Turkey Noob Needs Advice
 

Long time hunter, total newbie when it comes to turkeys. Just bought 20 GA Rem 870 Exp. Now shopping for ammo and choke tube. The guy in this 2009/05/bourjaily-my-20-gauge-turkey-gun article recommends Federals Flitecontrol Heavyweight ammunition, holding a full 1 1/ 2 ounces of very dense tungsten-iron 6 shot in Federal's Flitecontrol wad and Hunters Specialties Undertaker choke tube. Any and all advice greatly appreciated by this newcomer to the turkey game.

Every shotgun is a law onto itself. It's virtually impossible to predict with any degree of certainty that a particular load or brand of load will pattern best in your gun with your choke. You'll need to try different combinations for yourself. For instance, my gun will pattern #4's pretty much the same as #6's, but I can't find any #5 loads that will pattern consistently at all. I also learned my gun definitely patterns better with a clean barrel. So, at the range, I swab out my barrel between shots to make sure I'm comparing apples to apples. There is no shortcut to doing the homework.

You need to go to oldgobbler.com and they have an excellent forum spot for different guns, chokes, shells, ect. It will help you directed in the right direction with hunters who have already tried the different combo's. Ya not all guns shoot the same but this place is great and takes some of the guess work out of it, plus chokes aren't cheap. They can answer you questions.

X2. Definitely put you in the right direction.

Thanks
 

I will check out oldgobbler.com. MANY THANKS!

Here's some advice I think is pretty good for about every thing.

If you are starting something new and need to ask advice, do your asking FIRST, then do your buying stuff.

Ditch the 6's and go with the 7's...denser pattern and has the same energy as lead 5's. Look into TruLock chokes.

I know you already bought a 20 gauge, in my opinion the Remington 870 express magnum 12guage with a rhino .660 (if I remember right ) is a better choice. Great pattern out to 50 yards although I never needed to kill a Turkey out that far. Super tight pattern at 30 and nice and tight at 40. I have no Turkey experience with a 20 gauge.