Budget Shotgun Shocks Turkey Shoot Pros

Turkey shoots, where competitors fire a single shotgun pellet as close to a hand-drawn "X" as possible, have spawned a niche custom-gunsmithing scene, and American Rifleman's Kelly Young had his well-worn Mossberg 500 reworked by SumToy Customs to see what real money (and know-how) can do for pattern precision.

Key points

• Bore work matters: SumToy tailors the chamber and bore to the specific shell, in this case Federal's #7.5 Top Gun load, using a sleeve to tighten chamber fit and backboring to improve pattern density.
• Chokes fight the "donut of doom": A straight-rifling system slows the wad without robbing the shot's momentum, reducing the center-of-pattern gap that plagues tight constrictions, according to the article.
• Constriction isn't one-size-fits-all: SumToy supplied both .638" and .645" chokes, since the author found the slightly looser option actually produced tighter pellet grouping near the X.
• Optics and trigger tweaks: A bolt-on red-dot mount (topped with a Trijicon RMR) and light trigger work rounded out the build, following realignment of the gun's point of impact.
• Budget-conscious results: The full gunsmithing bill ran about $400, and the author called the tighter choke's pattern density comparable to pricier TSS loads.

Quick take

This isn't a sport most gun owners have heard of, but the tuning principles, bore fit, backboring, choke geometry, and wad control, are a good reminder that shotgun patterning is more engineering than folklore. If you shoot turkey-shoot leagues or just want a tighter pattern on a budget gun, it's worth a read.

Read the full story: americanrifleman.org