Gobbler Nation

I've been shooting TSS for a couple years now, but never through my 870. I'm going to set it up this year. I have had the 870 for years but the only chokes I have for it are a modified and a "ventilator" turkey choke, which I believe is a .655 (obviously too tight), so I'm in the market for a choke. I know several shoot the IC .665. Currently I'm leaning towards a trulock .670. Other suggestions?

Barrel length? TSS load?

26" bbl
3" 2oz 8s. May load up a couple 3.5" 2.5oz loads just for giggles, but will probably be hunting with the 2 oz load.

My 1187 with the same length barrel does well with the 3-2-8 load with a Rem SF HS .675. Those barrels normally do well with any extended choke tube without wad catchers from .675 to .690. The Trulock .670 may do fine. Other choices include Rem XF .687 or a Carlson's in that size range

With longer barrels you can be less aggressive with chokes. Example would be my 870 12ga with 23" barrel works well with JH660 but longer barrels seem to like the 665 instead. The even longer barrels work very well
as full choke barrels. No choke tube older barrels. Now this example is JH chokes and lead or Hevi but works with TSS as well.

The Carlsons did well in my last set up, so I wound up ordering a Carlsons non-ported .675. I'll let you know how it does once I try it out. Thanks for the advice.

Might try a .685 as well.

gophert wrote:Might try a .685 as well.

May be wrong, but I don't think El Diablo can touch that.

Spuriosity wrote:

gophert wrote:Might try a .685 as well.

May be wrong, but I don't think El Diablo can touch that.

Oh dayum. Take that Derrick.

gophert wrote:Might try a .685 as well.

Unreal. If this doesnt work, may have to try one of those.

Hmmm how bout this one I shot yesterday....
M2 12 with 21" barrel .665 IC
413 10" 222 20" 2.75" 8.5's x 9's. Tried a new recipe.

Sorry for the derail SS, but it's just that Gophert... lol

I already got what I was after. Derail away. Although ^^ is (obviously) a great pattern, that 321 of straight 8s is pretty special.

Both are great patterns.

el diablo wrote:Hmmm how bout this one I shot yesterday....
M2 12 with 21" barrel .665 IC
413 10" 222 20" 2.75" 8.5's x 9's. Tried a new recipe.

Sorry for the derail SS, but it's just that Gophert... lol

Nice pattern Derrick, but you know that's cheating - throwing in the pixie dust to get the numbers up.

hookedspur wrote: Both are great patterns.

Get off the dam fence. These men are having a competition. There are no ties.

el diablo wrote:Hmmm how bout this one I shot yesterday....
Tried a new recipe.

I think I would stick with that one. That IC shoots unbelievable in that gun.

With the right load SS, I think anything from .665 to .685 is going to look good.

Oh and by the way, that load above kicks like a mule!!!!!!! Ask Shooter. He was there when I shot it. It about knock me off the bench. Shooter's response: He...He...He....I may need to write that recipe down.

They both look like solid 15" patterns to me, but because of the shot size difference, hard to say who's the winner. I think ya'll are back to a pellet difference.

I had such good luck with my SBE and a PG.670 that I bought another PG.670 for an 870 when I decided to set one up as a backup gun. The result was too tight of a pattern for my taste. The Remington barrel is bigger in diameter than the Benelli, so the same .670 choke was actually more choke in the Remington. I put a scope on it and used it anyway as my rainy day gun, and since I figured I'd be sitting in a blind when using it, I figured I could make the shot ok with the tight pattern. I only shot at one turkey with it and killed him, but loaned it to my son-in-law and he killed his first gobbler with it. He didn't have a decent gun so I gave it to him.

Last year he missed 3 gobblers with it. I insisted he get another choke, and he got some kind of cheap choke in a .690. Its producing much bigger patterns with the tss 2 oz load. I didn't tell him, but I loaded his shells this year so that they should spread a whole lot more. I'm hoping he will connect on one this year.

I think you are gonna get real tight patterns with a .665, but good luck with it!

Hey guys I've heard a lot of guys on here recommend the rem SF turkey choke ... Is it the one that is a .665? How does it compare to the IC .665

The Rem SF is a .687. You can get them for about $20. That is what I'm shooting now. I started with a carlson .675 and it was over-choked. For whatever reason, the IC .665 seem to be the only choke that keeps good TSS pattens when constricting that much. If you're looking for the densest pattern, IC .665 will probably do it. But a more open choke will be plenty tight and give a little more wiggle room for hunting.

Southern Sportsman wrote:The Rem SF is a .687. You can get them for about $20. That is what I'm shooting now. I started with a carlson .675 and it was over-choked. For whatever reason, the IC .665 seem to be the only choke that keeps good TSS pattens when constricting that much. If you're looking for the densest pattern, IC .665 will probably do it. But a more open choke will be plenty tight and give a little more wiggle room for hunting.

The Remington SF is a .665 and XF is
.687. Have you noticed much of a difference between the SF and the IC choke tube as far as pattern density.


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TN Hunter wrote:

Southern Sportsman wrote:The Rem SF is a .687. You can get them for about $20. That is what I'm shooting now. I started with a carlson .675 and it was over-choked. For whatever reason, the IC .665 seem to be the only choke that keeps good TSS pattens when constricting that much. If you're looking for the densest pattern, IC .665 will probably do it. But a more open choke will be plenty tight and give a little more wiggle room for hunting.

The Remington SF is a .665 and XF is
.687. Have you noticed much of a difference between the SF and the IC choke tube as far as pattern density.

Yep, got the SF and XF mixed up. I am shooting the XF. I have not personally shot it with the IC choke. My comment was based on reading/looking at lots of results people have posted here over the years.

Ok. Thanks.


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TN Hunter wrote:

Southern Sportsman wrote:
The Remington SF is a .665 and XF is
.687. Have you noticed much of a difference between the SF and the IC choke tube as far as pattern density.


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^^^^^^This is correct, but Rem also used to make a SF HS tube that was .675. That's what I use and wouldn't want the patterns any tighter.

Spuriosity wrote:

TN Hunter wrote:

Southern Sportsman wrote:
The Remington SF is a .665 and XF is
.687. Have you noticed much of a difference between the SF and the IC choke tube as far as pattern density.


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^^^^^^This is correct, but Rem also used to make a SF HS tube that was .675. That's what I use and wouldn't want the patterns any tighter.

I have tried to find one of those chokes and cannot seem to find one anywhere.


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