Well I can't seem to get this post to stay in the turkey forum and can't seem to get anyone thereto tell me why so I will try it here. Does any y'all have a turkey shotgun (not home defense) with changeable chokes that has an 18" barrel. If so I was wondering how it patterns. I know all about different guns and different loads and different chokes, I just need to know if someone has one and how does that one pattern. Thanks.

what gun are we talking about?
do you already own the gun or are you looking into buying an 18'' gun for turkey hunting?

i have an 835 w/ a 20'' barrel. it seems hard to find an 18'' barrel with interchangable chokes.
A good friend won an 870 home defense gun w/ and 18'' barrel in a raffle, then later on whenhe decided to get into turkey hunting and sent his barrel to briley and had them thread the barrel and used their full choke and it shot great. he still hunts with it. thats the only experience I've had with an 18'' turkey gun.
Basically any 18'' barrel with a good choke is going to get the job done, the trick is finding the right shot shell for it.

With an 18" barrel, you aren't going to have much of a sighting plane. With a large normal shotgun bead and a tight choke, it'll be a challenge to shoot accurately. You might want to put sights or a scope on it.

I've got an 835 Grand Slam that has a 20" barrel. Find the right choke/load combonation and its deadly. My 20" barrel outshoots just about every other 12 gauge I've ever tested, but she won't touch most 10 gauges.

My stepson is looking to buy a shotgun and just likes the 18" barrel look but wants it to be huntable. I just have never shot an 18" barrel myself so I didn't know if it would be huntable with the right choke and load.

it wont pattern much different. i'd say 2" won't matter.

The only thing I could think of is the powder charge won't all be burned up by the time the shot leaves the barrel. I don't know.

he's probably going to find 20-22'' barrels in turkey guns, they still have that cut down look, but give you a little more forgiveness and accuracy, along with a longer sighting plane, but if he does somehow find an 18'' barrel with interchangeable chokes, then for sure put some rifle type sights on it, or a scope.