Mossberg 500 choke/load combinations

[NYbassman]

I know the 835 and the 935 get a lot more attention from the turkey crowd, but my old man is still shooting an old 500 of his as a turkey gun. It's served him well with the mossberg turkey choke, as he never pushes his range limits with it, but he's looking to maybe improve his patterns a bit this year and make it a more solid 40 yard gun. Has anybody found a decent choke and load combo for the 500? Either lead or HTL, and again, he isn't chasing huge numbers and counting holes, just a good, consistent pattern. Thanks for any input guys!

[stinkpickle]

I would try some Win Longbeard #6's with the current setup before doing anything else.

[allaboutshooting]

I know the 835 and the 935 get a lot more attention from the turkey crowd, but my old man is still shooting an old 500 of his as a turkey gun. It's served him well with the mossberg turkey choke, as he never pushes his range limits with it, but he's looking to maybe improve his patterns a bit this year and make it a more solid 40 yard gun. Has anybody found a decent choke and load combo for the 500? Either lead or HTL, and again, he isn't chasing huge numbers and counting holes, just a good, consistent pattern. Thanks for any input guys!

You've had some good advice. In the WLB evaluation completed recently (you may read the full article in the March/April issue of "Turkey Country" magazine) I shot a Mossberg 930 which has the same barrel dimensions as your Mossberg 500, for the Invector choke portion. The Mossberg X-Factor choke did quite well, as frankly did all the chokes evaluated.

The X-Factor with a .670 exit diameter put 189 hits in the 10" circle with a good halo pattern out to 16"-18" and had no 2" or larger gaps in the 10" pattern. There were others that put well over 200 but all were very good.

Thanks,
Clark

[Izzyjoe]

A friend from work just picked up a beater 500, and he a shot #6 LB at 40yds though the factory full choke, and it put up 127 in 10", I know that's not impressive for LB 6's, but he can't afford to buy a choke, but I think it will get the job done!

[allaboutshooting]

A friend from work just picked up a beater 500, and he a shot #6 LB at 40yds though the factory full choke, and it put up 127 in 10", I know that's not impressive for LB 6's, but he can't afford to buy a choke, but I think it will get the job done!

Absolutely.

Thanks,
Clark

[KYHeadhunter02]

I'm still searching for a good shell for my 500. I've killed a bunch of birds with mine with the factory turkey choke. I started getting into shooting longer ranges and bought an indian creek choke couple years ago. Im still trying to find a good shell. I've shot long beards in #5s #6s last year and a few old Remington shells laying around. Going to try some a couple new shells this year. I cant hold a good pattern past 30-35.

[7shooter]

My 500 Tactical Turkey put up big numbers with Hevi13 7's and a Truglo Strut Stopper Extreme tube. Longbeard 6's weren't far behind.  Good luck!

[allaboutshooting]

I'm still searching for a good shell for my 500. I've killed a bunch of birds with mine with the factory turkey choke. I started getting into shooting longer ranges and bought an indian creek choke couple years ago. Im still trying to find a good shell. I've shot long beards in #5s #6s last year and a few old Remington shells laying around. Going to try some a couple new shells this year. I cant hold a good pattern past 30-35.

Hevi-13 shells should give you all the help you need to hold good patterns out to 40 yards.

Thanks,
Clark

[stinkpickle]

I'm still searching for a good shell for my 500. I've killed a bunch of birds with mine with the factory turkey choke. I started getting into shooting longer ranges and bought an indian creek choke couple years ago. Im still trying to find a good shell. I've shot long beards in #5s #6s last year and a few old Remington shells laying around. Going to try some a couple new shells this year. I cant hold a good pattern past 30-35.

The Longbeards can't hold a good pattern past 30-35 yards with either the factory choke OR Indian Creek???

[KYHeadhunter02]

I didn't take the factory choke with me last year because i thought i would find a load for the IC. I'm going to borrow a lead slead in a couple weeks and try again.