Turkey hunting requires careful preparation and equipment selection to ensure a successful and ethical harvest. One key piece of gear is choosing the proper shotgun choke, as this can greatly impact your effective range and pattern density. But with so many choke options out there, how do you determine which one is right for you? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll break down the ins and outs of chokes to help you select the optimal constriction for your next turkey hunt.
What is a Choke?
First, let’s cover the basics. A choke is a constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel that controls the spread of the shot string as it leaves the gun. Chokes allow you to fine tune your shotgun’s performance for different game by affecting the pellet density at various distances.
The tighter the choke constriction, the farther the shot pattern holds together in a dense cluster before dispersing. Looser chokes cause the patterning to spread more quickly. There are several common chokes ranging from open to tight:
- Cylinder (no constriction)
- Improved Cylinder
- Modified
- Full
- Extra Full
So in essence, choke selection lets you customize your shotgun’s effective range and spread to match your hunting needs.
Why Choke Selection Matters for Turkeys
Turkeys have small vital areas that require precise shot placement, especially at longer ranges where most shots occur. Their vital organs are protected by thick feathers and wing bones. Successfully taking a turkey cleanly requires dense patterning and sufficient energy to penetrate to the vitals.
This is where choosing the optimal choke comes into play. Proper constriction allows your pattern to stay tight out to effective distances. An open choke would cause too much dispersal for consistent turkey kills, while an extra tight turkey choke prevents misses on distant birds.
Recommended Chokes for Turkey Hunting
Most experts recommend using full or extra full chokes for turkey hunting These extended range constrictions provide the tightest patterns and highest downrange energy crucial for clean harvests
Some hunters use modified chokes with success, but they may lack the performance needed at farther distances. Open chokes like cylinder or improved cylinder are generally not advised, as the wide, quick-spreading pattern lacks the density for turkeys beyond 30 yards.
Dedicated turkey chokes are also excellent options, as they’re specifically designed for maximum constriction and range. Overall, full, extra full and turkey chokes will serve you best in the spring woods.
How Choke Selection Affects Range
Choke constriction has a direct impact on your effective range for turkeys. The tighter the choke, the farther your pattern will retain the critical density needed for lethal and ethical shots.
Here are some general benchmarks for maximum ranges with common turkey hunting chokes:
- Cylinder or Improved Cylinder – 30 yards or less
- Modified – 35-40 yards
- Full – 45-50 yards
- Extra Full or Turkey – 50+ yards
Of course these distances depend on other factors like shot size, ammunition, and your specific shotgun’s patterning abilities. But the choke guidelines provide a useful starting point for knowing your effective reach.
Testing different chokes with your shotgun on a patterning target is the best way to determine true maximum ranges. Look for even, consistent pellet distribution ensuring vitals coverage at hunting distances.
Other Equipment Considerations
While choke selection is critical, there are some other gear factors to consider as well:
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Shot Size – #4, #5 or #6 lead or tungsten shot provides the best balance of patterning and energy. Larger shot carries more power but patterns poorly.
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Shotgun Gauge – 12 gauge is most common for turkeys, offering versatility and knockdown power. 20 gauge can also work well when loaded with tungsten shot.
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Barrel Length – 26-28 inches provides a blend of maneuverability and effective range.
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Sight – A quality turkey choke paired with a proper sighting system gives you the complete package.
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Decoys – Decoys draw in wily gobblers, especially when paired with calling. Try realistic hen or jake decoys.
Testing Your Shotgun’s Patterns
To get the most out of your specialized turkey choke, it’s crucial to pattern test your specific shotgun. Patterning reveals how your gun shoots with different ammo and chokes, helping identify the ideal loads. Here are some tips:
- Use the same ammunition you plan to hunt with, including shot size.
- Test at hunting distances like 30, 40 and 50 yards.
- Aim for even pellet distribution and density.
- Ensure sufficient coverage for turkeys’ small vitals.
- Shoot multiple patterns to confirm consistency.
- Compare different chokes and loads to see what shoots best.
Once you find the top performing choke and shells for YOUR shotgun, you can have confidence in your effective range and shot capabilities come hunting season. Pattern testing removes the guesswork so you know your equipment’s limits.
My Go-To Turkey Hunting Choke
After researching the various opinions and testing my own shotgun, I have settled on an extra full turkey choke as my go-to for pursuing spring gobblers.
The extended constriction provides impeccable patterning out to 50 yards with my preferred 3″ #5 tungsten shells. I can place a lethal shot on a turkey’s head and neck knowing my modified choke will deliver a dense pattern.
Hunting mature Easterns in my area requires capability for longer shots in open woods. My customized extra full turkey tube allows me to ethically take birds past most hunters’ effective reach. Dialing in my shotgun’s performance through patterning gives me confidence I’ll fill my tag once I get drawn on a longbeard.
Of course your needs may differ based on your hunting terrain, local birds and preferences. But by learning choke basics and testing equipment, you can find your ideal shotgun and tube for a thumb’s up at the weigh station.
Final Thoughts on Choosing a Turkey Choke
A properly constricted shotgun paired with proven ammunition is a absolute game changer for consistent success on turkey hunts. Avoid frustration by selecting equipment designed for the challenges of pursuing these wary birds.
While personal testing is always advisable, most turkey hunters would be well served starting with a full or extra full choke in their 12 or 20 gauge. From there, patterning your gun will refine components to maximize effective range.
Armed with a specialized turkey-tight choke and understanding of your shotgun’s abilities, you’ll be setup to stick that fancy fanned gobbler when the moment of truth arrives. And your first step after admiring his iridescent feathers should be thanking your choke for the clean, ethical harvest.
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Consider these results when buying your next choke tube.
Whether it’s working on my calling, learning new e-scouting techniques to locate potential hunting ground, or reevaluating my kit and finding the best new gear available, I try to find ways to improve my turkey hunting skillset every off-season. This year, I decided to try out a variety of different choke tubes—an easily overlooked tool in the turkey hunter’s arsenal—to find out which one functioned the best. Let’s face it, that overpriced box of super-charged TSS won’t mean anything if the pellets aren’t patterning appropriately.
Whether you’re shooting the latest and greatest TSS load or an old classic 3-inch with lead #5s, you need those pellets flying in a lethal pattern. For this test, I took seven of the top chokes on the market and put them head-to-head against each other. The test: Three shots through each choke tube with three different loads (one shot from each). The test gun is my tried-and-true 12-gauge Benelli Super Nova that’s been with me across the country on many a turkey hunt. Winchester’s Longbeard XR #5, Federal’s Heavyweight TSS #9 and HEVI-SHOT HEVI-18 Turkey #9 seemed to be appropriate loads to test as they—or similar loads—are commonly used by many turkey hunters. Atop the shotgun sits a Delta Point Pro from Leupold that is sighted-in appropriately. Every shot was taken from a bench using a Caldwell Lead Sled to mitigate human error. My goal was to see which would put the most pellets on a 10×10-inch paper target at 40 yards.
The author used his 12-gauge Benelli Super Nova topped with Leupolds Delta Point Pro red dot to perform this test
First up, the Trulock Pinhoti .650 nonported choke. With the Longbeard XR, the .650 put 123 pellets on target, 189 pellets from the HEVI-18 landed on paper and the Federal load had an astonishing 335 hits. This comes up to a total of 647 pellets. With the Federal TSS, the pattern was very evenly dispersed, whereas the majority of Longbeard XR pattern hugged the right edge of the target, and coincidently the Hevi-Shot did the opposite and had the majority of it’s pattern on the left. This illustrates how important it is to re-sight in your turkey gun when switching between loads.
Next up is the JEBS Head Hunter .660 constriction. This choke put 693 total pellets on paper across the three loads. This choke landed 149, 257 and 287 with the Winchester, Heavyweight TSS and HEVI-SHOT respectively. Though it didn’t come out on top for most pellets, I’ll give it kudos for sending each round downrange with a well-dispersed pattern. I’ve been impressed with JEBS over the years and have killed quite a few birds using their chokes. Advertisement
The Carlson’s Heavyweight TSS .640 constriction was the tightest choke used in this test, but tighter doesn’t mean it’ll always perform the better. As its name implies, it is optimized for the Federal load. With the Longbeard XR it put 122 pellets on paper, though a good portion of the pattern was on the lower right-hand side of the target. The HEVI-18 didn’t perform much better with only 158 pellets recorded and similar pattern density. Regardless of those other two shots, it put a total of 699 pellets on target with an impressive 419 coming from the Heavyweight TSS. The pattern was extremely tight to the center of the target, and I was very impressed with its performance.
Trulock offers multiple constrictions with both ported or nonported options. Naturally, I gave each the opportunity to prove themselves. For the Trulock Pinhoti .660 ported choke, it put 785 pellets on target. The overall patterning was much more even during this round. The Longbeard XR shot 165 pellets, the HEVI put 295 in there and the Federal ended up with 325 pellets. All of these numbers were drastic improvements from the aforementioned Pinhoti choke.
Now we’re getting into the “nitty gritty” and the top three performing chokes of this test. Primos’ TSS Jellyhead put an impressive 810 pellets on paper. Nearly 20 years ago, I bought an original Jellyhead choke, and it always seemed to shoot Longbeard XR like a dream. For this test, it only put 154 pellets out of the Longbeard XR on paper. The HEVI-SHOT had 287 pellets hitting the target. The Federal Heavyweight TSS topped it out with 369 hits downrange. Advertisement
Beating out the Primos choke by a thin margin was the Kicks Gobblin’ Thunder .660 which had 835 pellets connect. The Winchester load produced 184 hits, the Federal landed 250, and the HEVI-18 put 401 pellets on paper. The Longbeard XR did want to hold the right edge of the paper, but overall performed well. I also noticed a bit of a reduction in recoil/muzzle jump when shooting it.
The top spot might surprise you, and to be honest, the overall numbers blew me away as well. The Carlson Longbeard XR was the top performer, beating out the closest competitor by a landslide of nearly 150 pellets. The Longbeard XR put 984 pellets on target at 40 yards. As its name suggest, this choke was built for shooting Winchester’s Longbeard XR and it put 168 pellets on paper with that specific load. But what impressed me most was how well it shot both TSS loads. With the Federal Heavyweight TSS it put 383 pellets on paper, with a good majority being on the right half of it. Finally, the HEVI-18 connected with a crazy number of 433 hits. The Carlson Longbeard XR is the clear-cut winner of this choke tube test.
So, there you have it, seven choke tubes with three shots a piece from different loads, and the results do not lie. I performed this test to find the best plug-and-play choke for the average turkey hunter. Let’s be honest, each of these chokes would easily kill a gobbler standing at 40 yards, but a well-dispersed pattern helps leave room for error. Now, I will recommend that no matter what choke you have, to at least do your own pattern test before going afield. If you do have a red dot on your turkey gun, adjust it accordingly. If you are looking for a new choke tube to help tighten up your shots this coming season, give one of these a try. Each one of these can help make that moment of truth a breeze when you’re staring down the barrel at a strutter this season.
Testing the BEST TURKEY HUNTING Choke and Shell Combo! (Results are surprising!)
FAQ
What choke should I use for turkey hunting?
Most often, turkeys are hunted from around 40-70 yards away, so a full choke or an extra full choke with a tight constriction is effective. For close to mid-ranges at around 35 yards, improved chokes with less constriction can give you great results.
What is the best shotgun load for turkeys?
| Best 12 Gauge Turkey Load | Winchester Long Beard XR 2 oz. #4 Shot |
|---|---|
| Best 20 Gauge Turkey Load | Remington Premier TSS 3” 1-1/2 oz. #7 Shot |
| Best 410 Bore Turkey Load | Federal Heavyweight TSS 3″ 13/16 oz. #9 Tungsten Shot |
| Best 28 Gauge Turkey Load | Hevi-Shot Hevi-18 3” 1-¼ oz #7 Shot |
Is .660 a good turkey choke?
660 constriction. This choke put 693 total pellets on paper across the three loads. This choke landed 149, 257 and 287 with the Winchester, Heavyweight TSS and HEVI-SHOT respectively. Though it didn’t come out on top for most pellets, I’ll give it kudos for sending each round downrange with a well-dispersed pattern.
Is .665 a good turkey choke?
Some Rules of Thumb with Aftermarket Chokes
640 and . 650 work best with small TSS pellets, while larger . 665 and . 660 are better with lead.