turkey hunting barrel.?

[A.Merrill]

    I quit hunting turkeys years ago, but my son talked me into going this season and I realized. how much I missed getting out in the woods in the spring. The smell of the woods in the spring brought back memories of hunt's years ago and when that old tom fired up it brought a smile to my face. He was more interested in the hens he had around him then US but he will be there when the hens lose interest in him.  .                      Anyway, I want to build a flintlock for turkey hunting. What barrel do you guys think would be the best for turkey hunting ?? I was thinking of a Q/R 16.ga 42" with a jug choke but I have never shot one. As for the looks of the gun I would like to make it a smooth rifle. Tell me what you think .   AL                   

[galamb]

Colerain makes a special "turkey choke" barrel that I plan on (one day) turning into a gun for myself.

It only comes in 20 gauge (.615) and it "chokes" down to about .580 - so a pretty tight choke.

A barrel to consider if you can live with a 20 gauge.

[d-a]

I just put together a English fowler with the Colerain TC barrel last week. It's still in the raw, but it patterns well and I have already killed a Turkey with it Saturday at 15 steps.

My only concern with it being a full choked barrel versus a jug choked barrel is when cleaning it. I can only get a 58cal jag down the constriction. If I had to do it again and I likely will, I would go the jug choked route for cleaning and the possibility of shooting PRB's.

The swamped octo to round barrel that you want to use may not be able to be jug choked. I would talk to the person your going to have it choked by and see if they can jug choke it before I bought the barrel.

d-a

[A.Merrill]

Is that a jug choke or a screw in??     AL

[sqrldog]

I highly recommend using all the gun you can shoot. A fine option would be Jim Chamber's New England fowler in ten gauge. This may be too big if you plan on shooting it in matches etc. But for turkey where you only shoot a few times it is a fine fowler. A wild turkey is just too majestic too wound and let escape for the coyotes to eat. Of course the fowler isn't a smooth rifle. Tim

[B.Habermehl]

The colerain super full choke barrel is easily cleaned using a wool shotgun mop and a bucket of water. Leave the breech tang thick so your less likely to bend it wile cleaning. No biggie if you can build the gun you can remove the barrel for cleaning, you no doubt wil have the necessary tools. BJH

[acorn20]

Sent you a PM. 

[Robby]

Al, 16Ga., 44" barrel that I jug choked. It works great, I even shoot trap with it.
Robby

[wattlebuster]

The 16 ga your talking about would be just fine but I have a friend that has the 20 turkey barrel and he likes it just fine too. I have 2 12 ga one colerain and one Caywood and both have been jug choked full by Danny Caywood and they are both great shooters with shot and ball. If you get your bird in to 35 yrds and LESS then any will do the job. I like the 12 ga guns just simply because Im a fan of big shot like #4s and a 12 will throw more than the 16 or 20. Good luck to ya

[smokinbuck]

sorry I can't tell you anything about the barrel as I got it at an estate sale but it is a 12 ga, 36" with a vent rib. I was going to have it jug choked but after putting it on an underhammer action I found that it will hold a 75%-80% pattern at 30 yards. We shoot trap with it but haven't gone after turkey.
Mark

[d-a]

Thanks for the cleaning tip. I made it a hooked breech to assist in cleaning.


Al,

It's not jug choked or screw in choked. It has a .40 constriction for the last 4-5 inches.


d-a

[WKevinD]

I have a 48" Getz .75 that I load with 90Gr. FF and 1.5 oz #4 in a greased penny wrapper (whole mess goes in) with paper wasp nest pcs for over powder and another piece for over shot wad.
Nocks em dead at 30+ yards
Cylinder bore works just fine

[Curt Lyles]

Al   I have a smooth rifle with colerains turkey choke barrel and I really like mine .At 25 yards 2 shots will destroy a 9 in paper plate. It don't take long to find a load that works in it because they will shoot about any combo ive run thru mine.The down side is the restricted choke makes them tricky to clean but you can figure
it out .Curt

[A.Merrill]

    Robby, that's a really nice looking gun. Tell us a little about it and a few more pic.
   Thanks for the replies everybody. I would like to hear a little more about everybody's guns,especially the weight of them.. Thanks again.    AL

[T*O*F]

Al,

Perhaps you are looking for something like this?

http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/Gift.html

It was one of the first Colerain 20ga. turkey barrels.

I think he also has a couple of stories elsewhere on his site about taking a turkey with it, load data, and some other shooting experiences with it.

[WaterFowl]

Years ago  read Bob Spence's article about his turkey rifle...
 took the ball and ran...The same one T.O.F. posted.

Al, In a smooth rifle configuration my vote would be the Colerain turkey choked barrel.
  Called Colerain one day,they happened to be making a run of 1" straight Oct. barrels.
 ordered a 32 and 37 " barrels..These were mounted on a stock T/C rifle.
 sent the flint breach plugs to them and had them fitted.
These barrels hold a tight pattern..so tight I needed to add a rear sight.
 used a pillow ticking patch to use as a wad cup..this reduced the leading-fowling in the bore..
Yes.... anal about cleaning to a fault.
These barrels hold a tight pattern......comfort range to 35 yards. No Kidding!
I consider these barrels specific use...Turkeys only. shot only!.... no roundballs!
Please post when your have you gun complete..Enjoy the ride!

[Bible Totin Gun Slinger]

Al, 16Ga., 44" barrel that I jug choked. It works great, I even shoot trap with it.
Robby

Your possible bag looks just like mine only mine has a longer strap, with a patch knife on it.

[T.O.]

I also have a Colerain 44 inch 16 guage jug choked full. with 70 FF one over powder card and a 90 g measure of #6 shot, two over shot cards its proven itself to 35 yds. I misjudged one and it was more like 39 steps walking away giving a clear shot at head neck spine.  I try to stay at 25 yds and under.

I would have bought the turkey barrel but I thought I wanted the option of shooting round balls.  I have not experimented with that in 3 years but I plan to this spring.  Has anyone had any luck shooting roundballs in this barrel?

[Robby]

Al, I cannot find the other pictures I have on this gun and the camera is out for repair, sorry. It has a hooked breech, Davis Twigg lock, real smooth, Black walnut stock from a slab found in a friends barn. The jug choke is about .030 over bore if I remember correctly, and still throws a round ball consistently and accurately. Getting her ready for turkey season here, next week!!!!
Robby

[Curt Lyles]

  Last Thursday I took a 3 year old tom with my 20 ga turkey choke barreled smooth rifle .I set and called for 2 hrs and had 3 toms answerin me but that's all they would do ,I guess they had some hens with them or maybe im just a losy caller.So I thought might as well go to them and on my way one was foolish enough to stand still a little to long and he ended up in the freezer.I still cant believe it my self but the shot was 56 yards and I stepped it off twice .load was 75 grs 2 ff ,120 grs no 4s shot and it realy made a mess of his neck.
   Im sure most are thinkin I might be streatchin the truth but im not .I called in one for my son the day before and he used a 20 hammer gun on it .S0 we had a good season.Curt

[Robby]

That's an awesome shot!!!!!! I've patterned mine out to 40yds. and its still pretty tight but so far I haven't had to stretch it that far. Congratulations!!!!
Robby

[Vomitus]

A question. Are you restricted to shotguns only to hunt turkeys?

[d-a]

A question. Are you restricted to shotguns only to hunt turkeys?

Depends on your states regulations. In my state you can use any muzzleloader for turkey's including rifles.

d-a

[d-a]

  Last Thursday I took a 3 year old tom with my 20 ga turkey choke barreled smooth rifle .I set and called for 2 hrs and had 3 toms answerin me but that's all they would do ,I guess they had some hens with them or maybe im just a losy caller.So I thought might as well go to them and on my way one was foolish enough to stand still a little to long and he ended up in the freezer.I still cant believe it my self but the shot was 56 yards and I stepped it off twice .load was 75 grs 2 ff ,120 grs no 4s shot and it realy made a mess of his neck.
   Im sure most are thinkin I might be streatchin the truth but im not .I called in one for my son the day before and he used a 20 hammer gun on it .S0 we had a good season.Curt

56 yards is a long ways even with a modern gun. Makes me want to pattern mine farther than 30y just for increased knowledge of my gun.

Your load sounds very similar to my load. Are you using any bone meal as shot filler to keep the shot from deforming?

d-a

[Curt Lyles]

  Yes we have to use smooth bores only.  da I tried corn con meal in my cyc bore guns some years back and it helped a lot ,but I haven't really done much experementin with the turkey choke barreled gun because I was getting good results right away.I am not pushin for long range shootin as I like to stay under 20 yards on Toms but this sure surprised me at 56 yards. Curt