Hi Everyone ,

Brand new to turkey hunting ....and this forum...
got a slate and striker call comin in from cabelas going to try and practice up for the spring. Lookin to purchase a shotgun....was hoping to get some advice from you old timers on some semi autos for a newbie like me..go ahead and sway me on some pump actions if ya like ...I just always thought the auto were cool. anyway camo no camo ...benelli vs winchester ......remingtons and the like.....

thanks for the help

Joey

welcome to the most challenging huntin their is, which ever gun you choose, make sure you get you an extra full choke,personally i mainly use a single barrel 24" 12 ga.with 3"shells, can't shot real far, but its more exciting to shot him in close, everyone has their own opinon about different guns,it doesn't take a high dollar gun to kill a turkey, just one with a good shot pattern

u want 31/2 the beretta urika is very nice and.... veryexpensive
remingtons porbly your best choice for price and reliability
idont have an oppion if sm1 buys one i dont personally like buy which ever ones in your price range and the one u like
goodluck

Here's some good info from another message board:

Semi Question - HuntingPA.com

A friend got a 1187 super mag SPS -- whatever it is... the deluxe Remington 3.5" semi-auto. It shoots no better than my 870 super, but it weighs about twice as much.

He put a scope on it, but that will be coming off shortly, after last season when he busted his face twice. It's a nice gun if you don't mind the weight. If you do go with that model, and you want to use anything but open sights, I'd highly recommend a red-dot model.

They all shoot about the same, you just need to find the right mix of shell/choke that throws a good pattern out of your particular gun.

Get something that you can buy several chokes for - you'll go through a few before you really find one that patterns to your gun's potential. In that regard, Remington probably offers the widest array of chokes.

Though I am a bit biased, tough to improve on a Benelli. I've had my 12 ga. Montefeltro Super-90 for 10 years now, with the 21" barrel it is perfect for longbeards. Never has anything close to a problem with it either....which speaks for itself.

I just bought a Benelli M1 Super 90 with a 24" barrel in camo. I haven't shot it yet but I'm hoping for the best.

All my shotgunning is done with semi autos. Same goes for my group of hunting buddies. We own more than fifteen different models between us. A 3" chamber is more than enough but, the 3 1/2" is great as well. I like synthetic or better yet the camo ones for hunting except for upland. I'll list some models that I recommend in a few different groups.

3 1/2" models $900.00 and up. Beretta Xtrema, Benelli SBE's, and Browning Gold
3 1/2" models under $900.00. Franchi 912 and Winchester SX2.
3" models $700.00 and up. Beretta AL391, Benelli M1/M2, Browning Gold's.
3" models under $700.00. Beretta's 390,3901,Pintail/ES100, Franchi 612, Weatherby SAS, and Winchester SX2.

All of these models have good quality, many features, and are very reliable. They each have their own strengths and weakness. Most of the above models are owned by someone in the group. Any of them would make a great choice for a turkey gun.

I like my Mossberg 935 short barrelled turkey gun. It was fairly inexpensive, too.

Thanks Everyone

Your replys are very helpfull, I was at my local gun shop the other day and held a Rem. 11-87 upland special that they had for $450, I almost walked out with it but decided to shop around some more. Anyone have experience with Upland Special?

thanks again