Also if you bury the stock in your shoulder tight and squeeze the trigger slowly as 99explorer said its not that bad. If you are that worried about it go to a gun store and purchase a slip on recoil pad. It will help a lot. good thing about a slip on recoil pad is you can take it off of your uncles gun and use it when you get one.

Due to an unfortunate series of events I found myself shooting a 10-gauge pump on my first turkey hunt a couple weeks ago. I was scared to death about the recoil (I'm not a large or particularly tough person) but tried to man up and not show it. And when the shot went off I didn't even notice it! I missed the Tom unfortunately but at least I no longer have to be scared of recoil.

Point being...you will not notice the recoil during the hunt, I swear.

No pain, no gain. Seriously, if you apply pressure to that trigger slowly enough, the discharge will be a complete surprise, and you won't flinch. On the other hand, if you hurry to get the shot off, you are likely to jerk the trigger and miss.

I used to have the same problem with a single shot shotgun of mine. I had a permanent flinch with it. So one day I decided to get rid of it. I set up some targets and just relaxed and let the gun come into me and not worry about pushing into it as I fired. I also maintained an aggressive stance (either standing or sitting) by leaning into the gun. (you can look up aggressive stances on youtube). I used the same technique that law enforcement and millitary personnel use for quick, recoil reduced follow up shots. I hope this helped, people may disagree but thats what I did and it works perfect for me!

i shoot 3 inch turkey shells they work just fine you dont need the biggest and the baddest shell to kill a turkey hell i shot 1 with a 20 gauge 6 shot dropped him stone cold . but normally when you hunt you dont feel the recoil just concentrate the shot slowly squeeze the trigger and you should have a dead thunder chicken laying on the ground

Having you "young guns" shoot 10 bores and 3 1/2" ammo is quite unfortunate, and I think, pretty insensitive of their mentors.
I have only been turkey hunting since '02. The spring of '09 is the "only" season I haven't killed a bird.
I only use one shotgun load to shoot turkeys.
Winchester Super "X" High Brass 2.75" ammo with No. 7.5 shot. Not that I'm a "good" shot, but I've only lost(missed?) one bird.
Two and three-quarter ammo is sufficient for turkey.

Bubba

If you are worried, I would suggest using 2 1/2 inch loads. I would be very concerned about you flinching during the shot and missing the head of the turkey. You are shooting at a small target there. A miss with any load results in a flying turkey. Hit one with a good 2 1/2 inch load and it will most likely be dead on the spot... if not, you still have another round to chamber and finish it off. I think it is funny that we shot turkeys with 2 1/2 inch shells for decades never fearing the result... now everyone feels that a turkey demands a howitzer or there is no hope.

From what I have seen, most guys shoot turkeys while sitting on their butt. I would think that one shot with a 3 1/2" bazooka would leave a seated hunter staring at the sun through his ankles.

Ouch. 1 7/8 oz lead is going to kick heartily. Way back when I was a young fella I could buy Canadian loads at Coast to Coast that were 2 oz #2 shot at 4 drams powder. Those should not have been legal. Broke a fine marble burl walnut butt stock using them.

3 1/2" loads for turkey is definitely overkill. Those shells were designed for hunting geese with steel. You can hunt turkeys with lead (for a little while longer anyway). I think 3" is more than enough. You're liable to be wearing fairly light clothing hunting the toms and those big bruiser shells can really hurt you. Make absolutely sure you have the gun seated properly in your shoulder. A couple of times my heavy 3" magnum slipped into the crotch between my bicep and deltoid muscles. Dang near broke my arm even with heavy clothing. Would not surprise me if 3 1/2" mags could accomplish the job.

Honker took the words right out of my mouth. If you can afford to buy a box of your own ammo, your apprehension about recoil can be eliminated.