Turkey Setup - Choke and loads

[tiger yat]

I picked up a 24", 12 ga barrel (for my 44-Handi (SB-2)) that came with front and rear rifle sights and a removable choke tube and 3" chamber.  It came with a cyclinder choke only so I need to get a tighter choke.  I have three questions.

Should I go with an extra extra full choke since the setup has the rifle sights and should presumably aim better than a bead sight?

How bad is the recoil with 3" turkey loads from a Handi?  (So far I've only shot turkey loads out of a Browning BPS with a 30" duck/goos barrel.)

What range limitations could I expect if went with #6 high brass instead of full house turkey loads? Any recommendations would help before I go buying.

[ThomasB]

Mine kicks like a missouri mule with 3in shells (federal turkey #4 shot) and I'm just using full choke on mine. My son has extra full turkey on his and without a buttpad I won't shoot it. I like to keep my shoulder attached to my body <G>. A buddy of mine just uses his standard Handy 12ga with a the mod. bbl and he has taken turkey out to 40yds with it.
  I have switched to using federal turkey 2 3/4 #5 shot as I get a great pattern and keep body parts attached.
  Keep us posted on your endevours and of couse, pattern test when you  get it all hooked up.

[spikehorn]

I have a Tru Glo ported turkey choke in my Mossy 835, 3" #5 federals pattern better than the 3 1/2s. I hunted with a 20ga TDC last spring turkey season and I have an HS Strut ported unertaker choke tube in that. I took a Tom at 36 yards with it. When I'm in the field and have a turkey in my sights my heart is beating out of my chest, I don't notice recoil.

[gcrank1]

I hope you have a recoil pad equiped buttstock w/o the MC rise; if not, get one off the classifieds here and you will be glad you did. I have a 5.25ish # Pardner 12ga, c/w the sighted 'Buck' barrel set up (but no choke tube) and with 1oz., 2 3/4" Foster slugs is a very fast handling visious kicking beast. I did try some old handload 3" 'larger' shot out of it (cyl. bore) and at 40yd it socked a pretty good hole in the snow at POA. I would have no reservations on trying for turkey with it but I expect that 2 3/4" turkey loads would do just fine.
Until recently Ive had this frame with a full choke factory bird barrel and it took turkey with no problem. Where we hunt we dont get long shots though, and I would probably not try to bag one over 30 (self imposed limitation).

[Doublebass73]

Get any full or extra full choke, a couple boxes of ammo and call it good. Pick the ammo that patterns the best and you're all set. It mostly depends on how much range you need. I used to hunt turkeys with a 3.5" Pardner Turkey 12 gauge. It patterned great out to 40 yards but the recoil was ridiculous with anything other than 2 3/4" target loads. I used to dread patterning different ammo at the range.

I now use a 16 gauge with a mod choke. It's only good out to 30 yards for turkeys but I'm happy with that. They don't make turkey loads for the 16 gauge but I tried a bunch of different high brass loads and regular field loads at the pattern board. The ammo that patterned the best was El cheapo #6 Remington game loads so that's what I use. I killed a turkey at 27 yards this past fall and it went right down. Try some regular old standard 2 3/4" 12 gauge loads, you might be surprised at how well they pattern. Plus they're much cheaper than buying the boutique turkey loads and a lot easier on the shoulder.

[tiger yat]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I ordered the extra full (Carleson's replacement chokes off Cabellas) and will try the regular high brass #6 loads first.
It just seems that if you can shoot them with 1-1/4 oz of shot with a 20 gage, you should be able to shoot them at similar range with 1-1/4 oz loads from a 12 while saving both the wallet and the shoulder.

I guess the old timers used to do it with duck/pheasant game loads, because that's all they had before steel shot, pheasant loads and turkey loads were develeped.