I have a delima. I have two shotguns I want to take turkey hunting with me. One I actually got to make into a turkey gun. It is a NEF pardner pump gun with a 28 inch barrel and can handle 3 inch turkey loads. The down side is it doesn't fit me very well (too big), but not that big of deal turkey hunting since I will be making slow and deliberate movements if everything goes right. It also has pretty wood and no sling swivel mounts yet. It has only been fired twice last week to make sure it functioned.
I also have an A5 stalker with a 22 inch barrel and synthetic stocks. I picked it up used spur of the moment last week. It will only shoot 2-3/4 inch shells though. However this gun fits me much better, has a sling and handles better. Not to mention if I had to make a follow up shot it would be much easier being an auto vrs a pump that doesn't fit me that well.
My delima is I am hung up in thinking I NEED turkey loads. My mossberg liked winchester supreme 3 inch magnums with 1-7/8 oz of #4 shot. I think they are good for around 1200 fps. I have some left over and the NEF will handle them. It kicks like an SOB though
. I'm not all that recoil sensitive really, so that is not a huge deal.
The thing is I was doing some checking and some of the pheasant loads are pretty stout. I currently have some federals that have 1-3/8 oz of #5 shot in 2-3/4 inchers for my A5 and they will do 1350 fps. And I looked at a shot size chart and by dropping one size in shot (4's to 5's) I get almost the same amount of pellets, just not the same amount of weight. And I have seen some that will get up to around 1500 fps.
Wouldn't something like this work just as well instead of a "turkey" load? I wouldn't see why not. As long as they pattern well out of a tight choke. And both guns will take the same choke so all have to do is just swap it from one gun to the other ( HS Undertaker .665 extended choke). Same with the fiber optic sights, takes me about 10 minutes to switch them from gun to gun (other than sighting it in).
So which would you take if you had to choose?
A5 stalker
NEF Pardner Pump (870 clone)
Paul