I have tested pretty much all types of turkey loads from 2 3/4 to 3in to 3 1/2's on both my 870 express and my 835 and here's what I've come up with. For starters every gun is different so you must experiment. I've shot winchester high velosity 3in out my 870 with a standard 665 remington super full choke and had great sucess up to 45 yards then the pattern fell through. I've shot the heavy shot with the same setup all by the way were 4 shot. Great pattern out to about 30 yards then the pattern fell of the face of the earth. So I choose the winchesters due to their pattern grouping. Now onto the 835, tested 3 1/2 federal 6's out of the ultimag with an comp-n-choke and was getting no better pattern than with my 870 and 45 yards. The choke was an xxx full with is 670 pretty tight right, wrong, so then I tried the winchester high velocities 3 1/2 with 6's much better pattern but not what I expected from the choke, so I called the company and found out that they reccommend a 655 for shorter barrels ( 24in) and exchanged the 665 for a 655 and what a diffference it made well over 70bb's in the head and neck at 50yards. I was impressed nessless to say, sure at 15 yards I had a baseball size pattern and had to be careful up to 25 yard when the pattern expanded, but no gobbler was safe between 25 and 60yards. My advice go with the 655 out of shorter barrels no heavy shot the company dosen't reccommend it at least a few years ago they did, but anyway if you have a 3 1/2 half in gun shoot winchester high velocities #6's if you have a 3in gun shoot 665 with winchesterhigh velocities # 4's and see what you come up with. I did test the new federal rounds that came out just recently in both 3 1/2 and 3in in the sizes mentioned above and found out that they don't even come close to the Winchester High Velocities in pattern density. If you can't find a choke for your gun comp-n-choke has one, the same company makes kick's too but in my guns comp-n-choke performed much better. Any choke that can slow down the wad a little bit will be ok, but test, test, test, and you will find the perfect blend of what your looking for. Good luck and keep up informed. Lou-Lou2