This will be my sons first year hunting turkeys. I've got a Remington 870 youth set up I ordered 2 boxes of tss #9. I've got a Remington hevishot super full and a primos tightwad. But I'm wondering if I should just try the factory full I've got. I want a more forgiving pattern for him. I am going to pattern the gun but I would like to know if the full choke will give me a killing pattern out to 40 yards without being too tight at the 10-20 yard range.
I haven't personally shot tss with a full choke, but many people recommend a full choke for a kid that is effective to 40 yards. I have a Tightwad in my son's 870 with hand loaded TSS #9. He's 11 and killed 4 birds with it last year. It shoots a nice even 20" pattern.
I'd shoot a shell through each choke including the full.
Also, a lot of people shoot the Remington factory turkey choke with tss which may be what you have. I tried a buddy's in my gun when pattering and shot well. You don't have to choke tss as much as lead.
Another good cheap, choke which my gun liked the best is a Carlson's 575. Good luck with what you decide but be careful as you might have to switch to a 20 ga yourself if you haven't already. :)
Prior to hunting with my 20's I did hand load and shoot TSS 3" #9's in my 12ga's. I found that the factory full cokes did just as well as expensive after market chokes. And the patterns at 20ish yards were the size of a soccer ball. I started using the Fast Fires for a better POI, and have yet to miss while using TSS. Shots have been from 15is out to 46ish yards.
I started my son out with a modified choke to have a more open pattern and would limit his shots to 30 yards. We used the federal HVW #7. Federal has a wad that is now called the flitecontrol flex wad (it was just flitecontrol)and it actually shoots well out of more open chokes. We now shoot Federal TSS #9 with a Carlsons 575 in all our guns. I also put a red dot on our guns which really seemed to help him with POI and I have to admit that I like it myself!
Quote from: Grouse870 on February 22, 2019, 07:13:40 PM
This will be my sons first year hunting turkeys. I've got a Remington 870 youth set up I ordered 2 boxes of tss #9. I've got a Remington hevishot super full and a primos tightwad. But I'm wondering if I should just try the factory full I've got. I want a more forgiving pattern for him. I am going to pattern the gun but I would like to know if the full choke will give me a killing pattern out to 40 yards without being too tight at the 10-20 yard range.
Hope to see some of your patterns! I have the same 2 chokes for my daughter's gun.