Over Under for turkeys???


woodshed

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I have a friend I'm helping obtain this crazy obsession for hunting.

Today he asked me a good question. He lives in Arizona with great qual and dove hunts. He's leaning towards an over under Ruger black and stainless for 1200.00:eek:.

For turkey, don't double barrels have a pretty short length since they don't have a large receivers? With a good choke and a short gun, why wouldn't this be a good gun for turkeys?

What are your opinions. I didn't know of anybody who does this and have no good answer.

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I'd stay away from the stainless, go with a blued model. I like the over and under for turkeys, I put a turkey choke in the top barrel and a modified choke in the bottom barrel. If a bird works in to close, I switch to the mod. choke and let him have it. If he hangs up at over 30 yards I have the XXX turkey choke in the top for longer ranges.

Good Luck

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I use an over/under Beretta Silver Pigeon in 28ga of all things. Barrell length is not important, the choke, shot size, and knowing your gun's pattern are the key. Most knowlegable shotgunners will tell you that barrell length has no effect on the pattern or range of a shotgun, the only thing that controls that is the choke and shot size, and of course the powder charge. Longer guns simple balance better and allow for greater pointability which helps you shoot better.

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Texasdeerhunter,

I agree 100% with your statements on barrel length. My only reference to barrel length that I like in a turkey gun, is that shorter is more maneuverable in the brush. I agree with pattern and range not being a factor in length. For turkeys, I do like a short barrel, so I recommended that to him. I figure a double barrel prob. has a 28" barrels but with a shorter receiver, it's much of a wash.

The silver barrel he likes alot for some reason. I don't, especially for turkeys obviously. I did tell him he could get some camo neoprene sleeves to slide over the barrels for a day in the turkey woods though.

I really like the ideas you guys came up with the ability of having the different chokes for different range turkey shots. That's a good asset with this kind of setup.

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Rhino,,

that is a big difference! I think I need a new gun now.:D

Double barrel turkey guns!! Why isn't everybody doing it?? They're lighter, so they'll have a significant recoil is the only other thought I could come up with as a negative.

Yea but you can burn more powder with a full magazine on a pump or autoloader. :D

I think I've only used my O/U turkey hunting once or twice over the years and that was before the days of screw in chokes.

Weight wise there appears to only be about 1 lb. of difference between the 870 and my O/U. The new Benelli SBE II that I've ordered (still waiting on it :rolleyes:) is actually lighter than the O/U.

About the only drawback I see is it's easier to balance a single barrel shogun on my knee (using my knee pad) than an O/U. Not sure what the situation would be for attaching a sling on an O/U either. Not sure if you would want to drill and tap (or if you can even do it) an O/U to mount a scope either.

That's about the only differences I can think of other than most O/U are a lot more expensive than the average special purpose turkey guns available today.

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