Anybody ever used a jellyhead choke tube?

[Songdog2012]

I have a brand new in the box rem. 870 camo turkey i purchase a while back and have never shot im gonna get it out and pattern it this week. It has the 21 inch barrel im thinking about getting a jellyhead tube for it as i have read good reviews on them, the gun came with an extended full choke but i have no idea what restriction it is i usually shoot 3 inch #6 or #5s anyone like the factory tube, or if you have a killer combo outta one of these remmys i would like to hear your oppinions, i know every gun is different but im looking for a good starting point. Also this gun only goes to 3 inch chamber, thanks.

[Longshanks]

Nice gun..are you going to shoot lead or Hevi Shot?

[Casey Johnson]

Yes, are you going to shoot lead or Hevi? If you are going to shoot Hevi, a Jellyhead would be an excellent choice. I'm sure you could get good patterns with lead out of one, too. I just haven't patterned any. You may want to check out the Hevi-Shot tubes, as well. They seem to be a pretty popular choke for that gun right now.

[allaboutshooting]

I have a brand new in the box rem. 870 camo turkey i purchase a while back and have never shot im gonna get it out and pattern it this week. It has the 21 inch barrel im thinking about getting a jellyhead tube for it as i have read good reviews on them, the gun came with an extended full choke but i have no idea what restriction it is i usually shoot 3 inch #6 or #5s anyone like the factory tube, or if you have a killer combo outta one of these remmys i would like to hear your oppinions, i know every gun is different but im looking for a good starting point. Also this gun only goes to 3 inch chamber, thanks.

First of all, congratulations on your new gun. It should serve you well in the turkey woods. I would recommend that you "deep clean" the bore of that gun prior to any shooting and taking it to the range for patterning. Even brand new guns will benefit from this process. It will help to remove the "gunk" that is left over from the manufacturing process and also any oil or grease that may have been put in the bore to protect it from rust.

I'd also recommend that you pull the fire control unit (trigger group) and clean it very thoroughly. Some of the newer Remington guns have a good bit of grease in that unit and also in the receiver. Cleaning the firing mechanism will keep gunk from building up there, attracted by the oil/grease, and create problems down the road.

Be very careful if you need to clean the inside of the receiver. There are very sharp surfaces there that will cut you very easily if you accidentally run your finger over them.

To answer your question directly, many shooters use JH chokes in their guns with good results but it really does depend a lot on what type of ammo you intend to use. Your 21" barrel normally does better with chokes that are somewhat tighter than the JH.

I would give the choke that came with your gun a try before purchasing anything else. It may be just fine and if so you've saved yourself some money. If not, then you can try another choke tube. I'm sure you'll have many recommendations, including the JH and several others.

I have several 870s that I use both for hunting and in competition. I have several barrel lengths for them and the most challenging for me to get to pattern well was the 21" barrel. I was able to arrive at a combination that worked very well for me as a hunting gun however. I would not get too hung up on numbers.

Please keep us advised of your progress and let us know how we can be of help.

Thanks,
Clark

P.S. If you're not familiar with the "deep cleaning" process, you can read the guidelines by clicking on the allaboutshooting banner below this post and go to the article "Cleaning a Shotgun Barrel" for the recommendations.

[Songdog2012]

Sorry about that, i will be useing lead mostly, i am pretty fond of the 3 inch federal #5s with the flite control wad. I also grabed a box ofthe win. Extended range in no.6s. I have shot many turkeys and a majority of them have been 30 yds or closer and the federals have always done good out of my win. 1300 with a hasteings .660 choke. Its a shame i cant swap it out in the other gun as it was a bit to pricey to go out and get another just to try. Plus i am going to try to double the 870 as a fox/coyote gun also, looks like i have some work to do!

[Longshanks]

I have several 870's and they all shoot lead the best with kicks .655 and ventilator .655. If you are going to shoot 5's I would go with the kicks .660. The Winchester loads seem to shoot the most consistent out of these chokes. The only success I have had with FCW was with a non-ported Hastings .665 choke but the patterns were not comparable to the winchester loads and kicks/ventilator chokes.  The extended range 6's wlll shoot really well out of the kicks .655 and my 870 with the 21" bbl.

*If you shoot HTL the JH .660 and Hevi 13 choke seem to be fairly consistent.
*The deep cleaning helps allot.

[grayfox]

I've had that same gun now for about 4 seasons.  Like Clark said my 21" barrel was also challenging to get the right pattern.  But I do love hunting with the short barrel, especially since I started using a red dot.  I never could get the pattern I wanted using lead. Using advice from this forum I went with the Hevi-Shot #6's with 2 oz. loads this past season with good results. Here's the pattern I got from a .665 Jellyhead at 40 yds.

[WildSpur]

My 870 does good with a jh 660. 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

[Songdog2012]

That is a good pattern! Ive never shot the htl shells, nor ever even looked at them what companies make them and how do they compare to lead price wise? Thanks for all the info guys i really appreciate you takeing the time to school me a bit on all of this, i have always tried to get good killing patterns outta my turkey guns but have never actually took one to its full potential i have had to change areas where i hunt and am going from relatively close quarters hunting to alot of field/open woods setups where i mite need a little more distance outta my patterns this is the best forum i have found with helpfull/knowlegable people who are willing to go the extra to explain in detail their opinions, thanks again.

[albrubacker]

Nice pattern there GF!

[FL-Boss]

I had the same gun (plus many similar rems)  and spent a ton of money getting the combo right. At the end of the day.. same set up applies as to most remingtons -  .660 jelly head, #7 HEVI... your golden.  Can't got wrong with any JH choke in a remington...but with the shorter barrel I would use the .660 and not the .665. Even though the difference is likely marginal at best.

[nyhunter]

I had the same gun (plus many similar rems)  and spent a ton of money getting the combo right. At the end of the day.. same set up applies as to most remingtons -  .660 jelly head, #7 HEVI... your golden.  Can't got wrong with any JH choke in a remington...but with the shorter barrel I would use the .660 and not the .665. Even though the difference is likely marginal at best.     X2 


The HTL are gonna be more expensive than lead but you will get much better patterns with the.   With that being said if your gonna shoot lead my 870's did best with winchester #6's and kicks .655 and the ventilator .655 . I never got decent patterns outta #5's so I shot 6's. 

[Longshanks]

That is a good pattern! Ive never shot the htl shells, nor ever even looked at them what companies make them and how do they compare to lead price wise? Thanks for all the info guys i really appreciate you takeing the time to school me a bit on all of this, i have always tried to get good killing patterns outta my turkey guns but have never actually took one to its full potential i have had to change areas where i hunt and am going from relatively close quarters hunting to alot of field/open woods setups where i mite need a little more distance outta my patterns this is the best forum i have found with helpfull/knowlegable people who are willing to go the extra to explain in detail their opinions, thanks again.

Hevi 13. 28.99-35..99 + shipping for a box of 5 (cabelas)

Occasionally I have run across 19.99-25.99 in stores that are over stocked during the off season.

*For 9.99-14.99 a box of 10 lead with combos I mentioned above:

173 in a 10 inch circle at 40 yds
145 in a 10 inch circle at 40 yds
153 in a 10 inch circle at 40 yds

P.S. Ventilator .655. $12.99, winchester 3/2/6's  $14.99...for less than 30 dollars you will have a turkey killing machine.

[grayfox]

Sounds like the .660 might be the best choice for the Remington 21" barrel.  I didn't have any luck with 2 different .655's, a Comp-N-Choke & a Ventilator both using the Winchester Supreme HV 1 & 3/4 #5's.  I did not try the #6's.  I did get this pattern which was OK.  I was using lead Winchester Supreme HV 1 & 3/4 #6's using the Jellyhead .665.  I may try a .660 in mine.  Thanks everyone for sharing your pattern testing results.

[Longshanks]

Sounds like the .660 might be the best choice for the Remington 21" barrel.  I didn't have any luck with 2 different .655's, a Comp-N-Choke & a Ventilator both using the Winchester Supreme HV 1 & 3/4 #5's.  I did not try the #6's.  I did get this pattern which was OK.  I was using lead Winchester Supreme HV 1 & 3/4 #6's using the Jellyhead .665.  I may try a .660 in mine.  Thanks everyone for sharing your pattern testing results.

Yup, those .655 chokes are best with Pb 6's. I haven't found any chokes that would shoot 5's out of my 870's well enough to get away from the patterns I have turned with .655/6's.

PS: *kicks .655 will turn 230's @ 40 in a 10 with hevi 3" 7's  21"bbl
   *ventilator .655 will turn 280's @ 40 in a 10 with hevi 3" 7's 28" bbl