Mossberg Model 940 Pro Turkey 12-Gauge

The name Mossberg on guns has stood for quality and value for more than a century, and the company has a rich history. Formed in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1919 by Oscar Frederick Mossberg and his sons Iver and Harold, the company is still headquartered in Connecticut but has added a new, ultra-modern facility in Eagle Pass, Texas, where about 90 percent of its guns are now made; some are imported from Turkey, as well. Mossberg is the largest family-owned firearms manufacturer in the United States, and it produces a wide variety of firearms, including bolt-action rifles; a nifty little handgun; and pump-action, semiautomatic, and over-under shotguns. Most are “Ruggedly built” and “proudly American,” as the firm’s mottos attest.

An example of a Mossberg’s durability is a Model 500 ATP-8 pump shotgun I purchased in 1982. I call it my “zero maintenance” gun because all it’s had for the past 40 years is an occasional wipe-down. And it always works, to the detriment of numerous garden- and vineyard-raiding pests and a turkey now and then.

Innovative new Mossberg models pop up with regularity, and one such is the new-for-2022 purpose-built Model 940 Pro Turkey gun. The one I’ve been shooting is an impressive gobbler-getter.

All the versions of the Model 940 are impressive, including the Tactical, the Waterfowl, the Field, the Snow Goose, and the JM Pro. (“JM” are the initials of famed professional shooter Jerry Miculek, who provided input on the details of that version.)

The New Model 940 Turkey

Mossberg says the Model 940 is based on the Model 930 of 2005 but with several embellishments that make it an even better gun. Well, I have a Model 930 Pro Series Sporting 12 gauge, and I must say that it is the best gas-operated shotgun I’ve ever fired. Period. So when Mossberg said that the Model 940 has some “improvements” over the Model 930, I was skeptical.

However, after a thorough evaluation of the new Model 940 Turkey, I must confess that, yes, it is even better, and it has a multitude of specialized features that will make any gobbler hunter swoon. Let me tell you about it.

The most prominent change is the “cutout” for a red-dot optic at the rear of the receiver. It is covered by a fitted, removable plate, and removing the plate reveals a cavity that accepts a red-dot optic with the popular Shield RMSc footprint. This positions the optic right in the shooter’s line of sight as he or she looks down the barrel. It’s as natural as falling off a log.

If you can’t score a red-dot optic with the Shield footprint, there’s yet another neat way to skin this cat. I like positioning the dot sight out on the barrel in front of the receiver, and an outfit called Meadow Creek Mounts (meadowcreekmounts.com) makes an ingenious system that fits on the gun’s ventilated rib. In fact, Meadow Creek says that if the gun has a rib, its mount will fit it. Adapters are available for the popular mounting footprints, including the Shield RMSc. A “rib adapter” goes on the top of the rib, and since rib widths vary, five adapters are included. The neat thing is, none is needed for the Mossberg Model 940’s 3/8-inch-wide rib.

A mounting plate goes over the rib adapter, and a “bottom plate” goes under the rib, and the two parts are screwed together. The red dot then mounts right on the top of the assembly, and after sighting-in, you’re done. This setup places the dot sight perfectly in line with the shooter’s eye.

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Should you want to install a conventional scope, well, the Model 940 Pro’s receiver is drilled and tapped to accept a scope-mount base.

Another impressive new feature on the Model 940 Pro is the improved gas system that lets it run cleaner longer. The key here is a new coating for critical parts. The gas piston, magazine tube, hammer, and sear are coated with nickel-boron that shuns carbon buildup and other fouling produced by gas-operated guns. In addition, there is a 3-inch-long “spacer” over the magazine tube. This part is made of aluminum and is gold colored. It has six grooves (or ridges, if you will) and 18 0.215-inch holes in it. It is designed to prevent carbon buildup and moisture from accumulating on the magazine tube. I’m not exactly sure how this works, but after considerable shooting, I noted that the gun’s magazine tube was pretty much devoid of fouling. In fact, Mossberg suggests the Model 940 is good to go for about 1,500 rounds between cleanings. (Oh, that we could shoot that many rounds at turkeys!)

The Model 940 Pro Turkey gun comes with a 24-inch or an 18.5-inch barrel; my test gun has the longer barrel, and it seems just right to me. The gun balances perfectly and weighs 7 pounds, 6 ounces. The 18.5-inch-barreled model is a quarter-pound lighter. I kinda like to have the muzzle blast as far out in front of me as possible, so I was glad I had the longer-barreled version.

The gun comes with what Mossberg calls an “X-Factor XX-Full Turkey Tube.” It is marked 0.670 on the exterior portion of the tube, so I miked the inside diameter of the tube’s muzzle, and it was very close to the listed diameter (0.668 inch). Also, there are 12 0.155-inch ports in the extended end of the tube. Incidentally, this tube is compatible with other Mossberg Accu-Choke tubes, so if one wanted to do a little bird shooting or whack a few clays in the off-season, appropriate choke constrictions are available. In fact, the Accu-Choke tubes that came with my older Model 930 Pro Sporting fit the new Model 940 Pro perfectly.

Additional nice features of the Model 940 Pro are the oversized operating handle and bolt release—very handy for use with a gloved hand. Here’s a surprise: The trigger pull is pretty darn nice for a shotgun, breaking cleanly at 4 pounds, 12 ounces. It even has an overtravel screw in the back of the trigger guard. This screw on my test gun doesn’t even get close to the back of the trigger when it’s pulled, and there was almost no overtravel, so I left well enough alone.

A sling on a shotgun is about the handiest thing one can add; it’s like having an extra hand when you carry that heavy gobbler and a decoy back to the truck. Conveniently, the Model 940 Pro Turkey gun’s forearm cap has a swivel stud in it and so does the buttstock.

The Mossberg engineers thought of just about everything on this new Model 940 Pro. The gun comes with a sack of shims and plates for fine-tuning stock fit to the shooter. The length of pull (LOP) can be adjusted from 13 to 14.25 inches. The owner’s manual says the gun leaves the factory with the LOP set at 14 inches. The LOP on my gun as tested was 13.75 inches.

A second set of parts is for adjusting the drop at the heel, which can be set from a 0.250-inch drop to a 0.375-inch rise. The gun comes from the factory with no cast to the buttstock, but provided spacers and retention plates can be used to set cast on or cast off, i.e., either to the right or the left.

Smooth Operator

In action, the Model 940 Pro Turkey worked smoothly. I tried the gun with light target loads, 3-inch monster-mashers, and everything in between, and all empties were ejected with alacrity. The light load empties were tossed about 10 to 12 feet to the right, and empties from the 3-inch super-duper turkey loads were launched into the next zip code. Overall, the Model 940 was 100 percent reliable in my tests.

The new, high-tech turkey loads of today are a far cry from what amounted to “heavy pheasant” loads of yesteryear, and the Model 940 Pro’s features take full advantage of them to enhance the gun’s super performance in the field. A “standard” load of two ounces of copper-plated #6 shot is a potent load, all right, but lead pellets run out of gas pretty quickly downrange. Today’s loads with TSS (Tungsten Super Shot) pellets have more energy and penetration at longer ranges and are much more effective. My longest kill with TSS loads is 47 yards, and one “golden BB” shot nailed a fall-season hen with the 3RD Degree load at a lasered 62 yards. A friend of mine has a 14-year-old son who hunts turkeys with a single-shot .410, and he is batting 100 percent on gobblers with the TSS ammo.

To check my gun’s patterning, I shot some 3-inch TSS loads at turkey targets set out at 30, 40, and 50 yards. I installed a Bushnell RXS-250 Reflex sight in the Meadow Creek rib mount and sighted-in a tad high at 20 yards. I also shot a Federal 3D 3-inch TSS load at a turkey target at a “reasonable” range of 40 yards. The photo of this shot tells the tale—any turkey at this distance from the Model 940 Pro Turkey gun is in serious trouble and destined to be the guest of honor at Thanksgiving dinner.

The bottom line is that any turkey at even this extended range simply gets his ticket punched. The trick is, of course, to center these delicious patterns on ol’ long beard’s noggin. That’s where the dot sight pays big dividends.

I chronographed four turkey loads in the Model 940 Pro, and the results are listed in the accompanying chart. These are averages of three rounds. (I know that five rounds are better, and 10 rounds are better yet, but at $10 a shot, a feller’s got to conserve resources.) The Federal Premium 3RD Degree load chronographed 1,193 fps, which is very close to the factory-rated velocity of 1,200 fps. The fastest load was the Remington Premier Magnum Turkey, and its charge of 1¾ ounces of CopperLokt #4s registered a sizzling 1,233 fps.

Considering recoil, a shot here and there at a turkey isn’t like blasting a dozen rounds over a bird dog in a morning, but these loads are powerful, and, well, they do kick. The good new is the Model 940 Pro’s thick recoil pad did a great job of softening felt recoil.

To measure how much recoil was produced by a typical load, I dissected a round of Remington Premier TSS ammo loaded with #7 TSS shot and weighed the shot, buffer, powder charge, and wad. Then I plugged these data and the gun’s weight into a spreadsheet along with the load’s actual velocity to calculate free recoil. The total weight of the shot and buffer was 762.7 grains, or 1.74 ounces. The weight of the shot alone, less buffer, was 718 grains (1.64 ounces). The powder charge weighed 38.7 grains, and the wad contributed 65.3 grains to the ejecta. The listed velocity of the Remington load is 1,200 fps, and the velocity out of the Model 940 Pro’s 24-inch barrel (with a Skeet choke, as recommended for chronographing) was 1,203 fps. This produced 41.9 ft-lbs of free recoil.

Here’s another tidbit. Decades ago, it was determined that a recoil velocity of 16 fps is about the maximum velocity a shooter can tolerate. Significantly, the recoil velocity of the Model 940 Pro Turkey gun with this Remington was 19.1 fps. Of course, it’s the ammunition that produces the recoil, not the gun itself.

Overall, the performance of the Mossberg Model 940 Pro Turkey gun was exceptional. There were no malfunctions of any kind, and the patterns downrange were astounding. The mechanical features of the new shotgun are carefully designed to take full advantage of the new-tech loads. And the ergonomic benefits of the large controls, increased reliability, great trigger, and good balance make the gun a turkey hunter’s delight.

If you go pale at the suggested retail price of $1,154, consider this. This gun should easily last the original purchaser’s lifetime, plus who knows how many future heirs. A good friend of mine had a saying about guns: “If you buy junk, it’s always junk. If you buy quality, it’s always worth money.” I say the real value of this gun lies not in dollars but in the dozens of turkey dinners it will produce for decades to come.

MODEL 940 PRO TURKEY SPECIFICATIONS

• MANUFACTURER: O.F. Mossberg & Sons, mossberg.com
• TYPE: Gas-operated autoloader
• GAUGE: 12
• CARTRIDGE CAPACITY: 4 rounds
• BARREL: 24 in.
• OVERALL LENGTH: 44.25 in.
• WEIGHT, EMPTY: 7.38 lbs.
• STOCK: Synthetic
• LENGTH OF PULL: 13.75 in. (as tested)
• DROP AT HEEL: Adjustable
• DROP AT COMB: Adjustable
• FINISH: Mossy Oak camo
• SIGHTS: Green fiber-optic front
• TRIGGER: 4.75-lb. pull (as tested)
• SAFETY: Two-position
• MSRP: $1,154