Browning Gold Turkey - Brief Article

This specialty shotgun is as rugged and wiley as the birds it hunts.

Imagine laying your gun down in the woods and then having a difficult time seeing it a few minutes later. If it is Browning's new Gold Turkey gun camouflaged in Mossy Oak's Breakup pattern, it can happen. Ah, but when you have it in your hands, keeneyed old Tom can't see it either.

Pursuit of the cagey wild turkey has become the fastest growing segment of the hunting community, and it has become big business. Every year more vendors make more specialized guns, ammunition, camouflage clothing and calls for this intriguing sport.

While it might sound easy to take a turkey with a shotgun, it isn't. State game and fish departments make sure it isn't Through their regulations, states insure that the hunter has to call his turkey to within 30 to 40 yards and take only head and neck shots if he wants to go home with the bird. They accomplish this by severely limiting the size of shot that can be legally used.

No buckshot permitted here! Typically, state hunting regulations require the use of #4 shot or smaller. Considering the neck and head of the turkey is a small target at 40 yards, successful turkey hunting calls for specialized shotguns and specialized ammunition.

Doing The Job

Browning's new 12-gauge Gold Turkey shotgun has been designed from the ground up to do one thing very well - take turkeys. By applying a film of Mossy Oak's Breakup pattern camouflage to the entire gun, Browning has insured that the Gold Turkey is virtually invisible in the typical turkey woods.

The creation and application of Mossy Oak's Breakup pattern to the gun is a story in itself.

Mossy Oak began by inputing 2000 pictures of vegetation and foliage on their computer. As they studied the images, one significant point became clear - there are a lot of dark shadows in any natural landscape. By incorporating shadows in their Breakup, Shadow Grass and other patterns, Mossy Oak has created some of the most successful camouflage designs ever fielded.

From that point, it was a simple task to generate films of the patterns to attach to the exterior of the shotgun. The gun is submerged below and drawn up through the camo film that is floating on a liquid medium. Camouflage finishes for firearms have become so popular that Browning has installed the film application process at its manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. But camouflage is just one aspect of an effective turkey gun.

The Right Size

A fairly short barrel is both handy in the woods and minimizes movement during aiming so the Gold Turkey model sports a 24" barrel.

To achieve the highest density shot pattern at extended ranges using the smaller shot sizes, a full or very full choke, often called a "turkey choke" is needed. If it's ported to reduce recoil, so much the better. Browning's Gold Turkey is fitted with a ported, Invector Plus extra full turkey choke tube.

Turkey hunters are partial to specialized 3" and 31/2" magnum shells, like Winchester's Supreme Turkey loads. In the 12 gauge chambering these shells are capable of delivering between 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 oz. of copper plated buffered shot at maximum velocities.

The Browning Gold Turkey is finished with either a 3" or 3 1/2" chamber. I strongly favor the 3 1/2" chambering because the gun is then capable of feeding and firing 2 3/4", 3" or 3 1/2" shells interchangeably with excellent downrange patterns.

Because the turkey gun is precisely aimed like a rifle and usually used during dim lighting conditions, a set of highly visible, rifle-type sights is an important advantage. Browning has fitted the Gold Turkey with a set of Hi-Viz sights that slip over the ventilated rib and are secured by high-energy neodymium magnets.

The front sight consists of a long, green light-gathering rod while the rear sight is a conventional "V" type sight with two orange light-gathering rods positioned on each side of the aiming notch. The light-gathering rods concentrate even the slightest bit of ambient light and glow brightly in the dark woods.

The contrast of the glowing green bead of the front sight snuggled down between the two glowing orange dots of the rear sight has to be experienced to be believed. This outstanding combination provides a highly visible sight picture that is very quickly acquired.

Setting The Standard

There are several other design features that set the Browning Gold apart from other semi-automatics. The action incorporates the older Auto-5's speed-loading feature. After you've fired your legal limit of three shells and need to reload while keeping your eyes on the game, all you have to do is shove a shell in the magazine and it is automatically fed into the chamber.

The Gold also retains the magazine cut-off of the Auto-5, permitting a hunter to close-off the shells in the magazine, eject the chambered shell, and load a different shell and shot size directly into the chamber. A cut-off is not normally used when turkey hunting but could be a godsend, for example, if a hunter had loaded duck loads and suddenly geese flew into the decoys.

Finally, the Gold Turkey is factory equipped with sling swivels, permitting you to sling your shotgun and use your hands for more important hunting tasks like working your turkey calls.

A Bird (Or Two) In The Hand

While my home state of Arizona holds a population of approximately 20,000 Merriam's turkeys, states like Alabama and Georgia hold over 350,000 eastern turkeys. With its abundance of turkeys and its rich turkey-hunting tradition, the South is the place to be. Opening of the spring season found me in Alabama at the Lee Haven Hunting Club to try my luck with Browning's invisible Gold.

Dressed in Mossy Oak camos that complemented the Browning's Breakup pattern, I carried the Gold loaded with Winchester's new Supreme High Velocity Turkey shell that delivers 2 oz. of copper plated #4, #5 or #6s at 1,275 fps. It's a maximum load that shot beautifully tight patterns in the Browning.

After three days of calling for tom turkey, I finally met him at dusk when he was returning to his roost. A few soft yelps from the Knight & Hale slate call drew him within shotgun range, and the Browning Gold Turkey claimed its first trophy.

Browning catalogs the Gold Turkey model as being suitable for waterfowling as well, and I was curious to see how well it would handle for wingshooting. While the South is famous for its turkeys, it is even more famous for its bobwhite quail.

Having some time on my hands, I screwed an IC tube into the Gold, removed the Hi-Viz sights, grabbed some 1 oz. Winchester field loads, and pursued bobwhites on the nearby Circle M ranch property.

On the Circle M you hunt quail the gentlemanly way, following the dogs and hunt master in a mule-drawn wagon. But quail are still quail. When a covey flushes, the shooting is fast and furious.

A dozen quail later, I could say with some authority that the Gold Turkey model is equally adept as a smooth swinging, upland game gun.

All in all, Browning's new Gold Turkey in Mossy Oak garb is as perfect a turkey gun as one could ask for. It's not a bad quail gun either!

COPYRIGHT 1999 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group