How I Put Together a Budget Turkey Gun in 2025

Budget Turkey Gun

If it feels like hunting is becoming a rich person’s game, you’re not alone in that feeling. I’ve noticed the subtle price creep for years. These days, it feels like every major hunting brand and influencer is pushing high-end premium gear. Admittedly, I’ve been part of that push because I get to test many of these brands. Undoubtedly, people get what they pay for in today’s markets, and many of these high-end options are as good as advertised.

However, I decided to take a slightly different approach this year when I tried turkey hunting for the first time. As a freelance writer, my business has been slow this year, so I wanted to do things cheaply. The only question was, could I assemble an effective turkey gun for only a few hundred dollars?

Selecting a Gun

Fortunately, I already had an appropriate turkey gun in my collection. I have a 20-gauge Mossberg 500C (the C stands for “combo”). This gun is over 20 years old and belonged to my late brother. I haven’t used it much since it became mine. It’s hard to go wrong with a Mossberg 500 in almost any configuration. They’re cheap, versatile, and reliable. This firearm is sold with two barrels: a 26-inch vent rib and a 24-inch rifled barrel for deer hunting with slugs. Several years ago, I put the vent rib on when I went on a pheasant trip to South Dakota. It has a modified choke. If I really wanted to be bare bones, dirt cheap, all it needed was a different choke tube. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

The Mossberg 500 is about $300-$500 depending on the model. If I had needed to purchase a new firearm for this hunt, I would have considered a few budget-friendly options. The Savage Arms Stevens 320 field pump-action shotgun can be found for under $200. If your budget is a little higher, spring for the turkey-specific 320 Turkey Thumbhole stock model, and you’re set to go for under $300.

However, if I only cared about pure gobbler-stopping power, I would probably invest in a Stevens 301 Turkey chambered in a .410 bore. It’s a simple single-shot specially chambered for modern TSS (Tungsten super shot) turkey loads. For $230, it’s a bargain that will be easy to maintain and easy on the shoulder. The only decision is to mount a red dot on the rail or stick with the fiber bead sights.

In short, solid budget options exist for bringing down a turkey.

Choke Tube

Buy on AmazonTurkey choke tubes can get expensive quickly, especially if you buy something for modern TSS loads. Even though brands like Carlson’s or Jeb’s are highly regarded, I didn’t feel like dropping $70-$100 for a choke tube. I found the simple TRUGLO Gobble Stopper at my local sporting goods store for $38.99. It comes with a couple of fiber optic sights, which I never used. Most user reviews on Amazon noted that the sights are garbage anyway. The value is in the choke tube, which perfectly fits my Mossberg 500.

Once I got out on the range, I tested this tube with three different turkey loads, 1 ¼-ounce, No. 6 shot, Winchester Long Beard XR, 1 ¼-ounce, No. 5 shot Winchester Double XX, and 1 ½-ounce, Federal Premium 3rd Degree TSS. I won’t go into all the details of each load, other than to say the TSS was ridiculously expensive at nearly $5 per round. It was the one splurge I allowed in this experiment.

However, all three loads patterned beautifully in my Mossberg utilizing this choke tube. I had lethal patterns at 20 and 30 yards with all three loads. The Double XX and Long Beard XR even had some lethal pellets at 40 yards. Looking back, if I were to do this experiment over again, I might not have bothered with the TSS. Don’t get me wrong, the TSS’s performance was impressive. However, value-wise, I liked the Long Beard XR just as much.

The larger point here is that my cheapskate, $38 choke tube, was more than up for the task, regardless of what I was feeding it.

Red Dot

Buy at AcademyI briefly considered using the stock bead sights on the Mossberg’s barrel for this hunt. They’ve proven more than capable when I’ve used them. However, I decided that if I were to truly make this shotgun into a real turkey gun, it needed a red dot. I wanted something light and a low profile that would be easy to mount. Amazon had a simple and cheap Picatinny-style rail that fit my shotgun perfectly.

Red dots range in price from ridiculously expensive to dirt cheap. I didn’t want to go with the latter option because quality drops off fast under $100. Thus, I set my budget at about $150. If I were to spend money on one thing, it would be the most essential part of the setup.

I decided I’d go with a Redfield optic for this setup based on past positive experiences with the brand. Redfield is an Academy Sports house brand that’s surprisingly affordable for those unfamiliar, yet it does not skimp on quality. More specifically, I chose the Redfield ACE mini red dot. It’s a robust little sight made from machined aluminum with easily adjustable brightness settings. This sight usually sells for $149.99. However, my timing was perfect, as I caught an online store-wide sale that offered 20 percent off on everything. My total with taxes for the sight was $127.19. I also got free shipping because the order was over $100.

With that, I had my full turkey setup. During my range day, I was pleasantly surprised by how accurate the sight was. I only had to adjust it a few clicks to the right and down. It was deadly accurate at 40 yards, so I knew I was finally ready to hunt.

The Hunt

My first turkey hunting season ever only lasted five days. It almost ended on opening day, but I made the mistake of putting out a single hen instead of a hen and a jake decoy. Four days later, I had both decoys out when a Tom and two hens appeared in the field. Given my novice calling skills, I knew the Tom would be too hard to pull from the hens. Thus, I elected to wait for them to notice the decoys. After over two hours of strutting and showing off for the hens, the Tom finally saw my decoy. Fortunately for me, he got greedy for a third hen.

When the Tom finally walked into my shooting lane, it was at the too-close-for-comfort range of six yards. I put the red dot on his wattle and squeezed the trigger. The big Tom dropped on the spot in a blast of feathers. All my preparations with expensive TSS loads turned out to be completely unnecessary. However, I can take this gun into next season knowing that I can comfortably kill a Tom at 40 yards with nearly any load.

Regardless of how it happened, I was thrilled with the success of my first turkey hunt. My Tom weighed 21 pounds and sported a 9.5-inch bear. His spurs were slightly on the short side at 7/8” each. The bird just missed the Commemorative Bucks of Michigan record book minimum score of 12 inches.

Oh, and before anyone asks about it, yes, I wore expensive Kuiu camo on this hunt. I already owned several of their high-end hunting garments before deciding to turkey hunt. My goal for this hunt was to build a shotgun setup on a budget, not the entire turkey setup. Perhaps we can explore a complete hunting setup on a budget if there’s enough interest.

Conclusion

I ultimately spent $175.18 setting up a shotgun I already owned for turkey hunting. Most of that cost went into the scope. Even if I threw in the price of a new budget gun in the $200 range, that’s still under $400 to get started. Budget turkey loads like the Winchester Double X go for under $20 a box for ten rounds.

In truth, the red dot sight was a luxury item on this build. I have zero doubt I would have still killed that turkey at six yards with the gun’s stock bead sights. That puts the total cost for the setup at under $100. The larger point is that it is possible to set up a new gun for hunting on a budget and succeed with it. The next time you think a hunt is out of your budget, think outside the box. You might be surprised at what you can pull off with a bit of research and ingenuity.