Taking wife hunting. New guns. Need chokes.

[birchphone]

Dilemma: Taking the wife turkey hunting for the fist time tomorrow. It's my first time out as well. We both have brand new Beretta A400 Xtreme 12 gauge shotguns new in the box. I have no idea what choke or shells to get. I have searched the Internet and can't make heads or tails as to what .660 chokes means, etc....I'm just completely ignorant on the subject. I went to my LGS and they don't sound to convincing on the subject either.

They sold me this. http://www.choketube.com/choke-tube-product-details.php?Beretta-Optima-HP-Choke-Tubes&mf=8
It is item 65007 on their site.

Anyone have any experience or a shopping list of things I should go get for these guns? Ie. what choke and shells?

thanks for any help. I shouldn't have waited til the day before.

[Gooserbat]

Although it's not a true turkey choke it is an alright place to start.  There are several great chokes out there, Sumtoy, Jelly Head, Pure Gold, Indian Creek, I shoot a Ballistic Specialties.  The biggest thing is pattern your guns and find what works best.  One other point to watch is pay attention to your point of impact in regard to your point of aim.  If it's off then you might need to consider some sort of sights like a Truglo mag gobble dot or a Williams fire site.

[zeke632]

My advise is DONT GO.   

Unless you are willing to become addicted to something that you will rationalize reasons to go, even if it might cost you everything you have spent an entire life building.  Its a sickness.

[redarrow]

First off let me say Welcome to OG. You will learn so much here you will need to expand your head space to contain it. Chokes,shells etc. is a hit and miss thing. You really need to see what your gun likes. Its possible yours will perform better with a particular shell / choke combo than your wifes. 660 refers to the constriction of your choke.Tighter is not always better. Remember that choke you chose is for lead only. Good luck to you and your wife.

[Half fast]

My advise is DONT GO.   

Unless you are willing to become addicted to something that you will rationalize reasons to go, even if it might cost you everything you have spent an entire life building.  Its a sickness.


    There is no cure 

[birchphone]

Thanks for the welcome and advice.
I'm stuck with the one choke. Nobody had any of the others mentioned at 2 gun shops, academy and a bass pro for our guns.

Bought 6 different loads. Got some 5's and 6's in 3 inch.

Now to rush out to see what shoots best.

I'll report back.

Thanks again.

[redarrow]

You will most likely prefer the 6s.

[Gooserbat]

X2!

[Turkey Trot]

thanks for any help. I shouldn't have waited til the day before.

You might want to learn to hunt turkeys yourself before you "take" someone else.  It's not like dove hunting or shooting doves on a field.  You may get lucky and set up and wait one out and whack it, but the odds are against it.  Not to mention the fact that her first experience turkey hunting will ruin her on it if it is "bad" and she is only marginally interested in hunting. 

Beretta makes proprietary turkey chokes, and it often runs good deals on chokes on its own website.  CDNN Investment is another place to look.  But if you don't have time to order one, you could always use a full choke if you have it or buy a Primos Jellyhead around .655 or .660.  My Berettas shoot pretty well with Jellyheads.

[birchphone]

Ok, I tried the 3" with 2oz 6 shot for my wife with her gun.

[birchphone]

I tried the same shot through my gun. not as good.

[birchphone]

Then I tried the 3" 2oz 5 shot and got better results on my gun

All of these were shot at 25 yards. Thoughts?

[birchphone]

thanks for any help. I shouldn't have waited til the day before.

You might want to learn to hunt turkeys yourself before you "take" someone else.  It's not like dove hunting or shooting doves on a field.  You may get lucky and set up and wait one out and whack it, but the odds are against it.  Not to mention the fact that her first experience turkey hunting will ruin her on it if it is "bad" and she is only marginally interested in hunting. 

Beretta makes proprietary turkey chokes, and it often runs good deals on chokes on its own website.  CDNN Investment is another place to look.  But if you don't have time to order one, you could always use a full choke if you have it or buy a Primos Jellyhead around .655 or .660.  My Berettas shoot pretty well with Jellyheads.

I'll look into those chokes. I'll have to order them online. Nobody has them around these parts. Thanks for the advice.

We have tons of these birds out on our farm. I'm talking a TON. These things just look at you like you are crazy when you are in the woods. They could care less if you are there out at my place.
We hunt a bunch during deer season. Almost daily for 2 months straight. Just never gone out just for turkeys.
My buddy is calling and running video in the morning. I let him and his dad hunt last weekend and they both smoked nice ones. One with a bow and the other with a shotgun. We are hunting out of a double bull in the morning. Thanks again for the advice. Hopefully our guns are good enough to get the job done.

[Woodsman4God]

Thoughts on your patterns, most ammo will pattern well at 25 yards, any of the pics you posted will do at that range. Step it back to 35 then 40 yards and it might tell you something altogether different. Find out what range has a good pattern for killing then set that as your maximum range. It doesnt seem like much but a pattern can open up quite a bit in 5 yards and go from a good pattern to marginal or bad quickly. It helps to know so you can have a little fudge factor if the turkey hangs up a  little farther away than hoped for.

[birchphone]

I'll have to practice a little further out.

We had birds gobbling all around us this morning. Man they were everywhere, and a bunch of them. They were sounding off like crazy. They just wouldn't come in. Had a blast. The wife had fun. It was a good morning. Went and grabbed some breakfast and she asked when are we going again. Great morning.