Remingtoon 870 express

[ga284]

I am new to turkey hunting just getting started. Does anyone out there hunt with the 870 express using the full choke tube that comes with the gun from the factory?I guess what I'm asking is will the gun pattern good enough with that tube?If so what shells would you recommend?
Thanks

[Crappiepro]

You'll need to pattern or shoot the gun first, to see how good the pattern is. Try different yardages 20, 25, 30 to see how many shot or holes you will get in the paper. You also might get a couple different brands of shells of different shot sizes to see if any of those make a tighter group. That's the basic idea to get as many shot in the space of a 30" circle as you can. Try to stay with in 30yrds. You just have to find a shell that will do best with that gun and choke.  I dont know if that's explained with enough info but theres alot of guys on here that you can trust what they say! Lots of good info here on the forum

[Crappiepro]

I forgot to say "Welcome to the forum" This is one of the best forums around! Good Luck, Crappiepro

[Holston]

I'm new here, and fairly inexperienced with shotguns as well.

I'm sure others will be much more help to ya, but I'm about to buy a new turkey gun as well.

Judging from my experience with rifles, I'd be willing to bet that most shotguns will behave differently will different loads/chokes.   I'd say the difference will be much less than the variations between rifled barrels though.

I know that when I do purchase mine, I'll be giving it a shot with the stock chokes before I buy an aftermarket one.

Good luck.

[Gobble!]

If you have enough cash I would get a after market choke.
You can get a Primos JellyHead for around $35.
If you can find it .660 constriction would be better then .665.
Now the key ingredient: shells
3" 2oz #7 Hevi 13 would be the shot I would recommend to you.
If that's too pricey the Winchester High Velocity turkey loads are good lead shells.

[allaboutshooting]

First of all welcome to OG. I know you'll enjoy it here and get lots of good advice from many hunters and shooters. Many people have a favorite choke tube or shotshell that has worked well for them. The good news is that most chokes will work and allow you to cleanly kill a turkey, as long as you do your part at the range, patterning it and learning just how effective it is at different ranges. Then you can decide when you can ethically take a shot.

I would recommend that you thoroughly clean, "deep clean" your barrel. That will allow you to get a good start on your patterning process.

As has already been pointed out, you'll likely do much better with an aftermarket turkey choke than you will with your full choke but many turkeys have been killed over the years with full choked guns. Hunters just knew from experience how far they could shoot and consistently kill a bird. You can do the same thing today but you just won't get the high numbers in 10" at 40 yards that many folks report.

The most consistent shells on the market today, in my experience, are the 3" Hevi-13 "Bronze" shells with either #6 or #7 shot. They'll make any gun and choke look good, they just do better through an extended turkey choke.

Whatever you choose, just enjoy the whole process. Patterning and trying your gun with different combinations are all a part of the experience.

Thanks,
Clark

[hunterbsb74]

Hello.  I'm glad I came across this post, as I am looking for similar information.  I too recently purchased a Remington 870 Express Super Mag and have used it a couple times duck hunting and want to start thinking about setting up for turkey hunting in the spring.  My question too was what aftermarket turkey choke and shell combination to start patterning with.  It looks like a Primos Jellyhead and Hevi 13 3" 2 oz #7 may be a good start.  Can someone please explain the difference between .660 and .665 constriction in a choke tube?  Also any other suggestions on choke and or shell combo I may want to look into would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[SumToy]

That is the exit diameter (I.D.) of the choke.    That gun will work good with the HV-13 6 or 7.   It will also work good with the Winchester Ex-Rang 6's.   Chokes you look into a few that are doing ok.  Just dig back in the post to see what ones it is.   

[hunterbsb74]

Ok, so is my understanding correct that a .660 choke tube will have a slightly smaller exit diameter than a .665 choke tube and therefor should theoretically cause the patten to stay tight longer?

[West Augusta]

I put a 24" barrel and a .665 jellyhead on my 870 Express Super Mag.
I get good numbers at 40 with Hevi 13 Mag Blends.

[allaboutshooting]

Hello.  I'm glad I came across this post, as I am looking for similar information.  I too recently purchased a Remington 870 Express Super Mag and have used it a couple times duck hunting and want to start thinking about setting up for turkey hunting in the spring.  My question too was what aftermarket turkey choke and shell combination to start patterning with.  It looks like a Primos Jellyhead and Hevi 13 3" 2 oz #7 may be a good start.  Can someone please explain the difference between .660 and .665 constriction in a choke tube?  Also any other suggestions on choke and or shell combo I may want to look into would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The exit diameter is expressed in parts of an inch, so it's properly expressed as .660" or .665". The exit diameter is equal to the parallel section of a conical/parallel choke design.

Think of a choke tube as a funnel with the big end toward the breach of the gun (chamber) and the small end toward the muzzle. The conical portion is the big end of the funnel and the parallel section is the small end of the funnel.

The shot goes in the conical section and comes out the parallel section. It's stabilized in the parallel section.

Different designers do different things in the angles of the conical section, length of the parallel section and exit diameter. They may put lines, grooves, wad stoppers, ports or other "devices" in that section to influence the shot charge in the way they think is best. That's what make it interesting.

If only one way was "best" we'd only have one design. Instead we have a lot of different designs and lots of choices. We spend a lot of time, energy and money to find the one that we think works best in our guns and that's a good and fun thing to do.

I've had great success over the years with several turkey chokes. The ones that I shoot now in 12 gauge through my 870s are the Wright's chokes , the Hevi-13 chokes, Pure Gold, JEB's and the SSX. All work very well. I can't find any shells that are more consistent than the 3" Hevi-13 "Bronze" shells with 2 oz. of #6 or #7 shot. I shoot them in competition and in the turkey woods.

Have fun and enjoy the journey.

Thanks,
Clark

[gob09]

also you can sometimes find a good deal on a choke in the classifieds trust me these guys know what they're talking about
it's a little cheaper than buying a brand new choke and if it doesnt work you can just put it back up
good luck with your guns
i highly reccomend looking at the mossberg 935 there cheaper but awesome guns

[davisd9]

I know a great turkey hunter that has very good results with the .665 Jellyhead and Hevi Shot Mag Blends.  I also use the mag blends but I have a Mossberg 835.

[Gobble!]

Hello.  I'm glad I came across this post, as I am looking for similar information.  I too recently purchased a Remington 870 Express Super Mag and have used it a couple times duck hunting and want to start thinking about setting up for turkey hunting in the spring.  My question too was what aftermarket turkey choke and shell combination to start patterning with.  It looks like a Primos Jellyhead and Hevi 13 3" 2 oz #7 may be a good start.  Can someone please explain the difference between .660 and .665 constriction in a choke tube?  Also any other suggestions on choke and or shell combo I may want to look into would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

When it comes to turkey ammunition I am a big fan of Hevi shot, as are most here.
-Hevi 13 seems to be the most popular. Straight 6s, straight 7s, and magblends are the most popluar loads from hevi-13. If you shoot 3" shells stick with the 2oz loads.
-Nitro Company makes the shells that look best on paper but are more expensive and are not as easy to obtain.
-Winchester Xtended range shells are winchesters hevi shot loads. They would be my third choice.

When it comes to chokes if they can support hevi shot and are paried with some of the shells listed above your going to have a 40 yard turkey gun.
With a 870 here are my top 4 choices: Indian Creek .665, PureGold .670, Rhino .660, Jellyhead .660/.665.
SumToy is a member here who makes chokes and it seems he has a good product as well.

[ChiefBubba]

I use an 870 Super Mag with a 28" barrel. I shoot the factory Full choke that came with the gun using the 3 1/2 Hevi 13 Bronze shell in #4 or 6. The Mag Blend 3 1/2 shell shoot extremely well out of my gun but it's much to hot for me and I react badly to the recoil.  I'm not afraid to admit I'm a wuss when shooting that shell  I've tried countless different chokes but the Factory was still the best for me. Now that's not to say it'll work for everyone and I'm still looking at different chokes to improve my pattern. Hope this help's. Chief.