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Few articles about patterns and effective range

Andy S.

Andy S.

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There seems to be a good deal of buzz on here lately about patterns and effective range of various shot size (4,5,6,7) and materials (lead, tungsten, HTL, etc), so I thought I would share a couple of links that I have read, enjoyed and learned from. This may be old news to some here, but hopefully it will enlighten a few as it has me over the years (along with numerous hours of shooting several turkey choke/load combination's). It may also save some of you time, money and most importantly head aches and sore cheekbones from target shooting multiple turkey loads. :)

http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/turkey_loads.htm

http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=54851 (read the 6th post down, poster's name is Magnumitis, good summary of various various guns/chokes/loads combinations)

http://www.chuckhawks.com/patterning_turkey_loads.htm

http://forum.turkeyandturkeyhunting.com/tm.aspx?m=26215
 
All excellent.

Note the trend among accomplished turkey hunters who also handload shotshells, in that more are going to smaller shot that's 30% or more heavier than lead. Can get denser patterns AND better penetration than traditional copper-plated lead pellets.

Commercially available, the closest I've seen to some of their handloads seems to be the Federal Heavyweights, which unfortunately, have an incompatible "Flight Control" wad with many of the ported choke tubes (such as Indian Creek, etc.) Next closest thing seems to be the H-13's in #7 shot.

I don't have time to "mess with" such an undertaking this year, but next year or at some point in the future, I can see myself going to a 20 gauge, and handloading some #8 "very heavy" loads that should be extremely deadly out to 45 or 50 yards. Kinda like the idea of an easier to carry 20 gauge turkey gun. With the right shells, a 20 gauge turkey gun can out-perform a great 12 ga turkey gun that's using great lead loads (such as Winchester Supremes).
 
Wes Parrish said:
With the right shells, a 20 gauge turkey gun can out-perform a great 12 ga turkey gun that's using great lead loads (such as Winchester Supremes).
Click to expand...
And be lighter (lbs) to boot. I read a lot last year on several turkey hunting forums (OG, OR, etc) that many turkey hunters were making the move to 20 gauge now that the HTL shells and great chokes are a viable option. Many of them were bragging on their 20 gauge turkey guns shooting very dense patterns, killing all turkeys grave yard dead while all the time being lighter and easier to tote through the turkey woods. I am still shooting a 12 gauge but those guys definitely gave me some great ideas to ponder and maybe one day experiment with.
 
Currently, there's not many options in 20 ga. for "heavier than lead" loads. But if you handload, pretty remarkable that some 20 gauge loads surpass the effectiveness of the popular 12 ga Winchester Supremes (copper-plated lead, and an excellent shell).
 
Wes Parrish said:
With the right shells, a 20 gauge turkey gun can out-perform a great 12 ga turkey gun that's using great lead loads (such as Winchester Supremes).
Click to expand...

My father-in-law has a mossberg 500 that, to be honest, amazed me when we patterned it.
 

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