Gun Review - Mossberg Silver Reserve Eventide Turkey O/U
Taken from the now standard brand and designed Silver Reserve, the flagship over/under built and marketed by Mossberg Firearms, this new dedicated turkey shotgun carries some nice features sure to find its place among turkey hunters’ firearms options across the country.
Designed as a fast-handling gunning system when in close quarters, this 20" barreled 37" total length 12-gauge 3.5" chambered turkey-hunting smoothbore is turning more than a few heads. I first spotted the shotgun at the 2024 SHOT Show, and I knew at once that getting a sample of the new over/under into the field was a must-do event.
The new Mossberg Silver Reserve twin-pipe shooter is compact in size, and by way of a composite synthetic stock weighs in at a very nice 6¾ lbs. Often I carry my gear over two miles into the field when getting lined up on a special turkey-hunting hotspot well away from the rest of the world. In this case, the new turkey gun was very much welcomed, as this was no place for a long-barreled wood-stocked howitzer.
When the shotgun arrived for testing, I first measured the exact constriction associated with the heavy-duty and well-made extended choke tubes. Both tubes were marked Turkey, and the constriction based on a .724 bore measurement came out to .064. In choke measurement terms, the tubes were super tight Extra Full. Why were both tubes the same while most over/unders retain a loose and tight choke setup? Because this is a dedicated turkey shotgun and, as such, there is little room for a loose shooting upland flush-to-the-muzzle-style choke. In all cases regardless of which smoothbore model, only extended heavy-duty tubes need apply here.
Due to the ultra-tight choke constriction and knowing these chokes would produce ultra-tight patterns when tested, I elected to install a TruGlo red dot “TV” sight on the shotgun’s rib by way of an Amazon-offered portable Weaver Rail Kit. I knew from some 60 years of shooting patterns that the standard glow sight front bead was not going to get the job done when checking for correctly regulated barrels that is the point at which the barrels align together or crossfire each other.
Also, it was a given the chokes being so tightly constricted would, if workable, produce baseball-size patterns at close range and very tight payload prints well out to 50 or more yards.
In terms of test ammunition used prior to going afield with the new Mossberg gobbler-slayer, the good folks at Backridge Ammunition TN came through with a brand-new load creation consisting of a 12-gauge 3" magnum double-pellet-charged shotshell using #6 hard lead shot at 1½ ounces, coupled with ¼ ounce of #9 pure .18 density tungsten “dust.” This new load was being produced for Migra Ammunition as a load offering for the 2025 turkey season. My job had been previously established to test the new ammo and, as such, what better choice for the job than the stack-barreled Mossberg.
Test shooting was completed at my home range in the South Dakota Black Hills. The day of the test shoot, the weather was perfect. Dead air and a temperature of 70 degrees. Sight adjustment consisted of using budget-based clay target loads in #7½ shot which produced gobbler-killing patterns of 100% inside a 25" circle at 40 yards. I knew I was in for a real pattern-performance ride.
Making a switch to the real deal in the lead/tungsten-based shotshells, I found things got real fast. With the first round downrange at 30 yards, I got a pattern return of almost all of the #9s consisting of a 100-pellet payload count slapping dead center and holding so tight the shot had clustered up, producing 25-caliber holes in the pattern from three shots. The #6 lead shot had filled in all around the tungsten core pattern and, in effect, produced a very nice kill net that, by my observation, would have clearly just about taken the head off a gobbler when hit by the centered full impact of the Migra-based load selected. It was just a solid mass of shot impacting the pattern’s dead-center core. The impact was so dense that making an actual pellet count was impossible with ragged holes of clustered pellets showing up as entry points.
The chokes associated with the new Mossberg stackbarrel also took on a budget target load of Remington #7 steel shot at a single ounce. Once again at 30 yards, I drilled a tight baseball-size hole dead center in the pattern paper. I mean daylight for 4" or more across the target face. Conclusion here? The Mossberg turkey gun as choked by the factory can act as a guillotine inside 30 yards. Also, a dead bird at 40 yards will be the end result based on test samples sent downrange with the new shotgun.
The nice thing about double guns used as turkey guns is the hunter can always switch out one of the super-tight long-range chokes for a closer-range decoys-style Modified choke. Moving to large shot in steel or tungsten can also dictate the need for a change in choke tubes. When getting the gun into the field, I stayed with both barrels, packing the extended and very well-made tight constriction chokes previously reviewed. I was hunting in prairie grass and scattered pines, so the birds were all roosting in deep draws and required calling into the open-grass areas when setting up for a possible shot.
On the first morning of opening day, I carried the Mossberg with a pair of Migra 3" loads packing the 6x9 steel tungsten-blend payload. It was serious business now, and the pattern boards indicated very positive results were clearly possible out to even 50 or 60 yards if required.
Handling the new shotgun made for an easy carry and mounting when in my shooting position as well. The pistol grip area was well-designed using a slight hook shape to the lower end of the pistol grip, making for solid control during aiming and pointing. The stock, even though polymer-based, retained checkering on the grip and forend surfaces. The shotgun retained only a HiViz-style muzzle glow bead sight. The system shot so tightly, producing a real chance of missing a bird inside 40 yards as per the baseball-size slug of shot over the first 30 yards. I was very pleased I had mounted the red dot TruGlo sight which gave me a far more-precise sighting system regarding longer-range shots or even possible point-blank encounters.
With the tang safety system associated with the boxlock action locked and loaded, it was game on with my first soft, almost pre-dawn yelps. Going slow and easy, I got a quick return courtesy of a gobble from a pre-scouted roost several hundred yards beyond my position. Over the next half-hour, the gobbler and I played calling tag back and forth. When he turned on not only a double gobble, but a string of five straight gobbles (being a first ever for this hunter), I was down on the gun with that sliding tang safety moved into its firing position. With the red dot dancing around a bit due to taking a sight hold in the off-hand position, I then went to calling by way of just a couple of very soft yelps.
At the end of about three or so yelps, the gobbler exploded right out of the bright orange rising sun now just cresting the horizon. I was blinded by the bright sunlight in my red dot sight. Even with the bird in full view under normal conditions, I had to hold off hoping he would step to one side or another during his now blinding full-strut gestures. In what seemed like a thousand hours, my bird finally gave way to sliding off just a bit. Now coupled with the sun moving higher and a bit off my line of sight, I positioned the red dot halfway down the bird’s neck, held dead-on at a range of about 46 yards, and then took five pounds off the trigger, thereby lighting up the upper tube on the twin-piped turkey gun. At the shot, the bird just dropped like a wet sack of grain…no flop, no reaction or overreaction to the hit whatsoever.
For some shooters, the recoil from such a lightweight short-pipe gun might be a problem. I once observed a turkey hunter blown clean off a tree log when shooting 3.5" ammunition. In that case, the shooter was 6 feet tall and well over 200 pounds. Recoil from a lightweight gun, even if it is chambered for extra-long and heavyweight shotshells, is something you should consider when choosing loads, especially if you are not over 6 feet and 200 pounds. This Mossberg stackbarrel designed for a turkey-hunting system is so darn well-balanced and solid with the super high-constriction chokes, many loads in a 3" shell can do the job. I found the gun really liked my 2¾", 1-oz. tungsten #9s to the point of placing over 50 hits on a head/neck target at 40 yards almost all the time.
As an additional point of observation, I found due to the design of the receiver and barrel-mounting system, the vent rib when using any add-on sighting system requires the sight be moved well forward of the receiver. If someone built a ventilated rib rail mount that was a cantilever design, I would buy it in a New York minute for this dedicated turkey-busting system.
It is a fact the American sport hunter is getting older. Older hunters like additional sight aids. Take it from me at 83 years young, your aging eyes are not what they once were. A large front sight bead, even like a HiViz on a tack-driving smoothbore, is just not the best when that old gobbler walks into gun range at over 40 yards. The same may be true with this dedicated turkey-shooting system.
Equipped with sling studs, single trigger and extractor-only ejector case extraction, the Mossberg Eventide over/under with its protective camouflage coating is a good-looking and very effective field gunning system if you are searching for a shotgun designed to take on gobblers. With a price in the range of just under $1,000, you’re going to have to go well out of your way to get more gun than this Mossberg Eventide Turkey O/U for your hard-earned dollar. I own several very good turkey shotguns that are camo-coated, short-barreled and retain special sights for the use of super Full-choked tight payload-sending systems. This stackbarrel is about to join the team with turkey feathers and blood baptizing it into field service by this hunter. SS
L.P. Brezny has worked in research and development in the shooting industry for 40 years. He developed and marketed the first sub-sonic shotgun and shotshell — The Hastings Metro Gun™ System (www.metrogun.com or 605-787-6321) — and was the first to measure shotshell pellets in real time at target distances, building ballistic tables demonstrating shotshell load performance and chronographing systems that are still in use today. He also developed the Dead Ringer® high-performance waterfowl/upland choke-tube system. L.P. has been writing for various shooting publications for over 40 years.
Photos courtesy of O.F. Mossberg& Sons
