Turkey gun build

[Nickburke1]

As a winter project I'm gonna build a stock Mossberg 500 20 ga into a low recoil TSS slinging turkey killer for my girls to use when they're older. I have a local smith/machinist

Plans so far:

Sand it down and sand off checkering
Paint it bottomland

Jebs turkey choke

Drill and tap for Leupold scope

Maybe shorten barrel a few inches depending on what the machinist says

Add sling and high know performance safety switch (easy to feel in high stress situations)

What do yall consider the ideal barrel length on this? Any other ideas or experience would be appreciated, what do you guys think?

[RidgeGhost]

I would strongly recommend a vortex viper red dot over the scope. It's almost hard to miss with that red dot on and you aren't dealing with eye relief issues or magnification issues on a moving target.

[Bowmet]

I think I read that it’s hard to get a good consistent pattern with barrels shorter than 24’

[Nickburke1]

I would strongly recommend a vortex viper red dot over the scope. It's almost hard to miss with that red dot on and you aren't dealing with eye relief issues or magnification issues on a moving target.

I may consider that I have a scope and a red dot here at the house, I just figured the lower power scope would be more precise for them as tgey practice with a scoped 22 regularly.

[Nickburke1]

I think I read that it’s hard to get a good consistent pattern with barrels shorter than 24’

Noted. That's something to look into thanks.

[CJM]

Cool! always fun setting up a new turkey gun. A couple suggestions from a guy who has spent way too much time and money doing what you're about to do (at least according to my wife)

First off, TSS is the way to go especially in a 20. I would strongly recommend looking into APEX ammunition, or one of the other small batch manufacturers. You will get much better performance than you will from say Federal.

Chokes, I would also strongly suggest looking into Sumtoy Customs for a choke. Bill is a great guy to work with on that. When I setup my guns, I called him up to order a choke, he asked all kinds of questions about the gun. What shells I am using, barrel length, how dead do you want em etc. Then he spun up a choke for me and mailed it. He said to shoot it and let me know what I thought, if it wasn't what I wanted, he would get another sent out and I could test until I found one I liked. Once I found what I liked, then I paid for it. Not sure of any other manufacturer that would do that. Plus, i wouldn't want the name "Jeb" on my gun LOL.

Sumtoy also does barrel work, they are a top tier operation when it comes to this, and are very reasonably priced. I would also look into lengthening the forcing cone of the barrel. TSS will not compress like lead will, so if you try to choke it too tight, too fast, you will blow the pattern out. Lengthening the forcing cone causes the shot to get tightened more gradually, pattern stays consistent throughout, and you don't have to choke it as tight. You can leave yourself some margin for error on those close in shots (example, my TSS guns throws about a 10 inch pattern at 20 yards, but can still kill very consistently at 70(12 gauge) and 55 (20 gauge).

As far as sights, personal preference. I prefer a red dot zero magnification sight, just easier to get on at weird angles, which always seems to happen.

Anyways, good luck, have fun, and TEST TEST TEST. You will find different TSS load and choke combos can react quite differently as you change variables.

[Nickburke1]

Cool! always fun setting up a new turkey gun. A couple suggestions from a guy who has spent way too much time and money doing what you're about to do (at least according to my wife)

First off, TSS is the way to go especially in a 20. I would strongly recommend looking into APEX ammunition, or one of the other small batch manufacturers. You will get much better performance than you will from say Federal.

Chokes, I would also strongly suggest looking into Sumtoy Customs for a choke. Bill is a great guy to work with on that. When I setup my guns, I called him up to order a choke, he asked all kinds of questions about the gun. What shells I am using, barrel length, how dead do you want em etc. Then he spun up a choke for me and mailed it. He said to shoot it and let me know what I thought, if it wasn't what I wanted, he would get another sent out and I could test until I found one I liked. Once I found what I liked, then I paid for it. Not sure of any other manufacturer that would do that. Plus, i wouldn't want the name "Jeb" on my gun LOL.

Sumtoy also does barrel work, they are a top tier operation when it comes to this, and are very reasonably priced. I would also look into lengthening the forcing cone of the barrel. TSS will not compress like lead will, so if you try to choke it too tight, too fast, you will blow the pattern out. Lengthening the forcing cone causes the shot to get tightened more gradually, pattern stays consistent throughout, and you don't have to choke it as tight. You can leave yourself some margin for error on those close in shots (example, my TSS guns throws about a 10 inch pattern at 20 yards, but can still kill very consistently at 70(12 gauge) and 55 (20 gauge).

As far as sights, personal preference. I prefer a red dot zero magnification sight, just easier to get on at weird angles, which always seems to happen.

Anyways, good luck, have fun, and TEST TEST TEST. You will find different TSS load and choke combos can react quite differently as you change variables.

Thanks some great points to consider there, in general Iv thought TSS would perform better with a little less constriction than lead, overall would you agree with that?

[CJM]

On TSS performing better with less constriction than lead. Yes, that is what I have found. In my 12 gauge turkey gun for example, I use a .670 Sumtoy choke in that gun. Typically in my lead or hevi shot guns I use a .665 and sometimes a bit tighter. I did test a .665 in my TSS 12 gauge, and it blew the pattern out, bad.

I think the typical turkey choke in a 20 is about .565. If I recall correctly, I have a .570 in that one, but dont quote me on that, I don't use that gun very often.

[brancher147]

If it’s anything like my old 500 with a heavy creepy trigger, I would replace or have the trigger worked on. I had a couple misfires on mine also I suspected something with the firing pin. The last misfire cost me $700 for a new gun lol.