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Published Mar 24, 2023 3:45 PM
The 12 gauge is the king of the turkey woods, and possibly at all times can be. But the little .410 bore appears to be gaining extra traction season after season. This is basically due to the recognition of TSS turkey masses, which make the .410 deadlier than ever. But I believe it’s additionally attributable to the truth that there at the moment are some nice weapons being supplied in .410 with 3-inch chambers. These days, one of the best .410 turkey weapons include rails for mounting optics, prolonged turkey chokes, they usually shoot spectacular patterns. Plus, extra states are legalizing .410s for turkey looking (simply be sure that your state is one in every of them earlier than making the sub-gauge leap).
For turkey hunters trying to get in on the .410 motion, I gathered seven of one of the best .410 turkey weapons—together with pumps, semi-autos, and break actions—and shot them face to face.
Pumps
Semi-Autos
Break Actions
How I Tested the Best .410 Turkey Guns
For this evaluate I chosen .410s which might be marketed particularly as turkey looking weapons, but in addition a couple of do-it-all discipline fashions. I inspected every gun for high quality of match and end, plus normal performance. Then I took them to the vary. The patterning customary for turkey weapons is to shoot at 40 yards and measure the variety of pellet strikes inside a circle that has a 10-inch diameter. So, that’s precisely what I did. I patterned every gun with Apex Ninja 3-inch, ⅞ ounce, No. 9.5s and Boss Tom 13/16 ounce No. 9s. For every gun, I shot two patterns per load after which averaged all 4 patterns. For the weapons that got here with a rail I hooked up a purple dot sight earlier than patterning.
I shot from the sitting place over capturing sticks, on a cold March day (temps within the excessive 20s) with mild wind. When the capturing was full, I measured the world with the densest variety of pellet strikes nearest the purpose level, drawing a 10-inch circle round that space. Patterns with 100 or extra pellets contained in the 10-inch circle are wonderful. Patterns with 80 to 90 hits are strong. Patterns with fewer than 80 hits within the circle go away gaps between the pellets, and make wounding a turkey extra doubtless. So, you’d need to shoot at a better distance throughout a hunt with a purpose to tighten up that sample. I additionally took notes on weapons that persistently patterned astray.
What I Look for in a .410 Turkey Gun
I’ve hunted turkeys on personal and public lands everywhere in the continent and often tag 4 to 6 gobblers a season. Through the years, I’ve refined my tastes in turkey weapons. Besides throwing a decent, constant sample, it’s most essential for a turkey gun to deal with and level properly. It needs to be simple to hold by way of the woods and it ought to purpose naturally once you’re sitting along with your again to a tree. You ought to be capable to regular the gun and purpose exactly for longer pictures but in addition be capable to throw the gun up rapidly and fireplace offhand at a longbeard that’s scurrying for canopy. Functionality must be easy and dependable. You ought to be capable to load it at nighttime, quietly, with out problem. You ought to be capable to click on off the protection or cock the hammer with imperceptible motion. A camo end is sweet however not essential, as long as the gun doesn’t shimmer within the solar.
Best .410 Turkey Shotguns: Reviews and Recommendations
Best Overall: Mossberg 500 Turkey
Key Features
- Action: Pump
- Average sample: 127.5
- Best sample: 156 (Apex)
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 24 inches
- Weight: 6.25 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 3 kilos, 6 ounces (measured)
- Length of pull: 13.9 inches
- Choke: X-Full prolonged
- Sights: Fiber optic, optics prepared with Shield RMSc sample
- Price: $644
Pros
- Shot one of the best patterns of the check
- Optics prepared
- Affordable
Cons
- Creepy set off
- Description
There are a couple of good explanation why Mossberg shotguns are a favourite amongst turkey hunters: they’re dependable, inexpensive, they usually throw killer patterns. The .410 Turkey model of the M500 is not any exception. It produced one of the best patterns of the check, placing an unbelievable 156 Apex pellets on track from 40 yards. For reference, that’s a denser sample than 12 gauge shotguns produced with some masses throughout our analysis of the greatest turkey masses. With its prolonged extra-full choke, the Mossberg additionally shot Boss masses properly in addition to a bunch of the opposite greatest .410 turkey masses. It favored all the pieces I fed it.
This is an easy pump shotgun with a couple of good options: Mossy Oak Bottomland end, swivel studs for a sling, and conventional Mossberg tang-mounted security. The coolest characteristic on the brand new model of this gun is a small cutout within the receiver that permits you to mount a purple dot sight with a Shield RMSc footprint on to the gun (no rail wanted). This permits you to preserve the sight low on the gun, which promotes a strong cheek weld and creates a glossy profile for the rig. The Mossberg 940 Pro Turkey provides the identical characteristic and I’ve hunted with it extensively. It’s a easy, ingenious design.
The solely factor I might ding this gun for is its creepy set off. Even on the planet of turkey weapons, the place precision is extra of a luxurious than a requirement, there’s a noticeable quantity of slop on this set off. With that stated, it’s a lightweight set off for a shotgun at 3 kilos, 6 ounces, so so long as you press as an alternative of yankee, you’ll haven’t any drawback killing toms close to and much. Despite the set off, that is arms down one of the best .410 turkey gun I’ve shot.
Read Next: Best .410 Turkey Loads
Best Value: Stevens 301 Turkey
Key Features
- Action: break-action, exterior hammer, single shot
- Average sample: 118.75
- Best sample: 130 (Apex)
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 26 inches
- Weight: 5.1 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 3 kilos, 4 ounces (measured)
- Length of pull: 13.75 inches
- Choke: X-full, prolonged (Winchester sample)
- Sights: Front bead (contains rail for optic, combo choice with purple dot sight included)
- Price: $227
Pros
- Incredibly inexpensive
- Shoots nice patterns
- Comes with a rail or purple dot combo
Cons
- Lesser construct high quality
- Description
The Stevens 301 Turkey simply is likely to be the only best deal in all of turkey looking. For about 200 bucks you get a useful little shotgun that shoots wonderful patterns from a wide range of masses. Cabela’s provides the gun and purple dot combo for $240. So you possibly can realistically have a gun, optic, and a number of other season’s price of TSS ammo for $350. That’s an unbelievable discount.
I undoubtedly recommend mounting a purple dot on the 301. In truth I might improve a budget sight it comes with to a superior purple dot sight for turkey looking (just like the Bushnell RXS). A gun that’s able to top-end efficiency deserves a high quality optic. The lightness of the gun together with its slender profile make aiming at distance a bit tougher. Somewhat surprisingly, the shotgun has a really good set off, which broke at simply over 3 kilos with minimal creep.
This is just not a flowery gun and it doesn’t have pristine match and end. For instance, the lever that opens the motion rattles once you convey the shotgun to your shoulder. All infants are purported to be cute, however the one honest description of this gun is homely. That stated, it capabilities reliably and shoots excellent patterns, and that’s all that we are able to moderately ask of a $200 gun.
With its mild weight, shorter size of pull, and guide security, this is a perfect shotgun for a child to start out turkey looking with. But as a result of it persistently shoots such phenomenal patterns, it’s additionally a professional .410 choice for diehard turkey hunters, no matter their age.
CZ Drake
Key Features
- Action: Break motion, over/beneath
- Average sample: 91 (with modified choke)
- Best sample: 119
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 28 inches
- Weight: 6.7 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 5 kilos, 13 ounces (measured)
- Length of pull: 14.5 inches
- Choke: IC, M (mounted)
- Sights: Ivory bead (not drilled, tapped)
- Price: $849
Pros
- Option to shoot a large or tight sample with barrel selector
Cons
- Not appropriate with an optic
This is one of the best .410 turkey gun that’s not truly a turkey gun. This Turkish-made (Huglu) over/beneath has mounted, improved (backside barrel) and modified (high barrel) chokes. So I used to be slightly inquisitive about how the gun would sample in opposition to designated turkey shotguns with full chokes. Turns out the Drake handed with flying colours.
With its modified choked barrel, the shotgun averaged 91 hits contained in the 10-inch circle at 40 yards. With its improved choked barrel, it averaged 73 hits on track. An over/beneath is helpful for turkey looking as a result of it permits you to choose what sort of sample you need to shoot for a given situation. If a gobbler comes charging in at shut vary, you may shoot him along with your extra open choke and wider sample, which on this case can be the underside barrel with IC choke. The extra open sample will aid you keep away from lacking a close-range fowl with a super-tight unfold. But if a tom hangs up at 40 yards, you should use the barrel selector to swap over to the modified choke, and shoot him with a tighter sample. The barrel selector on the tang security is straightforward to govern. However, you’ll need to memorize which place correlates with which barrel, so that you’re not making an attempt to decipher the dot sample on the selector throughout the warmth of the second. (Think: push to the precise, sample is tight).
If you wished to save cash on ammo, you possibly can load your shut vary barrel with cheaper lead masses and save the TSS in your longer vary barrel. I’m assured this can be a 40-yard turkey slayer with Apex masses. (It put 119 Apex pellets on track with the modified high barrel.)
The Drake is a pleasant and easy discipline gun. The options are primary, together with: tang security, extractors (no ejectors), Turkish walnut inventory with laser checkering, and gloss black chrome end on the barrels and receiver. The gun involves the shoulder properly and factors properly, too. It’d be a enjoyable gun to hold by way of the woods for rabbits, squirrels, and woodcock.
Because it’s not actually a turkey gun, it doesn’t have swivel studs for a sling or a drilled and tapped receiver for an optic. But if you would like an inexpensive, do-it-all .410 to hold with you within the fall and spring, the CZ Drake is a good choice.
Henry Single Shot Shotgun
Key Features
- Action: Break-action, exterior hammer, single shot
- Average sample: 97.75
- Best sample: 115 (Apex)
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 26 inches
- Weight: 6.5 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 2 kilos, 11 ounces (measured)
- Length of pull: 14 inches
- Choke: Full (Invector flush fashion)
- Sights: Brass bead (drilled and tapped receiver)
- Price: $580
Pros
- Well-made
- Excellent set off
Cons
This is one of the best made gun within the check. The metal-to-wood match is tight, the American walnut inventory is good-looking, the set off is crisp and light-weight, the hammer clicks again positively, and the general look of the gun is, properly, traditional. It’s constructed right here at residence, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
The Henry performs nearly as properly because it appears to be like. It shot strong patterns with each masses, one of the best being 115 hits of Apex No. 9.5s. I’m assured this can be a 40-yard gun. The shotgun has no security apart from the hammer, which isn’t a criticism, however it’s one thing to contemplate when you’re looking for a child’s first turkey gun. It comes drilled and tapped for a rail so you may simply mount a purple dot sight for a finer aiming level.
To optimize this shotgun’s sample density, Carlson’s makes an prolonged .410 TSS Turkey choke particularly for this Henry. The choke prices $43, and given the comparatively inexpensive worth of the gun, it’s most likely well worth the funding. The solely factor I can ding the Henry on is that I want it had swivel studs for a sling—turkey hunters typically want two free arms to run calls, carry decoys, or glass with binos.
Browning BPS Field
Key Features
- Action: Pump, backside eject
- Average sample: 117.5
- Best sample: 132 (Apex)
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 26 inches
- Weight: 7.4 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 5 kilos (measured)
- Length of pull: 14.25 inches
- Choke: F, M, IC (Invector flush)
- Sights: Silver bead (not drilled/tapped)
- Price: $880
Pros
- Slick operating pump gun
- Shoots dense patterns
Cons
- Patterned excessive
- Description
Even in .410 bore, the Browning BPS is a hefty gun. At 7 kilos, 7 ounces, this .410 weighs greater than my 12 gauge Benelli SBE3 with a 28-inch barrel. But when you don’t thoughts the load, the BPS continues to be a tremendous alternative. Its bottom-eject motion runs slicker than another pump in the marketplace immediately (at the least in my humble opinion).
With a flush full choke, the BPS shot tight patterns with each masses and recorded the second tightest patterns within the check with Apex (behind solely the Mossberg 500). On the draw back, the gun patterned fairly excessive with nearly one hundred pc of pellets putting above the purpose of purpose. As you may see within the photograph under, the core of the sample was a few foot larger than my aimpoint.
This is comparatively widespread amongst fowl looking weapons (Benellis, for instance, usually sample excessive). But for a turkey looking gun that is problematic, as a result of there’s a great likelihood you’ll shoot proper over the gobbler’s head. This model of the BPS doesn’t come drilled and tapped for a rail. So if I used to be going to make use of this model of the BPS for my turkey gun, I’d spend money on a mount that attaches to the rib and run a purple dot sight to make sure the core of my sample lands on track.
Tristar Viper G2
Key Features
- Action: Semi-auto, gasoline
- Average sample: 87.75
- Best sample: 115 (Apex)
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 2 inches
- Weight: 6 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 4 kilos, 14 ounces (measured)
- Length of pull: 14.25 inches
- Choke: X-full (Beretta/Benelli Mobil system)
- Sight: Fiber optic (rail included)
- Price: $870
Pros
- Has all of the cool options of a tricked-out turkey gun
Cons
- Shot below-average patterns
This is a killer trying Turkish-made gun (Armsan) that comes with all of the options I’d need in a semi-auto turkey gun: rail for an optic, prolonged turkey choke, pistol grip, and artificial camo inventory. I solely want the gun patterned higher. It did properly with Apex masses however didn’t just like the Boss masses. I additionally shot this gun in my evaluate of the greatest .410 turkey ammo and it lagged behind the Stevens and Mossberg when it comes to sample density there as properly.
That stated, when you’re capable of get your arms on Apex or Hevi Shot TSS masses (it favored each) you possibly can actually kill gobblers at 40 yards with this shotgun. The Tristar’s Viper sequence is seeing a brand new G3 line this 12 months, however to date the turkey iterations are nonetheless solely obtainable within the G2 line.
Mossberg SA-410
Key Features
- Action: Semi-auto, gasoline operated
- Average sample: 75.5
- Best sample: 115 (Apex)
- Chamber size: 3 inches
- Barrel size: 26 inches
- Weight: 6 kilos (measured)
- Trigger: 5 kilos, 10 ounces (measured)
- Length of pull: 13.75 inches
- Choke: XX-Full Turkey
- Sights: Fiber optic, ghost ring, drilled/tapped, rail included
- Price: $902
Pros
- Extremely mild recoiling shotgun
Cons
- Below common patterns
- Imported from Turkey
Like the Tristar Viper, Mossberg’s SA-410 is imported from Turkey and made by Armsan. And just like the Mossberg 500, the SA-410 has a candy Bottomland camo end. Unfortunately, the SA didn’t sample practically in addition to the five hundred. The SA did put one nice sample on paper with 115 hits from the Apex load. But total, its common of 75.5 was the bottom of the check. Perhaps the choke this shotgun makes use of, which is totally different from the one on the Mossberg 500 Turkey that patterned so properly, accounts for its degraded efficiency.
On the upside, that is an especially mild recoiling shotgun. Mossberg’s gasoline system appeared to soak up the blast of turkey masses higher than any of the opposite weapons within the check. Relatively talking, .410 turkey weapons are mild recoiling, due to the smaller payloads they shoot, particularly when in comparison with the enamel rattling blast of a 12-gauge 2-ounce load. But for a brand-new shooter or hunter who’s delicate to recoil, it’s secure to say that much less kick is healthier. You’ll be exhausting pressed to discover a softer capturing turkey gun than this one. The ghost ring rear sight hooked up to the rib is a pleasant contact, however the receiver can be drilled and tapped for mounting a purple dot sight.
If you’re decided to shoot a semi-auto sub-gauge for turkeys, it’s price testing Mossberg’s new SA-28 Tactical Turkey (in 28-gauge, after all). It’s additionally a gas-operated gun, and it has a couple of extra options than the .410 model.
FAQs
What’s one of the best youth .410 turkey gun?
If you’re choosing out a turkey gun for a child, I’d go together with the Stevens 301 Turkey. It weighs 5 kilos, has a LOP of 13.75 inches, and is appropriate with a purple dot. If your child is on the small facet, you possibly can additionally go together with Mossberg’s 510 Mini Super Bantam. This is a M500 with a 1-inch inventory spacer so you may regulate LOP from 10.5 inches to 11.5 inches.
What’s one of the best purple dot for a .410 turkey gun?
First it’s best to resolve if you wish to go together with an open emitter or closed emitter. Open emitter sights use a single lens which is protected beneath a hood. Open emitter sights have a smaller profile and weigh much less, however they are typically rather less sturdy. Good choices for turkey looking embrace Swamp Fox Sentinel, Trijicon SRO, and Bushnell RXS 250.
Closed emitter sights use two lenses and are usually designed with a tube-style physique. Closed emitter sights are constructed to be sturdy they usually’re more practical in inclement climate, however they are typically slightly bulkier and sit larger above the gun. Good choices for turkey looking embrace: Leupold Freedom RDS, Trijicon MRO, and Holosun EPS Carry. Check out our evaluate of the greatest purple dots for turkey looking right here.
How far are you able to shoot turkeys with a .410?
Your most vary is the space at which you’ll be able to persistently put 80 to 100 pellets inside a 10-inch circle (and centered on track). The greatest .410 turkey weapons on this evaluate will accomplish this mission at 40 yards when paired with the precise load. With that stated, I don’t advocate capturing turkeys past 40 yards with a .410, even when you’ll be able to get your gun to sample properly past that vary. Is it potential to kill a turkey past 40 yards with a .410? Absolutely. But simply because you are able to do one thing doesn’t imply that it’s best to. With a a lot smaller payload in a .410 turkey shell, you will have a slimmer margin for error than with a 12-gauge turkey load, particularly at longer ranges.
If you select to hunt with a .410, you might be deliberately limiting your vary. Turkey looking at its highest is a close-range sport and devoted .410 shooters know this. If you need to kill turkeys at farther distances, go together with a much bigger gun and heavier payload.
Final Thoughts on the Best .410 Turkey Guns
There’s slightly one thing for everybody on this discipline of .410 turkey weapons. For optimum patterns at 40 yards from a wide range of masses, go together with the Mossberg 500 Turkey. If you need that first turkey gun in your child—or are a sucker for a screaming deal—the Stevens 301 can’t be beat. Traditionalists will love the Henry, CZ, and Browning shotguns. Semi-auto followers will benefit from the tender capturing of the Mossberg SA-410 and Tristar Viper G2. But irrespective of which gun you go together with, be sure that to seek out the optimum TSS load for it and sample your setup earlier than the season. The incontrovertible fact that you need to shoot costly TSS masses (starting from $6 to $10 per shell) is one draw back of selecting the .410 as your turkey gun. But that’s the value you need to pay with a purpose to get optimum efficiency out of this sub-gauge. The little .410-bore could be surprisingly lethal within the turkey woods, however it requires an ideal sample and good capturing.