Is a turkey choke necessary? Does it equate to Extra Full or something? I have waterfowl chokes for steel shot, can I use that? Any help appreciated.

No, its not, but i would at least use a full choke. You want a fairly tight pattern to concentrate on head/neck area. The extra full/turkey choke just gives you a bit more range.

No, I've never used anything other than a full choke. I usually use 2 3/4 #4's in a 16 gauge. Of course, I try to keep my shots inside 30 yards.

Myself and son have only used full. Never lost one yet. The steel chokes are more open. That's why full chokes say No Steel on them. Turkey shot is lead.

I have killed them at a pretty good distance with a modified and a good shell. (3rd degrees or Apex) but a normal full is what I use. 2 this year at about 30 through some light brush brush with cheap shells.

Thanks guys. I have all my lead chokes too. will use them.

Before Hevishot, I used turkey chokes for #4 & #6 lead. Figured anything inside of 50 yards was dead with that 3&1/2” SBE. Hevishot changed all that. I once killed a Tom @ a laser measured 78 yards with Federal Flite Control Hevi shot. Then Federal decided their Hevishot loads must be made of gold or something and made the price so high I decided i would just work on my calling skills and call them in closer. I shouldn’t have taken that long shot on the Tom but it was right at sundown and we ambushed them on the way back to the roost. Moral of the story is you don’t need those fancy chokes and shells but they do increase your range. Now, I use Winchester Longbeard #5’s in 3 & 1/2 and anything inside 50 yards is a dead bird. All that being said, full chokes will work fine but probably not at 50 yards. Kind of cool to see how close you can call them in.

I shoot a 562 sumtoy in my 20 ga with hand loaded tss. I have always had a Turkey choke in all my guns. Is it a necessity? Probably not but its nice to have if you have to reach out there a ways.

I like your style Clark. Have you ever put a $ on cost per shell if you handload that tss? Does it require specialized equipment?

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It does require a few specialized tools to handload. Now that there are commercially available loads, I doubt you save that much by the time you buy components and tools necessary to handload for the number of shells you load. I think its more about enjoying loading your own, and knowing the quality of the components and reliability.

Its pretty simple to reload TSS. You need a scale ($30 for a cheap one), Some sort of vice to hold shell in ($20), roll crimper ($30), and some form of dipper ($6), Drill, and possibly some other odds and ends to make it easier. The components are not that expensive besides the shot itself. Depending on which recipe you load you will need hulls (100 per pack for around $12), powder ($30), nitro card ($15 for 1k), wad ($20ish for 250), buffer ($8ish), shot,($46/lb) and over shot card($10 for 1k). You can load 9.84 shells per pound loading 1 5/8oz of 9 shot. You will have 0.12 in a hull, 0.13 in powder, 0.02 in nitro card, 0.08 in wad, 0.02 in buffer, 4.67 in shot, and 0.01 for OSC=5.05 per shell. This isn't including the other things you need to get started, which as you can see isn't a lot. All that can be bought for under $100. A shell you are buying is going to be closer to $8-$10 per shell. Half the time you can't find them. Not to mention, if they are different lot numbers they have been prone to shoot differently. Plus it is just fun reloading these things and killing birds with YOUR load.

My hunting buddy reloads shotgun, so is all he needs the shot? He and I both reload centerfire. I always figured you need specialized equipment to load tss

Roll crimper is probably the only tool you would need, and then components. You probably need new primered hulls, as trying to roll crimp previously star crimped hulls can be a pain. Then you need load data...most that sell TSS will give you that. Make sure that the load data you get has been previously SAAMI tested for pressure.

Nothing specialized at all. If you want to get into it I can give you a guys number to get some 19g/cc tss. A little more dense than what others are shooting. Plus his base been polished which ensures no burs on it. He will give you laod data and all his stuff has been pressure tested. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me.

Thanks for the info. My apologies to OP for sidetracking the thread.

Our blinds are close to feeders and a lot of shots at 20 -30 yards. Some guys have switched to modified with much better success. I shoot a turkey choke short barell with 3-1/2 number 5s. Pattern is too tight under 35 yards. This year I am going to use modified when I expect close in shots and turkey barrel for long shots. Blind will dictate which barely I use.

Once tried a Pattern Master choke with #5 Federals; it reached way out, went through the lead gobbler and dropped one behind it. Decided that was too much choke, probably unethical and went back to full chike with #5 federals. It is more fun to call them in.

I did some work with Mark Bansner back in the 80's. Mark got his start doing custom turkey chokes. One thing we found testing out gazillions of loads and something I still do today. Forget the real heavy shot loads such 2oz or greater., they just didn't pattern real well with tight chokes. The best patterns we were able to achieve were with 1 5/8th oz or 1 3/4 oz loads. Shooting #4, 5's & 6's 2 3/4 or 3" loads, the lower the shot load the better patterns at further distances. The 1 5/8 oz load always performed the best on putting more pellets in the kill zone on the turkey targets out past 50 yards. I still shoot 3" 1 5/8 oz loads today as I have total confidence in them.

I have tried just about every turkey choke known to man and have NEVER shot a better choke than the HeviShot Hevi13 turkey choke. I used one
in both my Benelli and my Beretta shotguns. I just get the absolute best patterns from them.