I won't be using lead ever again."Heavier than lead shot"is truly a major advancement over pb.
First let me say that I was previously perfectly satisfied with the 2 oz, 3" 12 gauge lead loads I was shooting. I have had great success with them over the years and I wasn't really looking to change. With that said, however, I am constantly looking to improve any aspect of my gear including the loads I shoot. If there was something out there that allowed me to take a bird cleanly, ethically, and perhaps extend my range a bit I was willing to evaluate it.
Two years ago I bought some 3.5 ", 1.75 oz Hevi-13 #6 loads at the NWTF convention in Nashville. I was blown-away by their performance on paper compared to the 2 oz, 3" lead loads I was shooting. Their performance on turkeys was equally impressive, but the two I killed that year could have been easily taken with a 20 gauge, so the jury was still out.
Last year I stepped up to Nitros after reading so much about them here and on the NWTF message boards. The performance of the Nitros is on another level compared to those Hevi-13s. Now I see that Eviron is loading 2.25 oz Hevi-Shot loads for the 3.5" twelve gauge, so maybe they are closing the gap
In my experience, when choked properly, the center core of the pattern is amazingly dense. I got 246 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards using the Nitro 4X5X7s 3.5", 2.25 oz load from my Mossberg 835 with a .676 Star Dot choke. This was the first choke I tried with the load out of an unpolished barrel. I suspect I could improve upon this by experimenting with different chokes, but why? For hunting purposes, which is all I am interested in, this type of performance is all I will ever need.
I killed agobbler stone dead at a laser measured 63 yards last season - I mean he never even flopped. Before anyone blasts me for shooting at a bird that far I will freely admit it was a mistake and I hope not to do it again. I am using a 1.75X4 scope on this gun because the pattern is so tight I'm afraid I might miss at closer range. I had the thing dialed up to 2X andImisestimated the distance due to my relative lack of experience with a shotgun scope and turkeys.
