Well I have posted here about which turkey choke tube would be best for my Mossberg 500. I was using a full choke for the spring and fall seasons. It patterned well at 30-40 yds. Good enough to kill a tom in the spring at 25 yds and a hen in the fall at 40 yds. One shot for each bird. Any way I thought an XXFull choke would be better at longer distances. I got the Mossberg XX-Full .670 choke for my gun as a Christmas gift. I took one shot at 30 yds today at a turkey head target and had about 15 pellets in the kill area. Now Here is where it gets strange, My second and thirdshots at 30 yds didn't even hit the paper. So I took one more shot at 20 yards and totally missed the paper again. I am shooting Winchester Supreme Double X Magnum turkey loads, 2oz 5 shot. Can anybody explain what happened. I know for sure I held true on the target. I'm thinking I should pattern a different Brand turkey load. But why did the first shot hit true and not the other three? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Wow, that is a hard one. Um, did you check to see if the choke was tight in the barrel after the first shot? Or did your sights move? That is very strange with a shot gun. I have no idea. Maybe you were shooting some messed up shells? Get you some low powers or another kind of shell and try it just to see if its your gun or the ammo.
If you want to keep that choke and find the "best" pattern with that certain choke and load. I would try the Win. XX and the Win. HV to see which does better. Maybe then if you still aren't happy, try the Xtended range, (if you can shoot that stuff out of your choke). Then, if you still aren't happy, go with Federal the same way.
I have a friend who has a 500 and bought a STAR DOT from wal-mart for $19 and it was pretty awesome with Winchester HV loads. I like 6''s myself, not sure if he uses 5's or 4's.
I've got the same gun and choke with the Winchester #5s you mention, and it patterns very well at 40 and is still on at 20 yds. I've never missed a bird with this gun, though another hunter did once.
You might want to try #6s. And like StrutnBPS said, try some low power number 8s or something and see if your gun is shooting straight with those, to help ascertain what the problem is.
Thanks for the info guys. The gun shoots fantastic with a full choke. But I a determined to find a load that will shoot good. My neighbor told me tonight to try many different brands. He said he had to shoot about 5 different brands before he got a great pattern. But as for the tube being loose after the first shot, that is a good point but it was tight but only hand tight. I will retry with different ammo and post back my results.
I have a 535 with a .670 choke tube and killed a bird last year at 52 yards. I shoot 3.5 inch wichester x-tened range. 1 1/8 ounce number 5 shot. I would check your sights start out at 20 yards and work your way back to 40 yards. Remington heavy shot works great also, just make sure your chokeis made to shoot heavy shot.
I have the exact gun and choke and I use Federal 5 and 6 shot 3" shells. Mine shoots excellent.
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Turkeystalkermy gun has a 28 in vented barrel with a bead sight. So I cant change the sights. Arrowmaster do you use the same barrel as me. My buddy suggested federals also. He says they shoot best through his gun also.
Be sure to cleanthe inside of your barrel to a mirror finish, "BEFORE" anytesting of turkey loads.Nitro specifically stresses this on their web-site. Any carbon or plastic build-up in your barrel can alter your patterns.
Need help. New choke tube.
