I am planning on trying turkey hunting for the first time next spring and I need to get a new shotgun. How important is it to get a gun with a turkey barrel with the adjustable sights? The gun I was looking at had a 26" barrel with just a bead on the front. I plan on getting a turkey choke for this gun too.
Any and all advice would be appreciated

Great to hear you're wanting to get into it. It's addicting and you'll love it! My Rem 870 has I think a 22 or 23" barrel andtwo beads. Just line em up and shoot. I would recommend a barrel shorter than 26", just for convenience. I've never had adjustable sights, so I can't say much about them. As far as your question, how important is it to have adj sights? It's not at all. You'll find out when you hit the turkey woods that having a nice gun helps, but it's not your most important tool. Good luck and happy gun shopping!

I like 24" barrels

I have dedicated guns just for turkey. But to save money a 26" gun could be used for more than just turkeys and can be converted by just changing the choke. That way you can use it for ducks, dove, pheasant and other upland birdsand of course turkey.

The single bead is no problem but I would add a set of Tru-Glo clamp on (not magnetic) sights. Try-Glo does make a set of clamp on adjustable sights so your back ramp can be set for windage and elevation. Why? Today's turkey chokes give you a very tight pattern and you are just aiming at the head. Under 30 yards and the closer the bird is the smaller/ more denseyour pattern is. Tru-Glo sights help you keep your head down and use that shot-gun as if it was a rifle. The sights can be easily removed and then replaced with little trouble. Once you put the sights back on - A few shots at a patterning target and you are back on. I did this for years until I dedicated a gun for just turkeys.

The gun I used was a Remignton 11-87 SP. It has a matte finish to which camoflage is not needed.

Let us know what you have chosen and do come back as if you take the time to read all the past threads here there is wealth of inforamtion from some very good turkey hunters here!

JW

i have a 28" barrel, doesnt keep me from hunting anything. so 26" should be fine. good luck

I have the 870 super mag with the 26" barrel. I really like it and i don't really mind the extra 3 or 4inches. I used to use the factory remington super full choke and i shot a few birdsat 40-45 yards with that choke but then i tryed the turglo Gobble stopper choke tubethis year and my patterns tighten up quite a bit. As for adjustable sightsI have never used them. I have turglo Glo bead on the tip of my gun and thats all i have. The farthest turkey i have shot was at 51 yards. But i can see the the plus side of using adjustable sights but i really don't think you need them at all but thats just my thoughts.

Good point made about the longer barrel for more than just turkey. Mine is strictly a turkey gun. I don't duck hunt and whenever I do shoot doves the short barrel works ok.....would do better with a longer one. But as they said, if I was goin to buy a gun for more than just turkey hunting, a long barrel likethe 26" you looked at is ideal. As far as turkey huntin, any good12 gauge, or even 20 gauge,with the right choke and load will kill a bird.

I would recommend getting a set of sights for the gun.....you can always take them off if you want to use it for something else later on.
While you are patterning you will notice quite a few different shells will not pattern the same, and that is when you will want to be using adjustable sights.
Once you decide what gun you are going to get just let me know and I should be able to point you in the direction of a couple of good shell/choke combos.
Welcome to the addiction of turkey hunting!

I wouldn't want anything to do with a shotgun that had an after-market super tight turkey choke and just a single bead sight! That is one sure way to miss a LOT of Gobblers. If you still want to get that gun and barrel combo, look into adding a scope or red dot mount to it and your problems will be solved. Good luck and good shootin'

I have 1 gun for turkey hunting. Its a Mossberg 500 with a factory xx-ful turkey choke. Best darn gun Ive owned. They are not very expensive either...