Howdy
This weekend Turkey season will be in , wanting to use my 87 . But it has the short barrel and open choke . Which means I have to get em close . Who has taken Turkeys with a 87 .
Years ago a well known outdoor writer prophesied that someday the choke of a shotgun would be "built" in to the shotgun shell. He, Jack O'Connor, was exactly right.
Several years ago I guided a spring turkey hunt in which I carried an old Fox "B" in 16 ga. "just in case". I assumed it was choked modified in the left barrel and full in the right, just as most all the old long barreled doubles were. So I grabbed a handful of W-W 1 1/8 oz. of #4's and off we go. As luck would have it I was able to call in a Tom for the fella I was guiding and also for myself. I killed mine clean as a whistle and thought nothing of it.
A couple of years later I was measuring the chokes on a couple of shotguns and measured the old Fox. Much to my surprise, the left barrel was choked IC and the right somewhere around SK. I'd shot that Tom at a pretty fair distance with the right barrel.
The moral of this story is the quality of the shotgun shell used can overcome the degree of the choke. Too, large shot, say from #4 or #5 and up, pattern much more evenly with open chokes.
So load or grab some shells loaded with good, high antimony shot, buffered if possible, and go hunt up a Tom!
CHT