OldGobbler

OG Gear Store
Sum Toy
Dave Smith
Wood Haven
North Mountain Gear
Gooserbat Game Calls
North Mountain Gear
turkeys for tomorrow

Ever compared your factory full choke to your turkey extra-full choke?

Started by YoungGobbler, January 13, 2025, 09:39:21 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

YoungGobbler

Did your ever compared your factory full choke to your turkey extra-full choke?

I did...

At first I was comparing my full to a carlson .660 and there was basically no difference. The pattern was absolutely not tighter. At 30 yards you were stretching your shot with both chokes...

Then I compared my full to a carlson .640 and there was a slight difference... A very tiny one... The difference was so small... I now use my .640 as a turkey choke, but it's just because I have it because on target, it did not gave me that many more pellet on the target than my full. The difference is so small I can't say ´I have a extra full I can shoot 5 or 10 yards further than with my standard full'. It just give me a few more pellets at my maximum range and with both choke the max distance would be the same.

What about you? Ever compared both, and what were the results?

deathfoot

On my Benelli SBE 3, I used the pattern master .665 for a bit which was good. But the factory choke shoots the Apex TSS much better so it's the only choke I use. 

I compared my factory retay 20 gauge with an Indian creek .570 but the Indian creek shot a better pattern.

Next up, I'm gonna compare my factory Winchester SXP choke to a sumtoy .570 and see what happens.

Dtrkyman

Not recently.  I did shoot a pretty open turkey choke in my 20ga for a bit, was like .580, solid patterns but I went tighter to basically keep more shot away from the body of the birds.

I also sight in so it shoots just above my dot trying to keep my pattern in the neck and head.

Gooserbat

I know my old 21" barrel 870 shoots around 280/10' with the Remington .687 Xfull and around 320/10"  with the jebs .665.  That is using my 2 oz tss handloads.

Now the flip side is a lot of the older chokes were not hardened such as the mentioned Rem X-full.  Tss is a steel-tungsten alloy so use chokes such as these with caution.  It could swell into the threads and seize or wost case even crack if it's a really tight constriction. 
2025 NWTF Booth 235

eggshell

I hear a lot of people that say the tss loads shoot a tighter pattern, perhaps hunters should be looking at opening up their chokes some. Like a standard full or even a modified. Of course that means your not looking for extended range, which I think is what most go to tss for. I haven't made the switch to tss because I'm still shooting birds at 25 - 40 yards and my old loads are killing birds just fine at those ranges. I have thought about going down to a 20 ga or even a 410 with the TSS. Packing a lighter gun looks better at age 70.

Greg Massey

My old 12 gauge Remington turkey gun came with a factory extra full choke that in my opinion shot as good as any after market chokes you could buy. I later got a Trulock choke for the gun and have had great success with that choke as well... I just felt the Trulock Choke is a better quality choke... LOl... IMO

This Old Gun is set up to shoot the old Federal number 5 . 3 inch , 2 oz. loads and it does well with number 6 also.

I still have a good stash of these shells ...

This post makes me want to bring the old gun out of retirement. What I'm going to do is take this gun on my last turkey hunt whenever that day comes.

Puddin369

Quote from: Greg Massey on January 14, 2025, 10:26:41 AMMy old 12 gauge Remington turkey gun came with a factory extra full choke that in my opinion shot as good as any after market chokes you could buy. I later got a Trulock choke for the gun and have had great success with that choke as well... I just felt the Trulock Choke is a better quality choke... LOl... IMO

This Old Gun is set up to shoot the old Federal number 5 . 3 inch , 2 oz. loads and it does well with number 6 also.

I still have a good stash of these shells ...

This post makes me want to bring the old gun out of retirement. What I'm going to do is take this gun on my last turkey hunt whenever that day comes.
better take it while you can. You may be on your last turkey hunt someday not knowing it will be your last.

Ihuntoldschool

30 should never be a stretch with full or extra full choke as long as your POA = POI. 

Even 410 bore is capable out to 30 with lead. 

Tom007

Quote from: Greg Massey on January 14, 2025, 10:26:41 AMMy old 12 gauge Remington turkey gun came with a factory extra full choke that in my opinion shot as good as any after market chokes you could buy. I later got a Trulock choke for the gun and have had great success with that choke as well... I just felt the Trulock Choke is a better quality choke... LOl... IMO

This Old Gun is set up to shoot the old Federal number 5 . 3 inch , 2 oz. loads and it does well with number 6 also.

I still have a good stash of these shells ...

This post makes me want to bring the old gun out of retirement. What I'm going to do is take this gun on my last turkey hunt whenever that day comes.

You got a long way to go brother, you won't be toting that Old Gun any day soon!

Cityslicker

Outdoor Life had an article last week reviewing different .410 guns.  They tested the CZ Drake using fixed factory IC/M chokes and TSS.  Interesting read-

https://www.outdoorlife.com/guns/best-410-turkey-guns/

GobbleNut

Quote from: Ihuntoldschool on January 20, 2025, 10:14:02 PM30 should never be a stretch with full or extra full choke as long as your POA = POI. 

Herein lies the problem from what I have witnessed. It seems like too many guns do not center patterns, even when the point of aim from the shooter is correct. From what I have seen around here, most turkey hunters are still using the beads on their guns for turkey hunting.

We used to sponsor a sight-in day for folks to come and shoot their guns at the range. Way more often than not, they were shooting the factory beads on their guns and the point of impact was well off center. The conclusion: either they were aiming incorrectly to begin with (which was probably the case in many instances) or the POA/POI was off (which was also the case sometimes).

In addition, many of those folks...who are often just casual turkey hunters...were just shooting whatever the choke constriction was in their gun regardless of whether or not it was appropriate for turkey hunting. We did our best to encourage the sight-in participants to use the appropriate choke for hunting turkeys. Unfortunately, for every one of those people that came to the sight-in with good intentions to be ethical and conscientious turkey hunters, I'm sure there were/are dozens more who just go hunting with whatever shotgun they might own with whatever choke happens to be in it and hope for the best.

The end result is that gobblers are either going to be missed entirely...or worse yet, they are going to be hit by the edge of the pattern, or by an insufficient pattern, and run off and die later. 


joey46

I patterned my factory .410 Savage 301 choke and an aftermarket Jeb's.  Jeb's slightly better with Apex Ninja.  Either are good enough.  Sometime just fun to buy stuff I guess.  Lol.
Add - both patterns were centered through a Sig Romeo red dot.  Will do one test shot before season.  If the 30 yard looks good than I'm ready to go.  The range of the shot taken means everything.

Happy

I like tss, and I like a tight pattern. However, I keep it tight to keep pellets out of the meat. At the ranges that I kill turkeys,  rarely have shot in the breast. The 20 guage is really nice to maneuver and point as well. If I miss, the odds are better he isn't packing a bunch of pellets either.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk


Good-Looking and Platinum member of the Elitist Club