My Turkey Gun Setup

The first turkey I ever shot was with a 12 gauge Remington Model 870 Wingmaster. It’s an absolutely beautiful gun but it is not ideal for turkey hunting in a number of ways. First, it has an American walnut stock and the receiver and barrel are a highly-polished blued steel. When you’re turkey hunting, you might find yourself in some questionable weather or terrain, and the highly polished steel will look unnatural to a turkey. Remember they have 3 times better eyesight than us. The second knock against the Wingmaster is the length of the barrel — coming in either 26” or 28”. The barrel also has a bead sight and requires modification if you want to add a scope, something I don’t have the courage to do to such a beautiful gun. Finally, it’s a traditional grip stock. This is not to say you can’t turkey hunt with one, or that it’s not a great gun. I have learned though there are better, and cheaper, solutions available.

My turkey gun of choice is the 12 gauge Remington Model 870 SPS Super Magnum Turkey/Predator. This gun has a remarkable number of positive traits, especially when applied to turkey hunting. The gun comes in full camo, with a 20” barrel, pistol grip stock, an integrated choke, and a TruGlo® red/green selectable illuminated sight. Let’s start with the barrel.

I can’t emphasize enough how much better it is to turkey hunt with a short barrel. You can more easily navigate the gun through brush and it minimizes your overall silhouette. Keep in mind you must turkey hunt with a choke and you have to test the pattern of the choke with the specific ammo you are going to use before you start hunting. The choke that comes with the gun is fine. It adds another inch or so to the length of your gun. I found a more suitable choke for my needs when paired with the type of ammo I like using (HEVI-Shot Hevi-13). Speaking of ammo, the SPS Super Magnum means you can load 2 3/4”, 3”, or 3 1/2” shells. This may not be as important for turkey hunting but my preferred ammo setup is to have a #5 3” shell in the barrel followed by a #4 3 1/2” shell. That way if I miss my first shot and the turkey takes off running, I’ve got a more powerful, further reaching shell up next.

Finally, I want to point out the importance of a pistol grip stock and illuminated sight. The pistol grip is not only more comfortable to grip, it gives you a whole other level of control over your gun. This is important when your target moves and your adrenaline is pumping. I also recommend the illuminated sight over a traditional crosshair scope. Both will work just fine, and it comes down to user preference, but I prefer the illuminated dot scope because you can switch from a red dot to a green dot depending on the time of the day and your surrounding environment. Just remember, you have to change the batteries with this type of scope. You also need to turn it on before your hunt, and off again when you’re done. I learned the hard way to never forget to turn it on before your hunt.

As an added bonus, it also comes with a sling. This is especially useful when you need to carry a decoy or any other supplies out to your hunt.

Final Thoughts

I can’t recommend highly enough picking yourself up a Remington Model 870 SPS Super Magnum Turkey/Predator shotgun. My one knock against it is it an expensive gun (MSRP: $746). If the price is a concern for you, my advice is to at least find a gun with as many of the same features as possible. There are different styles of pistol grips and you can find cheaper guns that come in all black instead of camo. A 3 1/2” shell capacity is also not a priority. You can even save some money going for a smaller gauge shotgun. You should prioritize length and grip. Everything else is secondary.