870 Choke suggestions.

[Turkeytider]

I'm beginning to think that the vast majority of 870s have either .660 or .665 constriction chokes in the barrel.

[Longshanks]

my 870 reguardless of popular opinion has never performed well with a 665 choke. In lead or TSS. I shot a 655 sumtoy with lbxr 6s. and I currently shoot a 660 sumtoy with tss 9s. having shot a vast assortment of chokes and contstrictions including indian creek my best patterns were with slightly tighter than average constrictions. I know many people who have patterned successfully with 665s mine just never would ...even when my gun was bone stock years ago with a full length barrel shooting standard cheap loads even then the 660 jellyhead was the best I could find at the time. so take it for what its worth and see if you can borrow one before you just buy whats suggested because every gun is different.

Just went a round of testing the Remington Super Full .665 in a 27" and 21" 870SM bbls. Not that impressed with anything out of the .665. The Win XX 3/ 1 3/4/ 5's was the only thing that shot well and it basically shot the entire pattern in a 10 @ 30yds with a significant amount of gaps. Splotchy pattern and not sure what would cause that other than it being under choked. Maybe I need to try the 5's in the Ventilator .655.
Ventilator .655 will shoot three different Win 3" 6 lead loads between 140-160.
Extra Full .687 will shoot good hunting patterns with WinLB 6's and TSS 9's.

[dzsmith]

my 870 reguardless of popular opinion has never performed well with a 665 choke. In lead or TSS. I shot a 655 sumtoy with lbxr 6s. and I currently shoot a 660 sumtoy with tss 9s. having shot a vast assortment of chokes and contstrictions including indian creek my best patterns were with slightly tighter than average constrictions. I know many people who have patterned successfully with 665s mine just never would ...even when my gun was bone stock years ago with a full length barrel shooting standard cheap loads even then the 660 jellyhead was the best I could find at the time. so take it for what its worth and see if you can borrow one before you just buy whats suggested because every gun is different.

Just went a round of testing the Remington Super Full .665 in a 27" and 21" 870SM bbls. Not that impressed with anything out of the .665. The Win XX 3/ 1 3/4/ 5's was the only thing that shot well and it basically shot the entire pattern in a 10 @ 30yds with a significant amount of gaps. Splotchy pattern and not sure what would cause that other than it being under choked. Maybe I need to try the 5's in the Ventilator .655.
Ventilator .655 will shoot three different Win 3" 6 lead loads between 140-160.
Extra Full .687 will shoot good hunting patterns with WinLB 6's and TSS 9's.

with double x 6s I could bump 200 at 40 with a jellyhead 660 in my stock 28" barrel. lbxr 6s 230ish. with the sumtoy 655 it went to 260 with lbxr from the stock barrel, and 230 with 21" and I shot that setup with the 21 for years until I started shooting tss. 665 was just never quite tight enough. plenty good to hunt with don't get me wrong...but it wasn't full potential. now my buddy shoots a sbe2 with a 26" barrel and his shoots a jellyhead max 665 and it absolutely screams. back in the day of shooting nitros he put up an impressive 345 in 10 at 40 and that was very very very impressive for its time

[Longshanks]

It's interesting with guns/chokes and turkey hunting.  My Rem870SM shoots 230's at 35yds with a Rem Extra full .687 with the 3" shell and 3.5. Never would have though that it would shoot that well out of that choke. Fed TSS it shoots a ridiculous pattern at 35yds. Didn't count the holes. Believe the set up I need in the turkey woods has a lot to do with how I set up on turkeys. My shots are mainly inside 30yds.
Win LB's are so tight out my Ventilator .655 and Rem Super Full .665 that I wouldn't want to hunt with it.

[N2TRKYS]

Mine has never shot a 3" shell better than a 3.5" shell.  Mine has done very well with RSF, IC, and Jellyhead chokes.  2.5oz loads of TSS is very deadly for a long ways. 

Good luck. 

[gtrjames]

My original turkey gun back in the 90s was an 870 express. I bought a H.S Strut Undertaker and some 2 oz federal # 4 lead. At 35 yds the pattern was excellent. At 40, it was gone. Our shells have for sure come a long way. I currently shoot a Special Purpose 870 and 3 in 2 oz Hevi-13 #6 with the Hevi -13 choke and it is an excellent 40 yard hunting pattern. That's as far as I'll shoot anyway.
I had an identical 870 Special Purpose that didn't shoot nearly as well as the one I'm using even with the same choke and shell combo. Each gun is different.

[Longshanks]

Just found a brand new Hastings .655 non- ported choke for $25.00.  The last of the Mohicans.