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turkey guns

muddyboots said:
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Here she is!
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Nice Choke
 
835 with a Mad Super Max choke with 3.5 magblends or 3" Extended Range 6 but I have a 20 ga. 870 in the works and hope to try some TSS out of it before season.
 
Browning Gold Hunter 3 1/2 with an Indian Creek Tube. Use Hevi Magnum blend for the kill shot and kent 7 shot to follow.
 
why do you need a follow up shot if you have a kill shot? also if you did by chance miss why would you want crappier ammo as the 2nd shot rather then the good ammo you used to pattern with??


I never understood the "cheaper" ammo as the follow up.
 
REN said:
why would you want crappier ammo as the 2nd shot
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Had to chuckle right there REN...agree 100%. Reminded me of a bird I called in for a guy years ago in the lowcountry of SC. I told him he really needed to pattern his gun with the right shells before we went but he swore up and down that, "With these'here Kent shells if it flies, it dies."

22 yards away that bird stood when he pulled the trigger and that gobbler flew off just as fast and strong as any I've ever laid eyes upon. He proceeded to throw every last one of those Kent shells into a slough...all I could do was shake my head and chuckle.
 
HA, I will shoot kent at ducks but id rather throw a rock then use their turkey shells lol


My point is you put a lot of money and time into patterning your gun with the HEVI shot....if by chance you miss why would you not shoot a 2nd shot with the best ammo you have AND use the ammo that puts out the best pattern/downrange power?

I know plenty of guys that use the "follow up with #4's" logic but i truly never understood why you would not want to use the best stuff at all times.
 
REN said:
why do you need a follow up shot if you have a kill shot?
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Easy enough. Who has never missed a turkey? Not ONE serious turkey hunter that I know of.

REN said:
also if you did by chance miss why would you want crappier ammo as the 2nd shot rather then the good ammo you used to pattern with??

I never understood the "cheaper" ammo as the follow up.
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Good question and I see where you are coming from. I shoot Nitros as my first shot and follow up with MagBlends as my subsequent shots if need be (rare, but it happens). While a little cheaper, I do not consider the MagBlends to be much inferior overall to the Nitros. I have patterned both and both are wicked out of my setup. Furthermore, I do it more for the fact that I cannot stomach buying more than one box of Nitros at a time and loading them up KNOWING that if I have to take a follow up shot that it will be lower probability of me connecting (as he is fleeing in a hastily manner), thus the thought of burning a "cheaper" MagBlend shell or two is better than burning one to two "made in heaven" Nitros. While I know the savings in cost is nothing to write home about, it is just the approach I have taken since I started shooting the "made in heaven" Nitros. My savings over time is negligible at best, so it is more a matter of principle than anything else for me.
 
Another thing is I cherish my Nitros more if you will, mainly because I have been so impressed with them, and furthermore because I could see them going out of business before I could see Environ-Metal Inc folding. At the end of the day, I just try my best to save my Nitros for my highest percentage kill shot, hopefully my first and only shot, but that's not always the case.
 
On the other hand, Andy, you could just use a really cheap "squirrel" load for the chamber, knowing that under 35 yards it gets the job done just fine. Then save those expensive shells for just when needed. :D

Over the years I killed many turkeys with the same shells I hunted squirrels, and a few with #7 1/2 dove loads. Get them up close, and the gun and shell matter little.
 
Very true Wes, however, I really LOVE the fact that few turkeys these days flop at all, and at most, only a few times after the shot. This has been my experience since switching to HTL shot. I never experienced that with lead shot (#4s), even with close shots, over a ten year period. I also like having the extra "umph" the hot HTL loads add to bust one that is hung up strutting at 45-50 yards IF NEED BE. I much prefer shooting a turkey between the 30 and 40 yard mark (prob. 75% of my kills), but I am not the turkey killing machine like some claim to be, that kills all of their turkeys under 35 yards. :whistle: I am not referring to you, but I read of so many turkey hunters online that make that claim. I know that "how much one flops" matters little in the end, but I have grown accustomed to pulling the trigger and very little floppage happening, if you know what I mean. :) It is by no means the right way or only way, but it is my tried and true way and what I have the most confidence in, thus the reason I do what I do.
 
Look I'm not turning this to a "this ammo is what you should use" debate. Just saying if you are shooting good ammo why put lesser ammo as the 2nd? If I need a 2nd shot I want it to count
 
REN said:
Look I'm not turning this to a "this ammo is what you should use" debate.
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Who is doing this? :confused: Regardless, I agree with you on that, to each their own as far as what they prefer. One should shoot what one has confidence in.

REN said:
If I need a 2nd shot I want it to count
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Me too, thus why I shoot MagBlends. I believe in them in my setup, thus the same logic applies.
 
I'm not referring to you Andy (or anyone really) I just want to be clear before it goes to that.

I shoot magblends an my set up loves them. If I were to need a 2nd shot i wouldn't want it to be a Winchester HV I'd want it to be a magblend because that is the optimum shell for my set up
 
I shoot the magblends as well but I do at times have my second shot as a 4 shot, my theory is that the second shot will be at a bird fleeing so at a further distance I prefer a larger shot...

I will say that when I have missed I have hesitated on the second shot just because it takes a second for my brain to comprehend that I just missed and that that turkey isn't flopping around on the ground... :o
 
Andy S. said:
Very true Wes, however, I really LOVE the fact that few turkeys these days flop at all, and at most, only a few times after the shot. This has been my experience since switching to HTL shot. I never experienced that with lead shot (#4s), even with close shots, over a ten year period.
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Almost all my turkeys flop. I remember one that didn't flop at all until I was already headed back to the truck with him over my shoulder. Even still, I'd rather shoot Kent shells than to throw rocks :o :grin:
 
I usually dont miss on the 1st. I am confident out to 60. Shot one last year at 74, even though I would rather them be much closer. I pattern with both and they pattern similar, the hevi is just a tiny bit better, by no means is the kent Crappy in my book. If I used all kent I would still be very confident.
 
Andy S. said:
Very true Wes, however, I really LOVE the fact that few turkeys these days flop at all, and at most, only a few times after the shot. This has been my experience since switching to HTL shot.
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Like you, I have also experienced less "flopping" since switching over to HTL shells. Just saying at the ranges I actually kill most of my turkeys (even now having a gun/shells combo capable of making high-probability shots out to 50 yards), I'd go home each season with about as many turkeys no matter that kind of shells I had loaded.

This is in part because I more greatly enjoy getting them up close, watching them strut, hearing them drum, etc., and am usually not eager to shoot one just because he steps within the potential range of my turkey gun. The majority are still killed under 30 yards, and I think the main reason more hunters aren't killing more birds up closer is simply because they are so quick to shoot once a bird barely enters their guns' potential.

It may very well be I'm often more interested in "working" a bird up close than just killing him. :)
Besides, if I'm going to be using these expensive shells, I need to get as much as possible out of the hunt!
 

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