Yeah, I missed the and turkey part. At one time you could use a rifle, in Mississippi, to turkey hunt but MDWFP nixed that quite a while ago. And why wouldn't it make sense to hunt turkey with a rifle? I'd be willing to bet that I could put a .17 HMR round through a gobbler's head at 100 yards. Now, it wouldn't be sporting but it would definitely be doable.
I'd rather have to dig out a few small BBs out of a breast than have a bullet tear a hole through it.
Having it sit nice and still would not be easy, but I don't think you could get any cleaner kill than putting a .22 in its head. I don't know what states allow rimfires for turkeys but I'm pretty sure they exist. My family is from Brown County, IL and their groups have easily taken 20-30 deer in a weekend. They are everywhere. Rifles are not legal and the woods are thick so I doubt you'd be shooting past 50 yards, so they have shot piles of them using pump action shotguns with smoothbore barrels and rifled slugs. If you practice, they are perfectly accurate enough. I have a Remington 870 Wingmaster and it works very well for lots of game. A rifled barrel with iron sights isn't cheap and neither are sabot slugs, so you'd have to be serious about deer hunting to make that purchase. Otherwise it'll shoot whatever you feed it all day long. Go practice with a .22 if you can, before you start shooting shotgun slugs. There is no better way to learn how to shoot and the slugs have enough recoil that you would likely develop a flinch when you shoot (jerk the trigger in anticipation of the recoil) and that is no bueno. You could easily buy a used shotgun and new .22 together with a pile of ammo for $800.
Anyone have any experience with the Stoeger Cougar? I've been looking for reviews online and can't find any. http://www.stoegerindustries.com/firearms/stoeger_cougar.php
You might want to poke around and maybe ask a few questions over at thehighroad.org. I remember seeing a few write-ups on the cougar back when I was looking into buying a pistol. From what I recall, people thought highly of them. They're a beretta by a different name, so they've got nice build quality and reliability. For what it's worth, there's a brief review here--go all the way down.
For plinking, I'd say that you'd be fine with the Winchester White Box that you can get at Walmart for cheap. Last time I bought some 9mm from there, I got 100 rounds for about $25. For self defense, I'm a fan of Speer GoldDot in 124 gr. It's a hotter load (+P), but I shoot well with it and my gun cycles it with no problems. As with all SD ammo, it will be more expensive (about $25 for 25 rounds), but you're not target shooting with it either. I bought two boxes of it when I first got my gun and did a number of drills (rapid fire, holding it sideways, upside down, etc.) to try and get the gun to jam and it wouldn't, so it was good enough for me. Every now and then, I'll buy a box and run 25 through just to see if, as the gun has loosened up a bit over time, anything has changed. Still works great.
I'll defintely second Speer Gold Dot. I prefer the heavier 147gr projectiles, but it's pretty much matter of preference. I would, however, say to exercise caution when shooting the Winchester White Box 100round value packs you can buy from Wally World. The last several hundred rounds I've bought and burned of that stuff was wildly inconsistent in two handguns (M&P Pro 9m and Gen IV Glock 17) - I had numerous almost squib loads that wouldn't cycle the action and overcharges.
Does anyone have any experience with Wolf Performance Ammo? <a class="postlink" href="http://www.wolfammo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=13" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.wolfammo.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=13</a> A local store has a sale on 9mm for $8/50. Only thing is, it's steel case, not brass. Luckily, the range I go to allows steel casings so I could save quite a bit of cash.
The only Wolf I shoot is the match .22 ammo... everything else blows. The laquered steel cases don't feed well and you won't get good precision. I think there's some stuff they make in brass cases but I wouldn't trust the quality.
I've shot probably 2,000 rounds of WWB and never had a problem with my FNP. It only takes one to screw things up, though. So I'll keep that in mind.
Historically, Wolf's cheaper rounds have been absolute shit and very acidic. Not a real problem firing it, other than the occasional miss, but be sure to clean everything really well when you're done or it'll chew up your barrel.
I got the picatinny rails attached to the AK stock set I'm working on. I countersunk the rails to fit the 8x32 screw heads level with the base (so they don't interfere with what you're mounting), trimmed the screws to fit the stainless nuts threaded on tight (three per screw), and epoxy bedded them into the lower fore-grip. It's the same stuff I use to bed stocks. These things shouldn't break off anytime soon. I made certain they were aligned and level while the epoxy was curing. I cut some buick holes between the two pieces too. This gun is damn near finished.
You doing this for shits and grins or to fulfill a specific need that cannot be filled by an aftermarket part?
A buddy wanted a walnut stock set for his rifle and he wanted rails on the lower fore-grip. I'm sure some aftermarket part exists but I'll still do anything myself if it's possible. The rails themselves could be totally unnecessary in the whole scheme of the gun, but that's not for me to argue. Besides, after putting as many hours into this gun already... why not a few more?
The rails up the "badass" factor a little too, which doesn't really hurt. It finally looks like a complete rifle now. The wood finish isn't 100% yet so there's some more sanding/filling to do and then the final coats but then it'll be ready to go.
I know there will be a vertical grip put on the lower rail, and otherwise I don't know. Maybe a flashlight? It's not mine... I'm just doing the work. It's for plinking with style so I don't think a ton of shit will be put on them. I figured if I'm doing one, why not three? It's just repeating the same job two more times and helps fill in the big wide flat sides on the fore-grip. I had to make it deep to fit the lugs and remain strong.