for you guys that have guns setup for JUST turkey thumpin'...lets see some pics...mods...details etc...performance...porting, forcing cone etc...?

my 870 is a pure turkey gun(and some fox/yote hunting..but still shooting tight patterns like a rifle)...but its still all factory except for the choke...

looking for stock options...scope options...maybe having the metal barrel and reciever dipped...

so lets see your turkey thumpers...im sure some of you have some slick setups...


thinking an M4 style pistol grip stock and an Aimpoint(wont bother with cheap glass on a turkey gun) metal is all the flat remington finish..dont need dipped but its a turkey thumper..sooner or later id like to have it done...yep...id drop a grand into an 870 that i use a couple times a year...call me nuts..i know i know...a 50$ single shot will kill em just as dead...but i will like the comfort, functionallity and performance from this "custom" turkey gun when i get around to doing it all...

Top gun is my trusty 870 Express. I think it was one of the original ones, I got it in '86. I remember the year because I know I hunted on my friends property while recovering from some serious surgery that caused me to give up my tickets to game 6 of the world series... It has the stock 28" barrel, pictured with a ventilator choke, an R3 Recoil pad, and a simmons scope on a Tasco mount with the turkey reticle. I replaced the wood stock with a synthetic Remington stock so I could fit the recoil pad on it, found the stock at wally world marked down to $13! The 20" barrel is a smooth bore slug barrel that is deadly accurate at short ranges, I never sighted it in past 50.

The bottom gun is an 835 with a Sims recoil pad and jelly head choke tube. Its got a 20" barrel and will be my turkey gun this year. I'm using aftermarket sights (Tru-glo, I think) but next year it will be getting a scope. The one on the slug barrel is a Nikon, I might use that, haven't decided. It's putting 165 pellets in a 10" circle @ 40 yards (#6 hevi-13's 3.5" 2.25 oz)

thanx RI...you like the scopes on a turkey gun?? really leaning towards an aimpoint red dot...

my 870 is similar right now..only it has a 21" barrel with a Undertaker hevishot tube..throws a heck of a pattern...i broke my wrists and cant move them as well as i used to...and holding a regular stock for a long while like you often do when "you think hes coming" really kills me...think the pistol grip will help that...and think collapsable (either ATS and Knoxx) will be the way to go...

after looking at some dipping companies, i might go with a black Knoxx with the recoil reducer and all that...and have the whole gun dipped...gunna be costly...probably close to 400$ for the stock and dipping the whole gun...plus the scope [:-] but i think it will make a sweeeet turkey gun....down the road...after i graduate college lol...was just gunna order the stock and scope...but think i might hold off and do it all at once and do it the way i want instead of in parts...rather have the whole gun dipped to match perfect than have the metal not match the stocks..

man im picky....

I like scopes. No batteries to die at a bad time. The slug barrel on the mossberg was dipped, it was originally flat black. The guy I bought it from had to have everything in matching camo... I was gonna get a shorter barrel for the 870 and leave it at that, but the price I paid for that mossberg was pretty good. $325 for the whole deal including both barrels, nikon scope, recoil pad, a pure gold and mossy choke, and even a sling...

i shoot a new englander pardor 10 ga. single shot. in the past it has done wonders. used it about 15 years now, 13 birds, 2 of which were 60 yds.

835 Grand Slam
.670 Pure Gold
2-7x32 Nikon
Top Picture is 40 yards with Hevi-13 #6. 209 pellets in circle
Middle is 20yards with Extended range400+ pellets in circle
Bottom is 30 yards with Extended Range 270 pellets in circle

I have an 870 that i'm in the process of tricking out to be a dedicated turkey killer. Right now it is a plain old remington 870 express turkey gun (came with the 21 inch barrel and factory turkey choke) with the wood stock and flat black finish. A year ago i put the 1-4x turkey scope on it. Next i'm putting a boyd's thumbhole stock on it. They are laminated wood stocks and they look real sharp. Next i'm gonna give it a trigger job to clean it up and take some of the creep out of it, have it break at about 3.5 lbs like a good rifle. I was thinking about getting it dipped but i kind of like the metal and wood look. Sorry I don't have any pictures, the gun is in NY and i'm at school in MA, but I will def post some once i'm finished with it

Good luck with that! Pretty hard to do without compromising the integrity of the safety or weakening the hammer springs.

If you know of a way to do it, I'd love to know, I have an 1100 slug gun and a 760 30/06 I'd like to give a once over to.

Mine is a factory “special purpose” 870. One of the earlier models to come out in camo I believe. It’s probably 10-15 years old. Even the choke I use is the extra full Remington choke. Patterns great, so I never bothered to try and improve it. I would love a sweet tricked out one, but just can’t justify getting one over many of the other things I want.

This is my 870 SPS, I really like the gun quite a bit. I'm currently shooting Hevi 13's 3.5"/2.25oz/#6's out of it using a Indian Creek .665 choke, and have a Mueller 2-7x33 with the illuminated reticle on it. So far I really like it.

I wasn't able to pattern the gun out to 40 yards before season started with this specific load/choke combo, however at 20 yards this comboput only 28 pelletsoutside a 10" circle. According to folks on the NWTF board this load has approx 445 pellets in it, which means it put 400+ in that 10" circle. My best guess is that at 40 yards it would probably be putting 180-220 pellets in a 10" circle which is plenty tight for me. The 25lb tom I shot last weekend dropped like a sack of potatoes at 42 yards and didn't even flop.



And a picture of my first bird with this gun.........[8D]