Arguments over turkey ammo are nothing new. Tom Kelly's 1973 classic, The Tenth Legion, acknowledges the squabbles and in order to avoid arguing when asked what he shot answered: "4's or 6's depending on what was on the hardware store shelf when I bought shells."
Here are three guns that I've used to hunt turkeys. The top, is an Ithaca NID 10 ga. 3.5" chambered made in 1939. It was a run of 877 shotguns mostly made in 10 ga. but with a few 12 ga. magnums as well. Previously shooting an Ithaca M37 chambered for 2.75" 12 ga. which was rechoked by Stan Baker, I bought the NID about 40 years ago from Thad Scott for $800-850. I later sold it to a friend and immediately regretted doing so and tried buying it back. He later relented and 5 years ago I traded him my SBE with a Trijicon reflex. The heaviest load I shot out of it was 2.5 oz. of #3 magnum shot (St. Louie Threes) handloaded as a spreader load which shot 55% in a 30" circle at 40 yards. The left barrel was 95% with large shot at the same distance. It weighs 11 lbs., 1 oz. unloaded. My buddy handloaded up to 3 oz. of #4's for turkeys. The 20 ga. is a Baikal MP18 weighing 5 lbs., 7 oz. rigged and I shoot 1 5/8 of TSS 9's out of it.
Frank's Favorite is the Yildiz .410 weighing 3 lbs., 4 oz. rigged. I shoot 9's or 9.5's out of it. 159 in the 10" circle at 40 yards on which the red dot is centered. Since having the .410 modified by Sumtoy in 2012, he's modified over 200 for folks throughout the country. I've had intervening 12 gauges and 20's since I first bought the 10 ga. but I haven't enjoyed any guns as much as the bottom 2 for the purpose intended. To each his own.
