Oddball shotgun for turkeys?

[Hnthrdr]

The Stevens 301 is a fun little gun. You feel like you're carrying a toy. I paid more for the red dot that I put on it, than I did for the gun.

Haha same here, it was some crazy deal like 120 bucks out the door, so I said why not, those boxes of 5 tss shells are not cheap though haha

 

[OzTor]

My different Turkey gun is a Keltec KS-7 pump... Took off the carry handle and installed a Picatinny rail, got the choke adapter and am running a website headhunter...
Its a Killer!!
I get all kinds of crazy looks when hunting with it.
Definitely Different!!

 

[Boles8]

My different Turkey gun is a Keltec KS-7 pump... Took off the carry handle and installed a Picatinny rail, got the choke adapter and am running a website headhunter...
Its a Killer!!
I get all kinds of crazy looks when hunting with it.
Definitely Different!!

Have a pic?! That is actually one of the guns I had threw around the idea of trying.

 

[OzTor]

Have a pic?! That is actually one of the guns I had threw around the idea of trying.

There you go!
Kicks like a mule with a Turkey load but its a killer for sure!

 

[Feral Jared]

I picked up a 410 AR15 upper from bear creek. I didnt really run for crap, but it had a 3" chamber, so I was using it as a single shot. Killed a couple toms with TSS with it, and it was a really nice, light handling gun in the field, but I sold it and will go back to the conventional shotgun until I get my other project sorted out.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Oddball?
Probably not "that" odd, but I love 'em!

Win M12 16 gauge - Hi-Velocity 1oz #7.5's
Per the S/N, it's and early 1920's make.

Rem "Sportsman" 16 gauge - Hi-Velocity 1 oz #7.5's.
Remington began making (selling?) the "Sportsman" in 16 gauge in 1932. They began with S/N S200000. The S/N on this gun is S2004**. It's one of the first 500 made. It was presumably manufactured in 1931 and only released for sale in 1932.

Also, I've taken turkeys with a scoped S&W M48 w/8 3/8" bbl and a 9" Ruger "Single-Six" w/mag cylinder and iron sights!

 

[Amos Keeto]

....talking ammo....?
I refuse to purchase turkey specific ammo. Won't buy 3" or 3.5" ammo. Just standard, 2.75" ammo with at least 1 1/8 oz of plain Jane old lead #8's!
A good friend gave me a Mossberg bolt action .410 that I bought ten TSS shells ($60!) for! Won't be buying anymore of THAT!
I had a good friend who would come turkey hunt with me. In the 6 years we hunted together before he passed, he never killed a turkey with one shot! Tried very hard to get him to shoot #8's. Every time he came up, he would have the "latest, greatest" turkey ammo!
Copper plated shot!
Duplex shot loads!
Long Beard!
Super mag 3.5" ammo!
He would watch me kill a tom at 35 yards with one shot and say, "You're just lucky!"

I kill turkeys just fine with standard, 2.75" ammo with #8 shot.

 

[dtrkyman]

Your friend can't shoot!

 

[Amos Keeto]

Your friend can't shoot!

Dude was sudden death on squirrels, ducks, doves, quail and geese!
COULD NOT get it across to him, "You can't BODY shoot a turkey!"

 

[Boles8]

There you go!
Kicks like a mule with a Turkey load but its a killer for sure!

That’s awesome!

 

[270-300]

I use my favorite over under which many people consider a trap gun. I like it for ducks too. I keep a skeet choke in the top and a im or lm in the bottom. Lets me take far shots and not blast them if they are close. I usually am multi species hunting on most of my hunts. Sometimes the top tube has a slug for deer while the bottom has turkey or duck loads.

I got tired of spending $30 a box of steel loads +++++ up too what ever the stores sell at when theres only 2 boxes of steel loads left in a 2 state area. A couple years ago i got smart and went to a streamlined shot system:

1 oz #5 steel for pheasant and teal
2 3/4 steel bb for geese. I mostly hunt snow geese in a conservation season with no mag restrictions and on my pump gun 2 3/4 vs 3" means 5 va 4 shells in the magazine. In steel bb theres a 1/16 oz difference in pellets between these two.
#4 steel 3" for ducks- also use this stuff for turkeys since i am often hunting them in the same walk, and some turkey hunting is done on managed wetlands. Both i use a break action typically, and if i do use a magazine gun its plugged so im only getting 2 in there regardless.
I do have a few boxes of #6 steel kicking around for teal and pheasant. Likely those will not be replaced.

All 12 gauge for me. I can load up and cover 10 gauge territory or load down and cover 16 and 20.


I buy the above one case at a time on different years when it is on steep sales. Last year i bought a case of steel #5 1 oz loads in 12 gauge for $85 from brownells. Thats perfect because it mimics a 20 gauge load, and i did not end up with my pheasants shot blasted like 3" #4 steel does to them.

The turkey below was a 3" #4 steel shell last april.

Always pattern your gun. With the same labelled choke in the same 28" barrel, shells from the same box pattern wildly different from this citori than my old pump gun.

 

[Davyalabama]

What kind of oddball are you thinking of? Are you talking some new type gun AR style, old school smokeless or old as in 30's-60's guns, pistols, some turkey specific setups or subgauge .410/28? Do you have a gun that was passed down to you by someone?

 

[Long Cut]

I’m a fan of single shot 12 & 20 gauges.

I want to barrel chop the 20G Stevens 301 down to 20” or so to make it more compact.
My new Turkish Charles Daly 101T 12G has a 20” barrel and I love it, minus the atrocious trigger pull.

 

[blksno]

Well, I'm not a turkey hunter, I focus mostly on upland game. Roosters, Grouse, and Dove occasionally.

Got a new Orthos Raider S4 for Christmas 2024, immediately did a Form1 and bought a 14" SBS Barrel.
Finished it off with an EXTRA FULL choke thinking the short barrel and choke would essentially compensate for each other. Basically a home defense shot gun.

Decided to "try" it the day before opening of Pheasant season 2025. (back story, I tried pheasant hunting with an 18" 870 Tactical when I was in HS and it was an epic failure so I wasn't holding my breath)

Hung a 2x3 sheet of card board on a fence line, paced back to where I would consider typical rooster range, and just wanted to see how the pattern looked. I would assume I was around 40 yards. To my surprise, 90+ % of the pellets (probably 2 3/4 6 shot) were centered in a cluster about 2x2.

Decided to bring my back up 1100 in case it was a failure, but holy crap did I enjoy carrying the Orthos in the field.

Had 6 hunters from TX and OK (carrying what they referred to as "compact" quail guns) probably in the ball park of 22-24" long. When we finally hit the field and I was dropping roosters left and right, before they even had a chance to pull up on them...they were probably more shocked than I was.

We went back to the farm to clean birds and shoot clays and I let them try it for a while and after getting used to using a red dot...they all were convinced they wanted to use something like it for turkey hunting.

Not that this point really applies to turkey, but when hunting upland birds....the 14" gun comes up SO FAST and gets on target SO QUICK, that I'm able to touch off rounds before they ever get beyond range. It was the most fun I ever had with a shotgun and I've been shooting roosters every October since 1993

NOW, here's the best part. With the threaded choke...I have an 8", threaded barrel extension that is also threaded for the choke...so if I really wanted to get nasty on turkey, I can threaded the barrel extension in and make it 22" with an EXTRA FULL choke

 

[Davyalabama]

Well, I'm not a turkey hunter, I focus mostly on upland game. Roosters, Grouse, and Dove occasionally.

Got a new Orthos Raider S4 for Christmas 2024, immediately did a Form1 and bought a 14" SBS Barrel.
Finished it off with an EXTRA FULL choke thinking the short barrel and choke would essentially compensate for each other. Basically a home defense shot gun.

Decided to "try" it the day before opening of Pheasant season 2025. (back story, I tried pheasant hunting with an 18" 870 Tactical when I was in HS and it was an epic failure so I wasn't holding my breath)

Hung a 2x3 sheet of card board on a fence line, paced back to where I would consider typical rooster range, and just wanted to see how the pattern looked. I would assume I was around 40 yards. To my surprise, 90+ % of the pellets (probably 2 3/4 6 shot) were centered in a cluster about 2x2.

Decided to bring my back up 1100 in case it was a failure, but holy crap did I enjoy carrying the Orthos in the field.

Had 6 hunters from TX and OK (carrying what they referred to as "compact" quail guns) probably in the ball park of 22-24" long. When we finally hit the field and I was dropping roosters left and right, before they even had a chance to pull up on them...they were probably more shocked than I was.

We went back to the farm to clean birds and shoot clays and I let them try it for a while and after getting used to using a red dot...they all were convinced they wanted to use something like it for turkey hunting.

Not that this point really applies to turkey, but when hunting upland birds....the 14" gun comes up SO FAST and gets on target SO QUICK, that I'm able to touch off rounds before they ever get beyond range. It was the most fun I ever had with a shotgun and I've been shooting roosters every October since 1993

NOW, here's the best part. With the threaded choke...I have an 8", threaded barrel extension that is also threaded for the choke...so if I really wanted to get nasty on turkey, I can threaded the barrel extension in and make it 22" with an EXTRA FULL choke

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That's some kind of cool right there!!!!!!!!!!!!