Well I peeled the camo tape off and removed the sights from my browning BPS yesterday.... It took an hour to get the tape off and I was fortunate very little rust occured under it. The OCD tape job helped. Good bye my old turey slayer... Put the 18 inch barrel on and protect us from the Rona zombies now.

It had been two years and I got turkey gun fever and campfire spending habits.


Now I have to pick from a 20 gauge franchi affinity 3 with red dot...
sames thing in 12 gauge.
and a 870 express tactical with XS iron sights and a shur shot pistol grip stock. The 18.5 inch barrel patterns decently.

The franchi;s are long and better trigger and the 870 is a rainy day short sit in the hub blind gun.

So did anyone else retire a T-gun recently?

I retired my 12 gauge 870 a few years when I picked up an 870 youth 20 gauge with some Federal Heavyweights.


I still talk to my 12 gauge but it lives in a nice corner of the safe.

I have a 870 super mag 12 gauge. I have not taking the site off as I still use it for a loaner. I have not taken it the previous 3 years after starting to load tss.
I shoot it every year to check the dot and make sure it’s still zeroed but other than that it’s retired for my use.

Is this because you use a 20 gauge now?

Not me. I'm still using my Remington 870 LH that I bought back in 1971. I bought it with money earned on a newspaper route. I delivered them after school and on the weekends. It's the only hunting shotgun I have. My other shotgun is a BT99 used for shooting trap.

That 870 is getting heavier every year. It only shoots 2 3/4" shells but those "Baby-Mags" #4's kills gobblers just fine.

No. I stick with them as long as they stick with me. If there is a malfunction or a miss, though, it's time for something else. Luckily my next miss has been yet to come for some years now.

I've been wanting to swap out a 20ga O/U for a 28ga O/U for a few years. Thing is that gun does me right. Not gonna mess with a good thing.

My Browning BPS 12 ga. Upland Special with 22" barrel has been my primary turkey gun for years. I got a Franchi Affinity 20 ga. 3 yrs ago intending to switch over. But leaving the BPS home in turkey season would be like leaving my bird dog home during pheasant season. I just haven't been able to do it.

Im having a similar feeling...

I cleaned up the BPS and will put the choke tube and sling back in and slide it under the pickup seat as a backup.

I never taped it up the first few years I hunted so it will be fine if I deploy it.

Retired ?? No.

Use extremely infrequently ?? Yes.

I have, I think, 7 dedicated turkey guns. There are only so many tags I can buy and use each spring. So the vast majority of my guns sit. Been using a tricked out 20 ga single for a couple years now. Liking it a LOT. I can see most of my others going into, either, semi-retirement or possibly the classified ads.

Ha! I change My turkey guns almost as much as my underwear, I have bought 2 new ones this year, a Benelli M2 12ga 21" barrel and a Stoeger M3000 12ga 24" for a rainy day gun....I enjoy patterning these new shotguns and have learned over the years that the expensive aftermarket extended extra full Turkey chokes are largely a waste of time and effort as almost every shotgun I have patterned will shoot just as tight for just as far with the basic Full choke that comes with the gun. I have also learned that if you do your patterning homework there is also very little difference in the killing range between a 3" chambered gun and a 3.5" gun ....Good hunting....Hb

P.S. I was at Wally World recently and handled a Mossberg 500 12ga 20" Grand Slam Turkey, that little shotgun felt awesome in My hands and I would love to get one to the range and experiment with some good 3" Turkey loads to see how that 20" barrel performs 👍......Hb

Yep humdinger,..retired my 870 12guage 21” turkey slayer last year...110 long beards to her name. She rests under my bed now😁. 20 gauge 870 youth model was the replacement. TSS #9’s are mean mean mean!

I parked my mossberg 835 three springs ago. The turkey spot I have been hunting now is just outside of town with a few houses close by. Too close to use a shotgun due to anti hunter neighbors. Went to a crossbow and love it enough that I probably won't ever use my shotgun on turkeys again. The range is similar but I don't have to worry about biting into lead shot in my meat when I use the crossbow.

Gave this old Winchester 1300 to my S-I-L. My Dad bought it in the mid-1980's as a back-up waterfowl shotgun but never liked a pump and gave it to me. I found a 24" turkey barrel for it and turned into my dedicated turkey gun for a number of years. Vertebra problems in my neck has limited me to semi-auto's nowadays, but the shotgun soldiers on with a new owner.

Nice looking shotgun 👍.....I always wanted one of the model 1300 Turkey models with the 22" barrel and laminated stock but never got one when I had the chance, I keep looking to run across a nice one on gunbroker but they must be kind of rare......Hb

Nice wood on that winchester.

I keep looking for a camp defender to show up locally too.

Thanks Gents, that one was sold as the Model 1300 Waterfowl and came boxed with a matte finish 30" Winchoke barrel, a camo Uncle Mike's sling (not the one in the picture), and it had rolled-in scroll work on the matte finished receiver. I found the barrel second hand, but like new in a gunshop 15 years or so after Dad bought the shotgun. Those turkey barrels (Winchoke equipped) are hard to find - the short slug barrels or home defender barrels with fixed chokes were easy to find.
Ps the wood wasn't a laminate either, but a nice, dense walnut with machined checkering (nice for a M1300).

Those were popular.... I was working in western MN and the high end pheasant guys would carry OU's and the new benellis, but they bought 1300 speed pumps for deer slug hunting. The local stores sold them by the pallet.

I would hesitate buying any of the new winchester pump guns now.