ORIGINAL: fantail
Come on fellas, there are no laws about patterning a gun before one can go hunting. Back when I first got into turkey hunting nobody around patterned their gun including myself and I don't remember anybody having trouble. After realizing my patterns were awful on paper I got things tightened up and now it seems like all my shots are 20 yards or less and I just cant hit em when they are that close.
My suggestion to gamespooker is to use the full choke that came with the gun and try to keep the shots 35 yards or less. After all some people that have the tight patterns say they won't shoot past 35 anyway.
BTW one of the guys I hunt with is in his mid 70's and always quail hunted and got into turkey hunting about 4 or 5 years ago. The tightest choke he has is modified in a 12. He says he is good to 35 and has yet to miss or lose a turkey with that gun and he has taken several.
The unfortunate part is that the11-87 didn't come with a Turkey tube or even a full choke, I believe only the Mod. That leaves you buyin an aftermarket choke of some sort that the gun wasn't set up at the manufacturer with... Older guns, especially those with a choked barrell like the old wingmasters probably do not require patterning.... most know thats a bad ass gun regardless.
So, outside of 30 yards..... you don't really know how that gun is gonna preform