Turkeys, chokes, and drams

[SquirrelNuts]

Currently, my only shot gun is a Mossberg 500 that was a police trade in (18.5" barrel, speed stock, evil black color). I am interested in using it for turkey hunting, but I afraid that it will not work because I cannot use a choke with it as is. Can I add a choke to a Mossberg 500 barrel that is not setup for chokes from the factory? Keep in mind that I am NOT opposed to buying another shotgun as my current is really a scattergun. If I were to buy another shotgun, should I get a pump or semi-auto for Turkey use or does it really matter? I am planning to paint it myself with some OD green spray paint. I did see a really nice 500A (maybe 500AG) for $300 with two barrels at a local shop. It had a gold trigger (ghetto gun) and a smooth bore and slug barrel.

Also, what is a dram? From the best of my research it is 1/8 or 1/16 ounce, depending on who you ask. Assuming it is a unit of weight, why do I see different dram ratings for say 1 3/4 oz shot. And what does max dram mean? I think sometimes it says dram eq.

-SquirrelNuts

 

[Dave McCracken]

Dram Rquivalent, to be more accurate is a leftover from blackpowder days, when hunters loaded their own.A dram is a volume measurement, and the system here was to indicate that shells were loaded with smokeless powder to a velocity similar to that x drams of black would do.

Max dram is meaningless.It means "these are fast and kick a lot".

A much better system would be to just print the velocity of a given load in a 28" barrel on the box. It must be too much like right, since they don't.

Another barrel would be a better deal than another 500, unless you just want another shotgun.

While a smith can thread your barrel for choke tubes, it's close to as expensive as a new barrel.

HTH...

 

[Pheonix]

I bought an 18.5" barrel for my 500 and I aid about $75 for it. If you go to www.mossberg.com they have thier sug.ret. prices on there. Save your money and buy a new barrel!

 

[Poodleshooter]

Get a new sporting barrel new from Cabela's or buy used from www.e-gunparts.com
Cylinder bore will do just fine if you can call turkeys into 15-20yd or so. Outside of that you'll be very frustrated.