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Robbie
April 7, 2023
10
min read

How to Choose a Turkey Choke (Part 2)

If you read last week's article about how to choose a turkey choke and were surprised by the suggestion that you may not even need a new one, you will probably want to keep reading.

With so many choke tubes, How Can YOU Choose?

If you read last week's article about how to choose a turkey choke and were surprised by the  suggestion that you may not even need a new one, you will probably want to keep reading.

By now you've hopefully done quite a bit of your own research, read a ton of articles, and watched even more videos (including ours). Preferably, you've been out on the range and shot some turkey targets, too. After all of that, you may have decided that you need a new turkey choke this year.

What's the next step in buying a choke?

Which Turkey Load Will You Choose?

At this point, you should have a few turkey loads you want to try out. Probably the most important thing here is to understand the makeup of your load. Some choke tubes are actually designed to use only with lead shot, while others are made more specifically for Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) loads, so that's a great place to start.

Like we mentioned last week, keep up the research.

When you search the internet for the best turkey choke, it's easy to find the bigger brand names that have been part of the industry for years.

But what about the smaller manufacturers that also make great choke tubes?

That's where we want to take you this week.

Let's take a look at a few of the specific turkey chokes we've been shooting the past couple of years as well as a couple that are new to us this year.

In no particular order...

HS Strut Undertaker Chokes

HS Strut Undertaker

I couldn't write an article naming specific choke tubes without including the HS Strut Undertaker. When I first started turkey hunting many years ago, this was my first aftermarket choke. At the time, it was only about $20 and turned my Mossberg 835 into a turkey killing machine! I couldn't believe the patterns it was able to produce.

Fast-forward several years and HS Strut is still making this choke tube and, believe it or not, it is still right around $20. They now also make a High Density version that should stand up to Bismuth and TSS loads much better than their lead only tubes.

Adrian and I just bought a couple of the high density version tubes for her 20 gauge and my 12 gauge several years ago, and they easily produce turkey killing patterns year after year.

Trulock Choke Tubes

You guys have seen us shoot Trulock chokes for turkey hunting, waterfowl hunting, and skeet shooting. Trulock has been producing shotgun choke tubes since 1981, and they seem to have gotten really good at it!

Adrian does a lot better job with the details in this video than I can do in writing, so check it out.

Trulock continues to improve their choke tubes each year, and it seems like they are making them for each new shotgun as they hit the market. They've had a choke tube for each purpose and for each gun that we've asked them about.

I would highly recommend calling and talking to them. The folks at Trulock love to talk shotguns and want to help you match up your desired purpose for your gun with one of their choke tubes.

Call them at 1-800-293-9402 for more information and to find the choke tube you want.

Rectifire Chokes

Even though the actual Rectifire Chokes business has only been established since 2017, they have over 69 years of combined experience in making choke tubes. We met Alan Tuten this year at the NWTF Convention in Nashville and have been impressed with his turkey chokes since we started shooting them.

As with any choke tubes, they aren't all made the same. And one of the most impressive things to us about the Rectifire "Spade Series" is that it is made specifically for the most widely found Turkey TSS load around - Federal Heavyweight.

If you have to see it to believe it, watch here to find out our testing results.

Alan would be happy to discuss any of his choke tubes with you and wants to help you find the one that will fit your gun and give you the performance you desire. Per their website, their ultimate goal is to use their business as an opportunity to spread the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Give them a call at 844-285-9819 for more information.

Kicks Gobbling Thunder

Kicks Gobblin' Thunder for CVA Scout

Kicks industries is based in Georgia and combines three generations with over seventy years of precision manufacturing experience to produce their chokes. They have almost any choke combination you could want and make them for most any gun that has interchangeable choke tubes.

And, they make them for all types of activities including, but not limited to: waterfowl hunting, competitive shooting, deer hunting, paper targets, and of course...turkey hunting.

We came to know Kicks when looking for a new choke for the CVA Scout in our most recent patterning videos because they made a turkey choke tube specifically for that CVA Scout.

And based on it's performance, that's what will be screwed into our Scout when we hit the woods this turkey season!

So when you're looking for a new turkey choke tube, pay attention to these pointers:

  1. Call the ammo manufacturers for the loads you're wanting to shoot and ask their choke tube recommendations.
  2. Talk with the choke tube manufacturers to help you find the exact right choke for your load and to make sure it fits the threads for your gun. Most manufacturers will have a list of common guns a specific choke/thread pattern will fit, but not all the guns are actually listed. Talk with them to confirm your selection.
  3. Look at several different choke tube brands including, but not limited to the major brand names. If you have a problem with one of the chokes above, it should be easy to get a person on the phone to help troubleshoot.
  4. Most of all, HAVE FUN! It's easy to get caught up in striving for that absolute "best pattern possible." But that "best pattern" can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
Verdict Ammo, 9 shot, and Trulock Chokes in a Mossberg SA-28 at 40 yards

ALL of the gun, choke, and load combinations we've tested this spring would kill a turkey easily at 20 yards and most all of the combinations would have no difficulty harvesting that same gobbler from 40 yards away.

Have fun and get to shooting!

Pros & Cons

Pros

Lots of different choke tube and gun combinations to choose from

Most choke tube manufacturers will appreciate talking with you about how to get their choke to perform at it's best

Several YouTubers have already performed a lot of the choke tube testing for you

You can obtain the pattern you want with your gun by testing and changing chokes or ammo

Cons

Choke tube testing with TSS shells can get expensive

So many chokes, so little time

Can be a huge rabbit hole if you let it

FAQs

Should I Buy This Thing?

Best of luck this season! Send us a picture and your load combination when you get one!


If you like what we're doing, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel as reviews and testing videos are coming out each week.

Stay tuned for full reviews coming on the CVA Scout 410, Mossberg 500 in 410 caliber, and the Mossberg SA-28 gauge.

As always, please email or comment with any questions you may have also.

Written by
Robbie

Robbie has enjoyed the outdoors since he can remember. His earliest memories include hours upon hours of squirrel hunting and learning how to enjoy all aspects of hunting season in God's wonderful outdoors. Now he is always working hard and testing gear in the field to give you the best review and most thorough information he possibly can.