Modern Equipment, Or Over the Top?

More than likely you have already commented in your head about the picture below so please spare me the LOLs and let me jump right to the point-meet “FrankenFlex-XR.” Remember when Mossberg released the new rendition of the Model 500-the Flex? Well, I happen to have a few variants in stock along with all of the bells and whistles. And when we finished up testing Winchester’s newest premium turkey load, Long Beard XR, I realized we needed something more capable of firing out to those XRs (extreme ranges).

Now that we have the shotshell availability of harvesting turkeys from afar, why not put a magnified optic on top? Thanks to a Weaver mount I had laying around I was able to affix a KonusPro M-30 atop the Flex. With the added optical weight and need for precision accuracy I felt it was necessary to utilize the Picatinny rail sections available on the tactical forend for a bipod. At the flip and twist of a captured stock retention pin I also fitted a 6-position, adjustable stock-we should have no problem with gun fitment or added control via the pistol grip and not to mention, it now looks a bit cooler.

Since the local turkeys have been giving us a hard time about committing to close ranges, the bi-tone camouflage should help break up our outline and if that doesn’t do the trick, the MOJO Tail Chaser ought to help seal the deal on a 2014 longbeard.

With FrankenFlex-XR all put together and bore-sighted, I need to get down to the range and test my 50+ yard patterns to figure out whether or not I want to use No. 4s or No. 5s in 3 ½” Winchester Long Beard XR.

Not only is April 1 the beginning of this month but also when the above was written. On a serious note, Winchester's Long Beard XR did the job for me on Virginia's spring gobbler opener. My new Knight & Hale pot call, "Scarlet Fever," couldn't have sounded better either; luring a bachelor group of birds to roughly 10 yards.

It's too bad I didn't get to see how the Winchester load performed from afar, but I am sure I will be out again next weekend.