VR-66 for Turkey Hunting?

Buzzballer

Buzzballer

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Hi All,

So I have purchased a TNA VR-66 (Benelli m2 clone) with an 18.6" barrel and adjustable chokes and I am thinking about taking it Turkey hunting for the first time this year. Does anyone have any input if an 18" barrel will pattern ok with Turkey Rounds? I am very new to hunting with a shot gun and I imagine I need a plug to limit the shotgun to 3 rounds. (1 chambered and 2 in the magazine), but does anyone have any tips for hunting with a semi-auto shotgun? I do also have an 870 but I would need to purchase a longer barrel if I was going to use that instead of the VR-66 since it currently sports a 14" barrel.

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks
 
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You should pattern your hunting shotgun just as you would verify zero before hunting with a rifle. Finding out what the gun will do while you're hunting is not ideal for the animals, and far from an ethical approach to hunting...but you're here asking, so it's all good.

You haven't mentioned the choke on the 18 inch barrel. The choke will have more to do with pellet placement than length will...even the 14" 870 would be fine for Turkey so long as it's properly choked, and you know how your shells are likely to print in that gun.

It's all about knowing your gear. Knowing what's likely to happen when you pull the trigger. Knowing your sight picture.
 
You’ll have to pattern with multiple chokes and whatever Turkey loads you intend to use and see what the results are, I don’t find barrel length has all that much of an impact on patterns. Chokes and ammo will affect results more, for example I get similar patterns with a mod choke out of a 12.5” barrel as I do with a mod choke and a 20” barrel and the same ammo.
 
You will be fine with that barrel length. I use 12.5" all the way to 32" for turkeys. Barrel length does not matter it's the ammo and choke that make the difference
 
Your VR-66 came with 5 choke tubes so as others have said get to patterning your turkey loads at 40 yards and figure out which choke is giving you the best pattern with the shells you choose to use and you will be fine. I’ve got a few hundred rounds thru my VR-66 since I got it last month and it’s been quite impressive so far, even used it for a Trap event and it was a blast.
 
Thanks Edgy, I was going to play with the choke tubes and try some patterning. I honestly have been so impressed with the VR-66. After owning a few Turkish shotguns that have had problems cycling light loads the VR seems to eat up everything. The only thing I don’t care for about this shotgun is the cheap stock. Need to find a mesa tactical or m2 stock.

I honestly didn’t realize barrel length had limited effect, I assumed it had more of an impact on velocity resulting in decreased distance. But within 40 yards that seems to be not an issue. As I’m still very green to turkey hunting I was absolutely blown away that turkey rounds are so powerful and can kick hard. I never realized turkeys require cannons to hunt them. Very much looking forward to this learning curve.

Thanks for the input everyone.
 
Buzzballer said:
Thanks Edgy, I was going to play with the choke tubes and try some patterning. I honestly have been so impressed with the VR-66. After owning a few Turkish shotguns that have had problems cycling light loads the VR seems to eat up everything. The only thing I don’t care for about this shotgun is the cheap stock. Need to find a mesa tactical or m2 stock.

I honestly didn’t realize barrel length had limited effect, I assumed it had more of an impact on velocity resulting in decreased distance. But within 40 yards that seems to be not an issue. As I’m still very green to turkey hunting I was absolutely blown away that turkey rounds are so powerful and can kick hard. I never realized turkeys require cannons to hunt them. Very much looking forward to this learning curve.

Thanks for the input everyone.
Click to expand...

Lol...I have a 3.5 inch Mossberg 835 (Turkey/Goose gun), I have no idea why anyone thinks this is the necessary load for Turkey. 2.75 inch work just fine, they're every bit as much dead.
 
I was seeing some 3.5” turkey loads with recoil numbers 4-5x that of .308. Haha it sounds like this really isn’t needed though? Unless they are prehistoric raptor birds, maybe I do need an elephant gun.
 
Magnum loads are not needed. I've killed them cleanly at 35 yards with 3/4oz #6 12ga load in a 2.5" shell.
My main turkey load is just swapping the pellets to #6 copper plated shot in my skeet loads which are 7/8oz loads.
Trap shooters routinely break clays at 30 to 40 yards with a 1oz load. A clay target and a turkeys head are about the same size target so don't let anyone tell you you need a magnum 3.5" load. While I do have a Mossberg 535 ATS done up with an optic and custom made choke and ATI stock just for turkeys I rarely use it with the loads it was intended for. My 7/8oz works just fine in it as well as an old sxs
 
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