Turkey Gun

[GAME TIME]

looking to buy a turkey gun so was wondering what everyones favorite gun to hunt turkey with is. Has anyone used the versa max, is it as good as the comercial says or all hype.

[elkeater]

i just bought the mossberg 535 ats combo with the regular barrel, 3 chokes, and a slug barrel for$450 taxes and shipping in. the feel is a little cheap but it sure works good. and i can use it for deer if i want. hopefully youll get a turkey story out of it soon in the contest thread

[Kudu]

looking to buy a turkey gun so was wondering what everyones favorite gun to hunt turkey with is. Has anyone used the versa max, is it as good as the comercial says or all hype.

Any shotgun with the right choke will do it for you - single, double, pump, Auto doesn't matter - they all kill turkeys dead.

[russm86]

I was interested in a new semi-auto shotgun as well, the versa max was one of the options so I looked at a lot of reviews and talked to the gun shops. It seems it is not built as well as they say, a lot of negative reviews and almost every shop I've been into suggested to stay away from it. The browning maxus is what I have decided on, reviews all seem pretty good for them and haven't found anyone with anything real bad to say about them yet.

[boscheefish]

consider the federal 12 gauge #6 3" turkey load 2oz with flight control wad, great partner for any 12 gauge shotgun

[GAME TIME]

Did the gun shops say for what reasons to stay away from it.

[adriaticum]

i just bought the mossberg 535 ats combo with the regular barrel, 3 chokes, and a slug barrel for$450 taxes and shipping in. the feel is a little cheap but it sure works good. and i can use it for deer if i want. hopefully youll get a turkey story out of it soon in the contest thread
I got the same gun for $350. Couple of days after I got it (I never shot it) I went back to the store to pickup a new case and another fella brought his Mossberg back. Apparently it was wasn't picking up the shells properly. Hopefully it's not going to be a pattern.

[russm86]

They said the quality and finish wasn't up to par. Parts seemed to break or have problems and just over all seemed cheaply built. One of the problems I heard about a lot, between online reviews and shops, was the pin on the action slide would just fall right out in your hand or into the water if your duck hunting and then you can't manually work the action. Also, some had said problems with cycling rounds but don't remember if that was shops or online reviews saying that. If you go look at the reviews on the websites for the bigger outdoors stores in the states you can read everything for yourself. They often have a lot of input from your average everyday person using the stuff in the field.

[adriaticum]

Also it's funny that Mossberg doesn't have a place on their web site you can register your gun for warranty. I thought that was a bit odd. Sure it's a cheap gun with no bells and whistles, but the word was it was reliable.

[Singleshotneeded]

looking to buy a turkey gun so was wondering what everyones favorite gun to hunt turkey with is. Has anyone used the versa max, is it as good as the comercial says or all hype.

If you're confident about calling turkeys right in to within 40 yards of where you're hidden, any 12 gauge with screw in chokes
will serve. I have an extra full turkey choke for my 870 and it worked well, nailing that tom hard at just over 40 yards with #5
lead shot from a 3" turkey-specific shell. I found the #5 has enough impact for turkey whereas #6 is a bit light, and #4 cuts
down on the number of pellets per load...at least in lead, in heavier-than-lead shot the #6 might be ideal and give you more pellets.
I had a tom stop on me at about 80 yards and he wouldn't come any closer, no matter what I tried as far as calling goes...so I
carefully backtracked out of there that time and went back to my truck and got my .17 HMR rifle. I quietly and slowly snuck back
to where I'd been, did a bit of calling, and located Tommy about a hundred yards away. I set the focus on the scope for 100,
turned the magnification to 12, and nailed him with a 20 grain hunting bullet in his upper chest/base of neck area. Since then,
I use the shotguns for grouse and rabbits and bring my Savage stainless/synthetic bull barrel .17 HMR when I hunt turkeys.
I have it sighted in at 1" high at a 100 yards with 20 grain expanding hunting ammo, and I'm good past 150 yards that way,
using the Harris bipod for a steady rest. I've had another couple of turkeys stall out at long range since then, but with the .17
it's no problem. Just be careful of what's behind your target, the .17 has greater range than shotgun pellets and that's why
some turkey hunters don't like people using them...like everything else be careful and check out the area behind the turkey first.
Besides my experience, I've also read about other hunters having turkeys stop their approach at 80-100 yards and not move
closer, so it seems like a fairly common thing. For that reason, I'd recommend a .17 HMR stainless bull barrel Savage with the
Accutrigger dialed down to the lightest pull, and a scope that goes to 12X if not 14X, with a 40mm objective for brightness.
Better yet, wait for the same Savage rifle in the new .17 Winchester Magnum Rifle cartridge that'll be arriving in Canada soon.
That'll give you a fair bit more power than the .17 HMR, and a flat trajectory for another 50 yards or more...and be the ultimate.
I'd definitely want to put a scope on that rifle that goes to 14X, as well as a solid Harris bipod. :-)

[Singleshotneeded]

Also it's funny that Mossberg doesn't have a place on their web site you can register your gun for warranty. I thought that was a bit odd. Sure it's a cheap gun with no bells and whistles, but the word was it was reliable.

I was looking at the Mossberg SA-20 versus the Weatherby SA-08 for a 20 gauge semi auto shotgun for my son.
My homework online indicated that Mossberg's customer service sucks, whereas Weatherby's is good, and the SA-08 came
with two gas valves...one for light loads like 7/8 oz, and one for medium and heavy loads. The Mossy SA-20 only came with
one valve, and the reports from owners said it wouldn't cycle light 7/8 oz loads that they bought for their kids to use(light recoil).
When they called Mossberg customer service, they were told to use heavier loads...have a nice day. On one site an amateur
gunsmith posted about how he'd disassembled the Mossy SA-20, polished the chamber with steel wool wrapped around a barrel
cleaning mop, and all the other parts with fine grit sandpaper...after hours of polishing like this he got the SA-20 to cycle 7/8 oz loads.
Not that I'm lazy, but seeing that Weatherby were smart enough to have their Turks build them a gun with two valves, so this issue
never came up, and their customer service was better than Mossberg's...I went with the Weatherby. It patterned beautifully at 25 yds.
with modified choke, and 50 yards with full choke, and cycled the light 7/8 oz loads perfectly. For $500, my son and I were very happy!
The only reason I can think of for Mossberg not to have the Turks include two gas valves like Weatherby is to save a couple of bucks,
but it makes you wonder what other corners they've cut in their guns that'll rise up and bite you in the butt down the road?

[Singleshotneeded]

consider the federal 12 gauge #6 3" turkey load 2oz with flight control wad, great partner for any 12 gauge shotgun

That's what I used, and it works great, but I'd recommend #5 shot instead of #6, in case you need to make a longer shot.
The #5 pellets retain their energy better than the #6...and there's still plenty of them whereas if you go for #4s the pellet
count is down a fair bit. The info on pellet count is available online.

[Brambles]

http://www.remington.com/en/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-sps-synthetic-turkey.aspx

I bought one of these, pistol grip sure beats eating your hand with the heavy recoiling 3.5" turkey loads.

If your recoil sensitive then get a semi auto. Turkey loads hit hard..

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Ithaca Turkeyslayer!

[Singleshotneeded]

.17 WMR bolt action with 4-12X40 AO scope...

[yamadirt 426]

ive got whats classified in the states as a good turkey gun, its a 12ga over 222 tikka combo. open sights or put on a scope. I have never been turkey hunting but when I do it will be with this gun. Its loaded up with 45gr tsx for bigger game but im sure i could hand load something lighter for a turkey