Shell/choke recommendation

For Mossberg 535. What works good. Would like to keep them all on a pie plate at 50yds.

No problem.....cylinder with slug of your choice

Punt gun

Maybe I was being a bit ambitious. As tight a pattern as I can get at 50yds. I would like to feel confident in making a 50yd shot.

TSS 8s or 9s in any choke you already have

I'd get the longbeard Xr choke and shoot longbeard #5 3 in.

Hand grenade and a slingshot

There are no degrees of dead. There is dead, and there is not dead.
Keeping them all on a pie plate at 50 yards is both over ambitious and unnecessary.
I've killed turkeys at 60 yards, and even greater, with a #5 Winchester XX load.
You need be more concerned about the consistency of the pattern and less about the density.

I Shot 3" Winchester Super X #5's for years in my 535 with a Kicks .660 choke. I killed a pile of birds with that combo. Then I jumped on the Nitro bandwagon and they recommended a Jellyhead .660 so I shot that. After I got over the hype of the 3.5" Nitro's I went back to the Super X #5's but stayed with the Jellyhead. Along came the Longbeard's and the 3"#6's had an unbelievable pattern in my gun with the Jellyhead .660 so I shot those for a couple years. Couple of years back last I had life altering moment and a friend let me try some TSS.

So to answer your question I would recommend a Jellyhead .660 and a 2oz load of #9 TSS. I guarantee you its good to 70 yards if you wanna shoot one that far. It will shoot nearly as good with the XX Full Turkey choke that comes with the 535 which is a .670 choke.

Yep.

I think you are still asking for 2 different things - the tightest pattern possible is not gonna give me the most confidence. In fact, such a pattern would have the opposite effect on me and force me to wait until everything was perfect before pulling the trigger, and some turkeys I would have killed will get to walk away.

What I want is the widest pattern possible at 50 yards that is still dense enough to kill the turkey every time. 50 yards is as far as I want to shoot one, so that's a good yardage to work with. With most any TSS load in a decent gun, it's easy to get a 50 yd kill pattern. The kill pattern on the gun I use now averages about 20" wide at 50, and is about 16" wide at 40. It starts to thin out beyond 50, but I'm not gonna shoot one that far so it doesn't matter. I want room for aiming error, so with a 20" wide kill pattern I can be 10" off in my aim and still kill the turkey.

Up/down aiming error can be managed by aiming halfway up the neck. It is 16" from the top of a gobbler's head to the base of his neck. Aim halfway up it and I can be 8-10" off and still get the turkey. I try to go ahead and shoot the turkey once he I think he is around 40 yards away. I don't really want him any closer. To me, the turkeys posture and mine are far more important than distance to get a clean kill. I want the turkey standing tall with his neck straight. I want to be sitting down with my left hand on my knee and the forend of the gun resting steady in it. With room for 8" of aiming error in any direction, there isn't much reason to miss, and I don't remember ever missing one in that situation.

More information than you asked for, but I think you asked the wrong question.

The shells you shoot are miles more important than the gun or choke. Get some high density shells and you will soon develop confidence in your equipment, and the shot becomes anticlimactic to the hunt.

More information is great. Appreciate your help. I missed 2 birds last season, I said that wasnt going to happen again. I mostly hunt out of a blind because im not comfortably trying to call one in and I have a place they come through every day. I shot at one from 50yds that I probably should have waited on. Live and learn. I bought a 835( guy at birmingham pistol told me it was a 535) ordered a kicks .660 gobblin thunder. Had to send the choke back to exchange for a 835 choke. Now I have a descent gun that should do a good job with the right shell. Im going to set my blind up a little different this spring putting me a few yards closer. Well see what goes wrong next. I figure that second bird I shot at last year died, just not right there. I had planned on killing one turkey, so I called that one it. My goal here is to kill what I shoot at and learn a little here and there. Mostly just dont want to leave dead birds scattered all over the woods for coyotes to eat. I dont like that. Again thanks for the replies.