Would a scope....

[tha bugman]

Help me to maximize any pattern that I shoot?

[Crappiepro]

It will make you more confident in shooting if thats what your asking. Seeing your thickest part of your pattern up close and knowing your POA/POI and having the gun sited in good, so yeah I'd think so.
Just my .02

[ryanva88]

It makes you more confident at the range for sure. It helped center my pattern nicely... and I was confident with my scope in the field last year (also my fist year turkey hunting)

Opening day in West Virginia, a group of jakes came in silently and I was taken somewhat by surprise when they were suddenly at 20 yards. I lined up my shot in the scope and missed my target, yet knocked the bird down (not a neck/head shot). I lowered my gun, and could clearly see the bird flapping and gathering itself at 10 yards distance but could not find the struggling bird in my scope when i went to shoot again! As I did find the bird again, it was flying away down the hill. My pattern was tight, the bird was close, I had to be on the money and I failed.

This story does not mean to scare anyone away from scopes, its more a tale of rookie mistakes than anything else. I should have never let down my gun leaving the scope on the bird. But in the "moment of truth" experience will win you or cost you a bird. That particular "moment of truth" taught me a lesson on scopes and lowering my weapon.

However that being said, follow up shots are sometimes part of hunting. Not ideal but it happens. If i needed to make a follow up shot I would rather have a pair of good fiber optic sights vs. the best scope out there.

This ramble is just some food for thought and merely my own humble opinion.

[chatterbox]

This is a six of one, half dozen of another senerio.......
Scopes will help you maximize your guns pattern at 40 yards for sure, and they will help you pick out that gobbler. However, there are drawbacks....
One is a lack of a FOV. You are limited to only what you can see in your scope, nothing more. Scopes are heavy, and can really be a pain after a long day of turkey hunting. The last thing is they can make you grossly missjudge yardage.
Don't get me wrong, I love scopes, but after being really objective with myself, I settled on a red dot. The upsides of the reflex red dots are no limited field of view. You can see everything around your target. They are also very light compared to scopes, and no magnification allows for less yardage errors.
Lastly, just put the dot on the target, and pull the trigger. Once the dot is sighted in, where you settle that dot on the target, is where your pattern will hit.
Just some things to think about......