Some turkey load testing

T

todigy

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Went and test fired some new loads. My go to 12 ga was an SX3 with Primos tight wad and # 6 3 inch Remington Nirtro

The new go to is a 24 inch barrel on an SXP and Carlson's Long Beard Choke.

Top Pic 3 1/2 inch #6 at 42 yards. Definitely a dead turkey. However, what impressed me more than ever was the 3 1/2 inch #4's in the second/third picture. Looks like I am shooting a few inches right. I took two shots to make sure the first #4 shot wasn't a fluke.

I also tried the Remington # 6's and both long beard loads with an Invector Plus XF choke. All would have killed birds at the 42 yards but none patterned as tight.

PS - to some, those turkey heads would sell in an art studio for a few thousand bucks . . . just saying.

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Those turkey silhouettes are first class!

Those are definitely dead birds. I would say that the first two patterns do seem a little more open then I would like but the last pattern is much better. If your gun has an adjustable sight, you can compensate for the shot hitting a bit to far right.
 
todigy said:
It sawed a 2 inch red cedar in half . . .
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When i first got my custom turkey choke built i had a nice bird walk a ditch bank and the white bead of my mossberg covered his entire head. I scared the crap out of him when i blew a 2" hole in the bank beside his head. The look on his face was kinda funny though. Now i use a scope with a fine target dot. Sometimes in the search for the tightest pattern we forget not all shots come at 40+ yards
 
When trying to turn a shotgun into a rifle these things happen. My 870 is a dedicated turkey slayer and off the bead it shoots 6 inches left. Gunsmith, barrel press, stock shim and still left just not as bad. 42mm Red dot solves all the dicking around. #6, 3.5", takes a perfect semi circle out of a sumac 2 ft off the barrel. Still enough there to kill the bird at 54 yds which I swear he was 10 yds closer.
 
brybenn said:
When i first got my custom turkey choke built i had a nice bird walk a ditch bank and the white bead of my mossberg covered his entire head. I scared the crap out of him when i blew a 2" hole in the bank beside his head. The look on his face was kinda funny though. Now i use a scope with a fine target dot. Sometimes in the search for the tightest pattern we forget not all shots come at 40+ yards
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Yup....that happened to me as well many years ago. I had a couple jakes come in together and they were too close to each other to take the shot where I wanted to. I stayed patient for there to be some separation between the two of them. Finally, one started to lead the other and I knew it was time. Only problem was at this point, they were about 7 yards away. Well I missed and hit the 3”-4” tree behind the leading bird. The tree severed in half, but the birds took flight no worse for wear. I couldn't believe I missed....but as luck would have it, it worked out in my favour. I ended up shooting a dandy Tom about 2 hours later. All is well that ends well

Times like that where its valuable to have a double gun....tight choke in one barrel, open choke in the other
 
I usually carry a double gun turkey hunting. My dedicated turkey rig only comes out when the birds get spooky and wont come to a call. A scope really helps see a beard when the birds are walking towards me. Especailly jakes
 
Several years ago, 2 boss toms at 10 yards, so i picked one. KABOOM! This was all I had to show for it :(

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brybenn said:
When i first got my custom turkey choke built i had a nice bird walk a ditch bank and the white bead of my mossberg covered his entire head. I scared the crap out of him when i blew a 2" hole in the bank beside his head. The look on his face was kinda funny though. Now i use a scope with a fine target dot. Sometimes in the search for the tightest pattern we forget not all shots come at 40+ yards
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The funny thing is, I am messing around with these loads and a different gun than I usually use and to be frankly honest, of my 30+ turkeys I have taken only one has been farther then 25 yards. It was 40, with a 20 ga and I totally misjudged the distance. The rest have been under 25 yards. And most in the 15 yard range.

Guess I will just have to shoot them before they get too close lol
 
I plan for the worst case scenarios and hope to be pleasantly surprised. Like deer. I spent days practicing at 30 40 and 45 yards with my new cross bow. Of the 4 deer i took with it the furthest was 6 yards
 
todigy said:
The funny thing is, I am messing around with these loads and a different gun than I usually use and to be frankly honest, of my 30+ turkeys I have taken only one has been farther then 25 yards. It was 40, with a 20 ga and I totally misjudged the distance. The rest have been under 25 yards. And most in the 15 yard range.

Guess I will just have to shoot them before they get too close lol
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It’s funny how true this is. Yet so many people get suckered into the products that “reach out farther”. Chokes, wad technologies, shot density. The most extreme is Wildside Armory chokes. Their YouTube promotional videos make me cringe.. advertising a choke that reaches 70, 80, 90 yards? C’mon..
 
squidxm said:
It’s funny how true this is. Yet so many people get suckered into the products that “reach out farther”. Chokes, wad technologies, shot density. The most extreme is Wildside Armory chokes. Their YouTube promotional videos make me cringe.. advertising a choke that reaches 70, 80, 90 yards? C’mon..
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a lot of people also get suck into special turkey loads I just use normal 1 1/8 field loads and their giving met turkey killing patterns not need for too much extra shot that will end up where you don't want it.
 
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