I am new to turkey hunting by shotgun, and was wondering if someone could help me make a decision on which shotgun to buy? I would like to keep it under $450, any reccemendations? thank you

My vote is for a Mossberg 835 Ulti-mag. Its a pump action, but you can fire 2 3/4", 3", or 3 1/2" rounds. It comes with a turkey choke, where you can change that if you want. It is my all purpose shotgun, for turkey when I am not shooting my bow, to other upland gamebird like quail and so on. The whole package when I bought it was $420, yet now they have several models of the 835 now that have different patterns, pistol grips, and tatical turkey guns. I have never had a problem with Mossberg, and liked the price as well. It does everything a $800-1000 turkey can do, and more.

Thanks for your reply, I beleive that gun now retails at wal-marts for around $300 that sounds like a pretty good choice.

I had an 835 and liked it, but sold it b/c I liked my Browning BPS more. It is a little more expensive, but to me, worth every penny. The major complaint I had about the 835 was the fore arm rattling. Mine was so bad that if I had to hold the gun up long enough for my arm to start shaking, you could hear it rattling.

Other than that, it was a great gun. Patterned like a beast and fit my body really well. Not sure there is a "out of the box" turkey gun that can hang with the 835. If you want to stick with Mossberg, look at the 935. Its the auto version of the 835.

You are going to get a lot of different opinions on this question so if I were you I would just go and shoulder some guns to see what fit your body the best and go from there. If you want to spend a little more money, look at the Browning BPS's, either 3'' or 3.5''. To me, they are more sturdy(sp) than the 835. I have put mine through hell and it has never failed me. I've had it for around five years now. It also patterened better than the 835.

Oh yeah, Don't shy away from the ole single shots either. You rarely need more than one shot at a turkey and they can save you $100's. They comewith screw in chokesnow, just like the other guns.
I just bought one matter of fact. Its a NEF 10ga. I've always wanted a 10ga. for turkeys and b/c I know that I will rarely get more than one shot at a bird, why pay the extra $100's for a pump or auto? (just my thoughts when considering what 10ga. I wanted).

Good luck and let us know what you get.

While I currently use and own a pump gun as my turkey gun since 92', if I were to buy a brand new spanking gun just for turkey hunting, it would have to be a semi-auto.

Well i can buy a used 1300 3" advantage camo gun with a some sort of turkey choke, I am told for 200 bones. Should I? I would say its in far above average condition but not quite perfect, after all it is used. Or should I just buy a new one?

Thats a hard call. I don't have any experince with a 1300 myself, but I can speak to you about buying used stuff. You have a 50/50 chance that it will be good. If you are buying it used, shoot it first. See if whoever has it will let you run about a box of shells through it. Low power and high power. If they say no, I wouldn't touch it. Most of the time if a person wants to get read of something, theres a reason.[&o]

Contridictingmyself, if you do want used. You can find some awesome deals in local pawn shops. I have a buddy that works in one and they pass some great guns through that place. He was telling me that you would be amazed at the people who actually pawn things. He was telling me that he's pawned stuff from a few doctors here in town. Thats amazing.

But I can trust him to tell me if its in good shape or not.

That's the very gun I use, a Winchester 1300 in the 1992 Vintage. Although I love this gun, if I were to buy a "NEW" gun set-up just for turkey hunting, a semi-auto would get my nod, especiallythe Winchester X2.

All of the current makers provide a turkey model or at least a version adaptable to turkey hunting. Any of them will give you good results with the right choke and load. I'm partial to the BPS myself, but you'll find any number of folks equallyenthusiasticabout their Mossbergs, 870's, 1300's, Benelli's, etc. Pick a model that you like and fits you well. Go out and try some chokes and loads. It's a process you'll have to go through anyway.
Good luck, and good hunting.