The best turkey chokes for a first season, and how to match one to your gun

How we picked

We haven't screwed any of these tubes into a barrel or shot a pattern board with them. Every tube here is listed by its maker today, and each was scored on the choke rubric published with our First-Season Score: load compatibility as published 30%, constriction options per gauge 20%, gun thread fit coverage 20%, build and porting 15%, and the patterning guidance the maker publishes 15%. Every figure below comes from a maker page read on 2026-09-22 and links back to it. If you are not yet sure a choke is the upgrade your gun needs, the guns and loads hub lays out what to buy first.

A turkey choke is the cheapest thing you can do to a shotgun that changes what it does. The factory full choke that came in the box was cut for ducks and clays; a turkey tube squeezes the shot column harder so more pellets land in the few square inches that matter. Seven tubes made this list because their makers publish enough to compare: what loads they are rated for, which threads they are cut for, and what comes out the muzzle end. If the choke is one line on a longer shopping list, our first-season gear list puts it in order with everything else you actually need.

The seven tubes, side by side

Every value links to the maker page it came from. A dash means the maker does not publish that figure, and the score treats it as missing rather than assuming the best case.

Why Kick's Gobblin' Thunder wins

It scores 9.3, the highest here, and it wins on the two things a first-season buyer cannot fix later: what the tube is rated to shoot and whether it fits the gun. Kick's states plainly that its Gobblin' Thunder tubes “can be safely used with lead, TSS, or other non-toxic loads,” so the same tube stays useful whether your first box of shells is a lead load or a tungsten one. It is machined from what Kick's calls premium 17-4 PH stainless steel, the ported section is extended, and Kick's says it goes in and out “with your fingers. No special wrench or tool required.”

The fit is the other half. Kick's lists 19 separate 12 ga versions of this tube, from Invector and Invector Plus through Remington, Remington Pro Bore, Mossberg Ultimag, Benelli Crio Plus, Beretta Optima, Retay, CZ, Baikal and Ruger. Within the Invector Plus thread alone you can pick six exit diameters, 0.655 to 0.685 in, which means that once you have shot a pattern board you can step tighter or looser instead of starting over with another brand. Kick's also publishes a choke selector tool and tells buyers to use it to match a size to a gun and a load.

What you give up is paperwork. Kick's publishes no warranty terms at all, and the Invector Plus 12G page is marked “NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES ON THIS ITEM,” so the thread has to be right the first time. If a published lifetime warranty matters more to you than load flexibility, Carlson's and Patternmaster both publish one.

Below the winner the field bunches up. Carlson's TSS Turkey and the Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike both score 7.4, and Carlson's Long Beard is 7.1, a gap too small to decide anything. Pick between them on the load you intend to buy, not on the decimal. That is also the honest reason the Primos Tight Wad sits sixth at 6.2 rather than last in usefulness: it is rated for the loads a lot of first seasons actually start with.

Lead or TSS decides most of this page

Load compatibility is the heaviest metric in our rubric because it is the one mistake that is hard to undo. Makers split into three groups here, and they say so in their own words.

• Rated for both lead and tungsten: Kick's (“lead, TSS, or other non-toxic loads”) and the Primos TSS, which Primos calls “specifically designed for TSS loads” that “will also shoot super tight patterns with HEVI-Shot, Copper Plated and Lead Shot.”
• Built around one named load: Carlson's TSS Turkey is “optimized for Federal Premium Heavyweight TSS Turkey Loads” and other makers' ammunition in “smaller shot size 7-9”; Carlson's Long Beard was “specially designed to produce the best patterns when shooting Winchester's New Long Beard Turkey loads.” Those are two different boxes of shells, and Carlson's sells a different tube for each.
• Lead and lead-like loads only: Indian Creek says the Strike “will accommodate all lead and hybrid heavy loads with shot sizes from #2 through #10,” and tells anyone considering TSS to “check the shell manufacturers' website (i.e. Nitro, Apex, Federal) for their recommendations with our choke tubes.” Primos rates the Tight Wad “for use with HEVI-SHOT and lead shot only.”

Why tungsten changes the tube at all comes down to the metal. Apex Ammunition publishes Tungsten Super Shot at 18.1 g/cc against 11.34 g/cc for lead, and Carlson's says TSS is “56% heavier density than traditional lead shot.” Harder, denser pellets do not deform the way lead does going through a tight tube, so makers pick different internal geometry for them. Our TSS choke picks cover the tubes whose makers rate them for tungsten in 12, 20 and .410, and what size shot to use for turkey works through the shot sizes each load type is sold in.

The thread trap, and how to not fall in it

A choke tube is threaded for a barrel, not for a brand, and the mistakes here are expensive. Three traps catch beginners more than any others, and all three are documented on the makers' own charts.

1. Mossberg is not one thread. Carlson's interchange guide puts the Mossberg 500, 510 Bantam, 535, 590, 930, 940, 1000, 5500, 9200 and Maverick 88 on its Winchester / Browning Invector / Mossberg 500 thread, and puts the 835, 935 and 535 Turkey Thug on a separate, larger Mossberg 835/935 thread. Kick's says the same thing in one line: “Mossberg has multiple thread systems that are not interchangeable.”
2. An 870 is not automatically Rem Choke. Carlson's files the 870, 887, 11-87, 1100 and V3 under Rem Choke, but the 870 Bone Collector, Versa Max, 105CTi and Premier O/U under Remington Pro Bore. The flush factory tube tells you which: Rem Choke is about 2 in long with the threads at the bottom, Pro Bore is about 2 in with the threads at the top.
3. A Winchester pump is usually Invector Plus. Carlson's prints it in capitals on its Winchester / Browning Invector / Mossberg 500 pages: “DOES NOT FIT WINCHESTER SX-2, SX-3, SX-4 or SXP.” Those guns take the Browning Invector Plus tube instead.
4. Benelli runs two threads at once. Carlson's puts the Super Black Eagle 2 and 3, M-2, Vinci and Ethos on Crio Plus, and the Nova, Super Nova, SBE I, M-1 and M-4 on the older Beretta/Benelli Mobil thread — so the pump and the semi-auto on the same gun rack take different tubes.

The safe routine takes five minutes: unscrew the choke that is in your gun, read what is stamped on it, then find your exact model on the maker's own interchange chart before you order. If your gun is one of the common first turkey guns, we have already done the chart-reading for you in the Mossberg 500 choke picks, the Remington 870 choke picks and the Benelli choke picks.

Thread coverage is also why Patternmaster's Code Black Turkey earns a place at 6.0 despite publishing no load rating: it is sold in 12 separate 12 ga thread systems, including the Mossberg 500/535/930 and Remington Pro Bore by name, and Patternmaster backs it with a lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship to the original purchaser. Read that warranty before you shop, though. Patternmaster says it applies only to tubes bought from Patternmaster or an authorized dealer, and warns that some third-party marketplace sellers are not authorized.

What the constriction number actually means

The number on a turkey tube, 0.660 in or 0.665 in, is the exit diameter: how wide the hole is at the muzzle end. It is not the constriction. Carlson's publishes the constriction scale separately, and on it a Full choke is 0.030 in tighter than the bore, Extra Full is 0.040 in, and a turkey tube is 0.045 in or more. The exit diameter only tells you how tight a tube is once you know your barrel's bore, and bores differ: Kick's lists a standard bore of 0.730 in for a Remington 12 ga, 0.743 in for a Browning Invector Plus and 0.775 in for a Mossberg Ultimag.

Trulock, which does not have a tube on this page, states the consequence better than anyone we read: a choke of a given exit diameter “is usually going to give a different pattern when used in guns of different bore diameters.” So a smaller number is not automatically a tighter pattern, and a tighter pattern is not automatically a better one. Carlson's says it about its own load chart: “This chart is to be used as a starting point; there are exceptions for every shotgun and load.”

That is why two tubes here score well on choice of sizes. Kick's offers six exit diameters in the Invector Plus thread, and Indian Creek offers 0.660, 0.665 and 0.670 in across most of its 12 ga models. Carlson's TSS, Carlson's Long Beard, both Primos tubes and Patternmaster each give you exactly one size per thread. That is fine if their size suits your gun, and a dead end if it does not.

The budget pick, and what it costs you

The Primos Tight Wad is the budget-friendly tube here, and Primos positions it that way itself: “Hard on turkey heads not your wallet.” It is CNC milled from chrome alloy steel, hand-tightens by its knurled end with no tools, and Primos rates it for lead, copper-plated lead and HEVI-Shot. Primos publishes it in five 12 ga threads at one size each, from 0.655 in for Beretta/Benelli Mobil to 0.690 in for the Mossberg 835/935.

It scores 6.2 because of what is missing rather than anything wrong: chrome alloy steel instead of stainless, no TSS rating, one exit diameter per thread, a one-year warranty, and no patterning instructions or load chart from Primos beyond the claim that it spreads pellets “into a 30 inch circle at 40 yards.” If your first season will be shot with lead shells out of a gun you are still getting to know, that is an honest place to start, and the money you did not spend on a choke buys three boxes of shells to pattern with.

When the maker will not say what it is rated for

Two tubes on this page publish no lead or TSS rating. Patternmaster says only that the Code Black Turkey is “designed specifically for turkey loads” and is not safe with steel. JEBS, whose Head Hunter we looked at for the gun-specific pages, publishes no load guidance at all. We scored both accordingly rather than assuming they are fine with tungsten, and we would say the same to you: if you plan to shoot TSS, buy a tube whose maker says TSS on its own page.

There is a similar honesty gap on materials. Carlson's, Kick's and Patternmaster all publish 17-4 PH stainless. Indian Creek publishes no material anywhere on its site, though it does publish 30 parallel ports, tool-free installation and a nine-step patterning process, which is more practical help than most. The trade-off between those two brands is the whole subject of Carlson's vs Indian Creek turkey chokes.

Buyer's guide: your first turkey choke

Decide the load first, then the tube

Which shells you will shoot is the decision that eliminates most of this page. Starting with lead or copper-plated lead? Carlson's Long Beard, the Indian Creek Strike and the Primos Tight Wad are all rated for it. Starting with TSS? Carlson's TSS Turkey names the load it was built around. Not sure yet, or likely to shoot both? Kick's and the Primos TSS are the two tubes here whose makers rate them for either. TSS vs lead turkey loads compares what each one gets you.

Read your barrel, not the brand name

Take out the factory choke, read the stamp, and match it on the maker's interchange chart. Mossberg 500 and Mossberg 835 are different threads. An 870 may be Rem Choke or Pro Bore. A Winchester SXP is Browning Invector Plus, not Winchester Invector. Buying the wrong thread is the single most common way to waste money on a choke, and some maker pages, Kick's included, are marked non-returnable.

Buy a size you can move away from

If the maker sells two or three exit diameters for your thread, you have somewhere to go after a bad day at the pattern board. If it sells one, your only next move is a different brand. Kick's and Indian Creek are the two lines here with room to adjust in 12 ga.

Budget the range trip, not just the tube

A choke does nothing until you have shot it with the shells you intend to hunt. The NWTF's guide to evaluating a turkey pattern puts it flatly: “Every time you change your choke tube, shotshell brand, go from led shot to extra dense, or change pellet size or sighting system, the pattern will most certainly change.” Plan on two or three boxes of shells and an afternoon.

Know what a choke cannot fix

A tighter tube does not add range you can use. Missouri's Department of Conservation states the working limit plainly on its turkey equipment page: “Shooting at a turkey at more than 40 yards is not recommended, regardless of which gauge shotgun is used.” Makers publish longer numbers, Patternmaster claims up to 70 yards effective range for the Code Black Turkey, and only your own pattern board can tell you which is true for your gun. How far that really goes is covered in how far you can shoot a turkey.

The first-season mistake: installing it and calling it done

A new choke can move where your gun hits, not just how tight it hits. Indian Creek warns that “it is very likely possible that your new choke tube will change your point of impact.” Install it, pattern it, and if the center of the pattern is not where you aimed, fix the sights before opening morning, not after a miss.