Cold feet about putting a scope on my turkey gun.

[bowmike]

I was all about it last year. I enjoyed the few times I got to shoot with the scope before it messed up on me. I should have it back in the next 2 weeks. After I had did some patterning the other day, I realized I may not even need the scope. The mount I got is a shoot through design so I can still see my bead either way. As long as I keep my head down on the gun and eye on the bead I can hit exactly where I point at 40 yards.

I am mainly worried about mis-judging range because of looking through the scope at the bird. My pattern was pretty decent at 40 yards, and put up 64 hits in the head and neck area at 40 yards with #6 HTL shells. I am thinking that I if I see the Tom coming in I my pull up the scope on him early, like deer hunting and may misjudge the distance. Have had people tell me that the pattern I put up should kill them at 50 yards, but do not want to take long shots on birds.

Do those of you who use scopes with crosshairs on your guns, with magnification have any issues with this. DO you like to keep the magnification turned all the way down on them?

The other thing I am a bit concerned about is when I sight in, how many shells will it take to get the pattern centered at 40 yards. I know to sight in close with target loads and such, but how do you fine tune the pattern at longer ranges. Will it hit the same at 25 as it will at 40? Do you sight in for 40? JI am just a bit worried about the cost associated with getting the pattern mated with the scope. The shells I will be using will be around $5.00 a shell.

Can anyone give me the benefits of a scope to reassure me of my decision to put one on my turkey gun?

[bamagtrdude]

Welp, I just got a new gun for my daughter & "turkey"-ized it with a front-only red Tru-Glo dot sight & a Primos Tight Wad; she was blasting the target @ 40 yards, and then on Saturday, I hammered one @ 28 steps.

So ...  no, I can't tell you a single benefit of getting a scope on a turkey gun...  Sorry! 

[CrustyRusty]

Sighting in with a scope is a breeze.  Take a shot at big paper, and adjust the crosshair to the best /densest part of the pattern..I oversimplified a bit but that's the gist of it.  I don't have a scope on my gun, I use a red dot or just a front bead depending on gun and type of hunting I'm doing.  But a buddy has one on his and after helping him sighting his in I can see some benefit. Leave it on low power for hunting for best fov and use magnification for sighting in since its easy to find impact point.     Some scopes have range estimates so that can be a benefit too.   I worry about scope eye since you never know what type position you may be in when shooting though so I prefer a red dot..good luck

[turkey buster]

Welp, I just got a new gun for my daughter & "turkey"-ized it with a front-only red Tru-Glo dot sight & a Primos Tight Wad; she was blasting the target @ 40 yards, and then on Saturday, I hammered one @ 28 steps.

So ...  no, I can't tell you a single benefit of getting a scope on a turkey gun...  Sorry! 

 

[beagler]

I'm a big fan of the red dot/reflex sights. You won't be sorry and they are very easy to sight in. I posted some pics for you over on HPA.

[Crappiepro]

The benefit I get from the scope is piece of mind, I feel more confident knowing everything inside that circle plex reticle at 40yrds is getting sprayed with a dence pattern of shot.
As far as judging yardage, just aim low at anything really close 3" below the head on the neck.
I use the cheap standard #6 2 3/4 shot shell's, I start at 15 to 20yrds then move out futher to 40yrds. I take a shot and then make adjustments. After I get close I then fine tune with the regular turkey loads.
I've always felt alittle funny about having the bead on the turkeys head at a distance. Things get alittle blurry and the birds head disappears kinda, some leaves and tree limbs and it's even harder to see for me. That scope brings it right up and close and I have more confidence.

[Skeeterbait]

I know some love their scopes and that's fine.  But to me putting a magnified scope on a turkey gun is about like putting a fly reel on a spinning rod.  Neither part functions to its fullest design.  Your shots are inside 40 yards, you don't need magnification.  Magnification just makes it harder to find your target up close and thru brush and can cause range estimation mistakes.  The tunnel vision of a scope makes it hard to track a moving target, which a shotgun is designed for. Forget hitting a bird that spooks at close range.  It limits your field of view that could cause you to miss out on a better bird coming in from the side or cause you to shoot a hen that steps into the line of fire at the last moment.  And then there is the risk of a split open eye brow from hard recoil turkey guns.  Just because the scope did not hit you when sighting in does not mean it won't when trying to hunker down on a gobbler or on a far left shot when your face comes closer to the sight.  There is the added weight and height issue also making the gun less balanced.

Even tube style reflex sights suffer from the tunnel vision issues.  An open lens reflex sight shooting with both eyes open solves every one of these issues.

[ShortSpurs]

I have found that with the Bushnell Banner 1.75-4 scope on my 870 that I have both eyes open when I use it. With the scope on the lowest power, there is little magnification even at 40 yards and the ER is 6" plus (actually closer to 7" for me), so the use of 3.5" shells is no recoil problem.

As with any scope situation, I must say this may not work for some hunters.

YMMV,

[deadbuck]

I was curious to see if I would like a scope on a turkey gun so I put a 3x9x40 I already had in my shop on my gun for this year and keep it on 3x. Had the opportunity to shoot one last week and i killed the bird, but it ran 20 yards and fell over dead. Thought I had missed. Anxious to try it on another. If it goes the distance this spring and I like it, I will buy a real turkey plex scope for it. Must admit it was odd looking at a head 30 yards away through the scope. Just had to pull the trigger and trust it would do its job.

[budtripp]

I know some love their scopes and that's fine.  But to me putting a magnified scope on a turkey gun is about like putting a fly reel on a spinning rod.  Neither part functions to its fullest design.  Your shots are inside 40 yards, you don't need magnification.  Magnification just makes it harder to find your target up close and thru brush and can cause range estimation mistakes.  The tunnel vision of a scope makes it hard to track a moving target, which a shotgun is designed for. Forget hitting a bird that spooks at close range.  It limits your field of view that could cause you to miss out on a better bird coming in from the side or cause you to shoot a hen that steps into the line of fire at the last moment.  And then there is the risk of a split open eye brow from hard recoil turkey guns.  Just because the scope did not hit you when sighting in does not mean it won't when trying to hunker down on a gobbler or on a far left shot when your face comes closer to the sight.  There is the added weight and height issue also making the gun less balanced.

Even tube style reflex sights suffer from the tunnel vision issues.  An open lens reflex sight shooting with both eyes open solves every one of these issues.

my thoughts exactly. Only good reason to put a scope on a shotgun is if your shooting slugs out of it for deer in my opinion

[Ridge Rooster]

I tried a scope for a year and pulled it. That was back before the red dot sights like the Burris FFIII. I had been a 2 bead shooter for almost 30 years and just couldn't warm up to the scope. Went back to 2 beads for a couple years up until reading about all the success people are having with the Burris FF's, so I thought I would give them a try. Man I am glad I did, I am getting a little older now and the two beads, brush, and a turkey head was hard to get lined up at times! The barrel tends to make the lower part of the turkey disappear and even though it has worked for years, I found that the FF's seem to be the answer for me. They allow me to see most of the turkey and know right were the center of my pattern is going to hit. This is the first year I have tried it, but I don't think I will ever go back to beads, there just to much advantage for me. JMO

Ridge Rooster

[alclark2]

I like my scope. You'll need a lot of eye relief or it'll cut you. I turn the power to 3-4x. If you use a lot of scoped guns and can naturally pull your gun up and see what you're aiming at.. Go for it. If you're like my dad and shoot the wrong flipping target because you can't see through it. Don't. I've missed a few birds at 40ish yards with open sights and decided to try a scope. I'm happy with my decision. I haven't missed one since.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nyhunter]

scopes on turkey guns work great , If your worried about the magnifaction go with a red dot. i use a range finder to make sure i know where 40 yds is. I always try guessing it first so I can be close if i don't have time to use the range finder. you will love it once you put it on. I have a $1600 SBE2 that hits way high and right so I had no choice but to put something on it. I chose a Burris sped dot 135 and I love.

[R AJ]

You stated in your post that you can hit exactly where you aim without optics. That tells me that you don't need the scope and extra weight on a shotgun. Even a reflex sight would most likely not make it through a season without getting hung up on vines or caught on a limb so I stick with whatever is the simplest solution to getting the job done.

In your case it looks like your bead sights are all you need.

[BigGobbler]

Do not do it all it does is add another thing that can go wrong! Like fog up,glare,bumped off site just some of the things that can go wrong using a scope. If you need a scope on a gun for something that you are shooting at at 30 yards than you need to have eye surgery or stay out of the woods before you shoot someone. LoL I can just see the scope users crawling out of the woodwork on this one. The truth hurts.