some may recall, I posted about a new 870 express turkey gun I got a week ago and had pattern problems with the factory extra full turkey choke. Turned out, it was a .687 choke, equal to a normal "full", which i find disappointing since it is supposed to be a dedicated turkey gun. That's another story.

anyway, i bought two chokes, a primos Tight Wad with .660 constriction and a tru glo xtreme with .665. I expected the 660 to work best so I started with it but found the density to be less than desire. With Win 3 inch Supreme XX #6 Max I was getting 51 and 51 pellets in a 9 inch paper plate. Not great!

Went to the Tru Glo .665 with the same shell and I got 73 pellets in the 9 inch plate, a meaningful improvement. The rule as I understand it is 100 in a 10 inch circle. I didn't measure that but suppose I would have picked up another 10-15 pellets if 10 inches, still light but acceptable to me.

I also shot Hevi 13 in #6 and expected more but got 65 pellets in 9 inches but the pattern did shoot high and right, a bit different than the Win. With better sighting, I could have gotten into the 75-85 pellet range.

All that said, I can live with it. Got a turkey this morning at 25 yrds so didn't need to push the range.

I have the Rem. 870 express also tried a few set ups until I found the one I was most happy with......
Rhino choke .660 and Nitro 4x5x7 =64 pellets in the turkey target head and neck most of the rest in a 10 inch circle at 40 yards. the longest shot I have ever needed to take was at 30 yards even at 20 yards a clean kill.
When you get a chance you might want to try it. Sounds like you have a good setup.

I have a Remington 870SM and with the Kicks GT and Win HV #5's at 40 yards Im getting a consitent 10-15 hits in the vitals(brain/neck vertabre)...

Im over the Hevi shot Bull... Did my own pattern/penitration test and the HV #5's out penitrated the Hevi13 #6's big time...

Went to the Tru Glo .665 with the same shell and I got 73 pellets in the 9 inch plate, a meaningful improvement.

I use the same choke..and love it..

I would love to see those penetration tests!


Tealboy; Congrats on the turkey! Got any pics?

Use a .660 Kicks GT on my 870 SM and get from 15-19 in the vitals at 40 yds, with Fed # 5's. use a .655 Kicks GT in my 1187 SM and get 20-25 in the vitals with Fed # 6's.

Madd Maxx .665 choke, 870 super mag, 3.5" Win. Extreme HV #5's-2 oz.

30yds, averaged 116 pellets head and neck.
40yds, averaged 86 pellets head and neck.
50yds averaged 45 pellets head and neck.

I never needed Heavy shot of any kind. Make sure you try different loads too as my gun shot the 2oz loads much better than the 2 1/4oz loads.