 3" and 3.5" and the sometime shoulder snapping 10 Gauge for Geese.Check your choke so it isn't spray and prey(if it is adjustable) and the 12 gauges of old are just fine for turkey's.

Jayco

Which I'd much prefer although both the WI and Kansas DNR frown upon such a thing.

Never stopped you in the past...

Where I grew up we used a machete and a spotlight, we'd find where they roost on a gate or low branch and go out at night.

My old hunting partner and I once went out and got thirty turkeys for a big dinner. We drove out to a tree where I knew they were roosting, when we got there you couldn't walk under the tree standing up but by the time we finished we had to reach up to touch a branch, they weighted the tree down so much. We popped them in the head with a .22. There were some big gobblers in that bunch.

I would hate to see the pile of turkeys killed with standard Fedremchester standard 2 3/4" 1 1/4 oz loads, or the standard 16 and 20ga loads for that matter.

2 3/4" will kill just fine 3 1/2" doesn't buy you any more range just more pay load...I shoot 3 1/2" cause thats what patterns best from my gun

Beleive me, 3 1/2 inch #4 Buckshot will extend your range...

You guys are just vicious, ruthless killers.

Plain and simple...

"What's it take to kill a turkey?" From the OP.

One well placed bullet, BB, or Arrow. Plain and simple. They are not some super tough armored bird. They die well from a well placed bullet, BB, or arrow. For shotgun I shoot 1oz #7-1/2's at them and have never had one get back up. We can't rifle hunt here for them. But a .17 in your favorite flavor would do just fine as a number of others have stated as well as .22Hornet.

I always thought that a .25-20 would be an excellent turkey
rifle.

"What's it take to kill a turkey?"

Being smarter then the turkey helps, I think.

I find that I go out each spring and frequently get outsmarted by the world's dumbest bird.

Jim

Around my house, all it takes is a stick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG3PLPDXKtU

P

Shotguns only here in Michigan. I can understand it. Rifles can be hazardous in a dense woods full of turkey hunters trying their best not to be visible. It would be nice to use a rifle though. Getting within rifle range is a lot easier than getting within shotgun range. My season would be a lot shorter if I could use a 204.

I understand the 5mm Rem rimfire round was popular with turkey hunters in times past. The 17HMR should be just as good I would think, but I'll likely never know.

Having taken 70-80 turkeys (we are allowed 6 per season here in Northern Idaho) with only shotgun or bow allowed, I am one of the "more is better" proponents.

My results with 2 3/4 12-ga were OK, but there were too many birds I didn't get...just needed more pellets going out.

I upgraded years ago to a 12 ga 3" and really like the 4/6 duplex loads, with lost birds diminishing to only one.

Only went out twice with a bow, got one tom and one coyote who was sneaking my decoy.

I shot my first turkey about 45 years ago. I didn't even intend to shoot it but when it took flight and the front sight of my 22 settled on it, I just pulled the trigger. It set it's wings and glided for about 200 yards before it hit the ground. My cocker spaniel went for the retrieve but, after he dragged it about fifty feet, he just sat there and waited for me. the bird was tasty. My second turkey was taken 40 years later. Again, the 22 did the trick. In fact, it was the same 22 rifle! This turkey wasn't flying, the dog was a beagle who had no intention of retrieving anything, and the bird was barely edible. GD

I use the 3.5" 12ga Hevi Shot Mag Blend in an auto. (Rem SPR 453 aka Baikal Mp153) with a Carlson's .665 dia choke that combo I feel good with to at least 50 yards. I patterned it at 45 and I stopped counting the head and neck hits. I've never had occasion to shoot one farther than that (we can use rifles in SD) as it seems too easy. I'm sure with optics a guy could reach out and touch one at 60 with the 3.5 pretty easy.

I previously used a 3'' 12ga with Hevi 13 #6's which is also good at 40 but the pattern is no where close to the 3.5.

I shoot most of my turkeys under 20 yards at which distance Im sure you could use about whatever with a full choke and get it done. I know at 20 yards with that 3.5 it would bring a new meaning to "Jelly Head" if you centered it. Which is the main reason for the turkey chokes, a tight pattern results in less wounding.

Do you need a 3.5" 12 or 10ga with TSS or Hevi 13 to kill one? No way. Does it open up more opportunities for you provided you have patterned the gun and know where it hits farther out? Absolutely.

I use archery tackle most of the time. Closest ever kill was around 8 yards with a bow, farthest was about 40 yards with my 3.5" 12 and Hevi 13 Magnum Blend. Only time I have seen a turkey backflip shot with a shotgun. The rest have all been 20yards and under and dropped at the shot.