Turkey Hunt – Retay Masai Mara Cerakote Shotgun Review

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Retay recently introduced the Masai Mara Cerakote lineup of hunting shotguns, recognizing the demanding conditions these firearms are subjected to. Constructed with durability in mind, the Masai Mara is specifically engineered to withstand the rigors of harsh and dirty environments, ensuring consistent performance with every shot.

Equipped with Retay’s innovative “Straight Line” Inertial Transfer™ System and the patented “Inertia Plus” bolt combined with the “rollover” Torsion Spring Action™, this shotgun is designed to offer both ruggedness and reliability. Furthermore, its “Dead-Straight” Deep Bore Drilled Barrel™ and the factory lengthened forcing cone™ contribute to dense and accurate shot placement right out of the box, providing hunters with exceptional precision.

Specifications For The Masai Mara

• Caliber: 12 gauge
• Chamber: 2-3/4″ to 3.5″
• Barrel Length: 26-28″
• Rib: Flat Hunting Style 8mm
• Magazine capacity: 4+1 2¾” Shell with Limiter 
• Chokes: Includes 5 MaraPro Chokes C-IC-M-IM-F
• Weight: 7lbs 4oz
• Stock: Molded ABS, Realtree Timber Hydrographic
• Sights: Single Bead TruGlo Fiber optic (Red)
• Finish: Flat Dark Earth Cerakote 
• Minimum Load: (12GA 3.5″)= 3.25 Dram 1-1/8oz, (20GA)= 3 Dram 7/8oz

Variants

Retay offers the Masai Mara shotgun in five different color/Cerakote schemes. Each variant is accompanied by a choice of a 26″ or 28″ barrel. The 20-gauge options are equipped with a 3″ chamber, while the 12-gauge options boast a 3.5″ chamber. The available color options include Cerakote Burnt Bronze and Black, Cerakote Flat Dark Earth, and Black, Mossy Oak New Bottomland Cerakote Burnt Bronze, Realtree Max-5 Cerakote OD Green, and finally, the Realtree Timber Cerakote Flat Dark Earth variant, which I received for review.

Out of the Box

The Masai Mara shotgun comes fully equipped from the factory. Included are 5 choke tubes, a choke wrench, a shim kit, a hard case, sling adapters, oil, a user’s manual, a sticker, and Retay’s 5-Year Limited Warranty. Designed for convenient transport, you can easily break down and store it in the compact hard case provided.

Operating System

The Retay Masai Mara Cerakote operates on an efficient and reliable operating system. It utilizes Retay’s innovative “Straight Line” Inertial Transfer™ System, which ensures smooth and consistent cycling of the shotgun. This system incorporates an inertia-driven mechanism that harnesses the energy from fired rounds to power the cycling process. This provides reliable and consistent performance with each shot.

Additionally, the Masai Mara features the patented “Inertia Plus Rotating Bolt®”, coupled with the “rollover” Torsion Spring Action™. These work together to further enhance the shotgun’s reliability while reducing the chance of any potential malfunctions. These mechanisms work together to maintain a proper balance of force and timing, resulting in optimal cycling and improved shooting experience. This also creates a quieter operating system which allows for silently loading rounds when out in the field. 

Retay Masai Mara Cerakote Trigger

One of the stand-out features I find most unique about the Masai Mara is the push button removable trigger group. Retay designed a patented “Two-Second” Push-Button Trigger Group Removal™ system. This enables easy access to the inner workings of the trigger group without requiring any tools. This also allows for quick and expedient cleanings, even out in the field. The small button to remove the trigger group is spring-powered and discreetly located near the safety, ensuring that accidental activation is prevented. To remove the trigger group, simply depress the button while simultaneously pulling on the trigger guard. As for shooting, the trigger feels good and has a pull weight of just over 5 pounds. 

Masai Mara Furniture

The handguard and stock of the Masai Mara are constructed from molded ABS. This is a lightweight material that offers excellent performance in cold environments. While the color scheme is dependent upon the variety, Retay offers these with Realtree Max-5, Mossy Oak Bottomland, and Realtree Timber which I was sent to review. Both the handguard and the stock offer light texturing to help maintain a comfortable grip when handling the shotgun. The stock is further equipped with a sculpted microcell polyurethane butt pad, providing added comfort during recoil.

Additionally, the stock offers an adjustable fit plate with a shim system. This allows shooters to fine-tune the Masai Mara to their individual body type. When combined with the operating system, the recoil of this platform is quite manageable. Birdshot loads for shooting clays are particularly easy to handle. Although heavier 3+ inch hunting loads still deliver a significant impact, overall recoil is mitigated effectively by the well-designed butt pad and operating system.

Receiver

The receiver is a mix of alloy and steel designed in a two-piece configuration. While the upper receiver is made from steel, the bottom receiver of the Masai Mara is machined from aluminum and coated with Cerakote, ensuring superior resistance to corrosion. Additionally, the Cerakote finish provides a range of earth-tone colors that are not only anti-reflective but also ideal for hunting. This combination of materials and coatings offers both durability and aesthetic appeal to the receiver, making it well-suited for various hunting environments. It also features an oversized bolt release which works great and is cool to see included for a hunting shotgun.

Sights

The Masai Mara shotgun features a red TruGlo Fiber optic front sight and a flat 8mm rib, resulting in a fast and efficient sighting system. Unlike traditional bead sights that can sometimes be challenging to see, the red fiber optic bead offers excellent contrast and allows for quick target acquisition. This feature ensures a rapid and reliable sight picture, allowing shooters to swiftly align their aim with the target. For this reason, utilization of a red fiber optic front sight is always my preference when iron sights are being used.

Masai Mara Barrel

The barrel of the Masai Mara shotgun is intentionally designed with a lengthened forcing cone and optimized for a variety of shotgun shells. This unique feature improves shot patterns, resulting in the densest and most accurate shot placement currently attainable. The barrel is constructed using drilled Bohler steel, known for its strength, and is further protected by a corrosion-resistant chrome lining. These features ensure the barrel’s service life while providing enhanced resistance against wear and corrosion

SEE MORE: The RETAY Gordion Shotgun Puts More Pellets on Target – Full Review

Patterning

The Masai Mara comes equipped with 5 different choke tubes, catering to every hunter’s need. The chokes employ a notching system that allows you to easily identify the choke currently installed in the shotgun, eliminating the need for removal. However, if one forgets the notches representations as shown in the owner’s manual below, they can simply remove the choke to double-check with the text engraved on the side.

Gearing up for a turkey hunt, I wanted to test out how this shotgun patterned using the modified choke paired with 3″ HEVI-18™ TSS Turkey loads. I then proceeded to shoot from 10, 15, and 20 yards to show how well they grouped. While being able to shoot further is ideal, I stuck to distances where I could get nearly all the pellets on a single piece of paper.

From these three distances, the shogun consistently kept 90% of the pattern within a 57-63 MOA zone. This also theoretically equates to roughly a 60″ group at 100 yards, 30″ at 50 yards, or 15″ at 25 yards (groups at extended distances will not hold the same pattern due to the rapid deceleration of pellets through the air while wind will also disperse the pellets further). The patterns in the picture below and I shot the groups from left to right moving back 5 yards each time. 

Hunting With The Retay Masai Mara Cerakote

During my review, I was able to take the Retay Masai Mara Cerakote out turkey hunting with my brother and a friend. After calling back and forth, we had a turkey sneak up from beside us and I was able to take it with a single shot of 3″ HEVI-18™ TSS from around 20 yards. After one shot the turkey was down, and we were ecstatic. This was the first spring turkey hunt I had ever been on, and the Masai Mara performed when needed most to give me success. 

Performance

Between hunting and blasting clay pigeons, the Retay is a joy to handle. The perceived recoil is minimized due to the unique operating system, in combination with the polyurethane butt pad. Shooting 2&3/4″ birdshot was a breeze, and it handled all the 2&3/4″ and 3″ HEVI-18™ TSS loads I put through it. However, I found that this shotgun doesn’t like certain types of ammunition.

While Federal 2&3/4″ ran without issue, the exact same Winchester load jammed after nearly every single shot. Retay states that the minimum load for the Masai Mara is 3.25 Dram 1-1/8oz and the listed Dram for both the Federal and Winchester loads is 3.0 Dram. This means both rounds are supposedly not hot enough to meet the minimum recoil requirements, but the Federal load appeared to be hot enough to work.

One Issue

Additionally, Hornady sent out some of their 3″ Heavy Magnum Coyote rounds to try out with a Dram of 4 which also had cycling issues. The shotgun continually failed to extract these shells, leaving the spent round partially loaded and jamming a new round up against it. It appeared to me that the extractor was slipping over the edge of the rim, and I will note that the Hornady ammunition had a slightly taller and more rounded rim than the other ammunition I was using.

After speaking with Retay, they said that this issue is uncommon, and that while it can happen with a few types of ammunition, a home remedy of filing down the extractor to create a steeper angle could solve the problem. I had no issues with any of the other ammunition I tested out during the course of this review. It handled 3″ and 3&1/2″ Winchester high-velocity steel shot with ease.

Retay Masai Mara Cerakote Summary

Overall, the Retay Masai Mara is a rugged and versatile shotgun. It features an invaluable quick takedown mechanism for cleaning out the trigger group in an emergency. The steadfast operating system powers through heavy magnum loads for hunting turkey or waterfowl. Cerakote provides great protection for the muddy and wet environments hunters will drag these through, and there are multiple camo patterns to best suit the consumers’ needs. Another great benefit is the 5 different extended chokes that are included with this shotgun, as well as the hard carrying case for secure transportation. The MSRP for all variants varies between $1649 and $1699, but the Masai Mara is built to last a lifetime. 

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