Gun Review: Sauer’s SL5 Turkey Thumpers

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Mid-April final yr I used to be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with long-time pal Eddie Stevenson earlier than dawn listening to a longbeard hammer the day awake. Earlier than lengthy, the tom was gobbling so near us we might odor his breath. Downside was, the tom was instantly behind us. He skirted to our rear and walked off within the path of an actual hen whereas by no means presenting a shot.

As the primary morning’s hunt wound down, a band of feral hogs moseyed right into a corn feeder about 120 yards distant. All the time keen to assist skinny wild hog populations, I snuck downwind to about 30 yards of the troupe. They lastly noticed me within the open mesquite and started trotting off. The final of the 13 pigs turned and confronted me at 33 paces, so I put the pink dot of the Trijicon MRO on the pig’s cranium and let the brand new Sauer SL5 turkey gun eat. The payload from a Federal 12-gauge TSS discovered its mark proper between the sow’s eyes, and she or he dropped like a rock. Wonderful the facility and penetration of a contemporary turkey load.

If this gun/optic/load mixture was so devastating to a hog’s thick cranium at that distance, I used to be positive that it might deal with a turkey’s more-fragile noggin a bit additional.

SL5 Turkey

J.P. Sauer and Sohn, Germany’s oldest producer of searching firearms, launched their new high-performance SL5 Turkey shotguns final spring. That includes a sturdy Inertia-Pushed System requiring fewer components and minimal cleansing, the smooth-cycling, correct, and dependable SL5 12 gauge is offered in three camo patterns—Mossy Oak Obsession, Mossy Oak Bottomland and Mossy Oak New Bottomland.

Designed for hardcore turkey hunters, these semi-auto 12-gauge shotguns accommodate 2¾- and 3-inch shells and have an 18.5-inch deep-drilled, chrome-lined barrel with stepped rib for exact alignment.

All SL5 Turkey fashions function a black anodized receiver with an outsized prolonged bolt deal with and launch button, detachable Picatinny rail and sturdy camo composite pistol-grip inventory with Cervellati recoil pad and sling attachments. A pink single-bead LPA entrance fiber-optic sight facilitates quick and correct goal acquisition.

Sauer SL5 Turkey in Mossy Oak Bottomland Camo

“We’re excited to companion with Mossy Oak to introduce these new high-performance, camo sample turkey weapons in our SL5 collection,” Jason Evans, CEO, Blaser Group mentioned. “There may be robust demand, and we designed these new shotguns to ship desired options and constant reliability at a really aggressive worth level.”

Made in Italy by Breda, these shotguns are backed by a 10-year manufacturing facility guarantee. The SL5 Turkey shotguns weigh 7 kilos, have a 3+1 capability and are available commonplace with three chokes—a flush Cylinder, an prolonged CRIO Plus Modified choke and a Carlson prolonged turkey choke. The Carlson choke measures .675, which is a contented medium for a turkey choke that will fireplace copper-plated magnum masses or more-dense tungsten masses.

The SL5 Turkey checks a number of essential packing containers for an amazing, devoted gobbler knocker. The 2 most prevalent options—a pistol-grip inventory and optic rail—set this gun other than the gang.

A Blast from the Previous

In mid-2001, I left an 11-year gig with the NWTF, the place I completed up as Editor of Turkey Name Journal, and went to work for Stoeger Publishing. Stoeger was part of the Beretta Holdings conglomerate, housed on the BerettaUSA manufacturing facility in Accokeek, Maryland. I shared workplace area with BenelliUSA.

Throughout my preliminary job interview, the dialog turned to my opinions about the way forward for turkey weapons. My earlier expertise with pistol-grip turkey weapons satisfied me that weapons so geared up could be the subsequent development in turkey weapons. A number of weeks later once I arrived at my new job, my boss had 4 prototype Benelli M1s fitted with pistol-grip shares and ghost ring sights. I quickly thereafter bought an opportunity to purchase a Benelli M1 at a rock-bottom worth that wore a prototype camo, Realtree’s 20/200. I added a black pistol-grip inventory and an 18 ½-inch tactical barrel that accepted choke tubes.

A number of months later, BenelliUSA was the primary firearms producer to supply pistol-grip turkey weapons; the M1 and Tremendous Black Eagle fitted with a “Regular Grip” inventory. The primary weapons offered out rapidly and provide couldn’t sustain with demand for a number of months. The next yr Mossberg, Remington, Franchi and a number of other different corporations provided their very own pistol-grip or thumbhole turkey gun fashions.

The Sauer SL5 Turkey boasts a pistol-grip inventory like these first launched on turkey weapons by Benelli again within the early 2000s. Jay Langston Photograph

It’s fascinating to notice that whereas I labored at Stoeger, at the moment’s Blaser Group CEO, Jason Evans, was the product supervisor for BenelliUSA’s subsidiary Franchi. His workplace was instantly throughout the corridor from my very own.

The opposite prevalent function of the SL5 Turkey is an optics rail. Stick round and I’ll inform you why. (If you would like the long-winded model of this, click on right here.)

Optic Highlight

To outfit the Sauer turkey gun for my Texas hunt, I mounted a Trijicon MRO HD 1×24 red-dot sight. The “MRO” stands for Miniature Rifle Optic, nevertheless it works on shotguns, too.

My regular sight-in course of with a turkey gun is to make use of dove masses fired at a big sheet of paper at 15 yards. The sample is tight sufficient at that quick distance to make sight adjustment simpler. As soon as the purpose of goal and level of impression line up I moved again to 40 yards and once more shoot a dove load to advantageous tune my zero. Lastly, I change to a magnum searching load to confirm zero or make any ultimate changes. With widespread turkey masses promoting for round $10 a shot, this process makes probably the most sense. You don’t get pounded with as a lot magnum recoil, both.

When sighting in a turkey gun, the creator begins with dove masses till he has the sample centered on the goal after which finalizes it with a turkey load. This protects each cash from utilizing costly turkey masses early within the course of, in addition to your shoulder because of much less recoil on the lighter masses. Jay Langston Photograph

MRO Specs

The Trijicon MRO is a sealed, miniature reflex sight with a big aperture and tapered mild path to maximise the viewing space. The MRO permits for higher situational consciousness and sooner goal engagement, particularly from non-standard capturing positions you would possibly encounter whereas turkey searching.

Mix these options with ambidextrous brightness controls, sub-flush adjusters, superior lens coatings and the absolutely sealed, waterproof, hard-anodized solid 7075-T6 housing and you’ve got a military-tough mini-reflex sight.

The MRO HD provides battery longevity, too. Neglect and depart the dot reticle on and the battery will final 2½ years. In the event you depart the advanced reticle (dot in circle), it’ll final 75 days with a steady use setting cranked as much as 5 of 8. The highest-mounted brightness regulate knob is ambidextrous, too. The brightness dial is equally usable by left- or right-handed operators with out having to take away your set off hand.

In the event you’re on the lookout for a top-notch pink dot to your turkey gun, the Trijicon MRO is hard to beat. A parting phrase of recommendation: The MRO I used got here with a full co-witness mount, which put it larger than I like for a turkey gun optic. You would possibly need to go along with a low mount for a extra snug match.

Turkey Time

Three days into the West Texas hunt had a small flock of birds situated in a mesquite-lined creek backside on the base of an enormous cliff. Learning their patterns from a number of earlier hunts, we laid siege that afternoon. After an hour of calling, first one then one other tom answered from about 150 yards distant. Over the subsequent 90 minutes the feathered duo closed the hole to about 100 yards. We saved silent and the toms bought frantic and began double- and triple-gobbling on their very own. I answered with some loud hen yelps and staccato chopping, which broke the stalemate. They have been coming.

In brief order a fan popped into view about 60 yards out, so I despatched just a few extra yelps their means. The pair saved strolling and looking out, gobbling each few steps. After they have been at 30 yards, the most important tom turned to our left and the smaller chicken adopted. I swapped the pink dot to the smaller trailing tom to provide Eddie an opportunity to kill the lead chicken.

The plan virtually labored, however when the trailing chicken was virtually out of sight, I lit the fireplace. The larger tom wasn’t within the clear from Eddie’s angle once I shot, so it spoiled his likelihood. On this case, a chicken within the hand actually was higher than….