ORIGINAL: nchawkeye
How small is the pattern if you have to shoot a turkey at 15 steps??? This is what would bother me, if you are talking about a 3-4 inch pattern, the downside at that close range may be worse than the upside at the longer ranges...
How far away will you take a shot at a turkey??? I feel that 40 yards is a good outside range...I have seen them killed out to 58 yards with Federal Premium #5s...I wouldn't shoot that far, but the bird did hit the ground...
If you can consistantly put 8-10 pellets into the head and neck at 40 yards you can consistantly kill turkeys...
If you want to kill birds out to 50-60 yards then you need to go with the more premium chokes and loads...
It's kinda like a deer rifle, if you can hit a 4-5 inch circle at 300 yards, you can consistantly kill deer at that range...
If you want to keep them into a 2-3 inch circle at 300 yards, you better have your "stuff" together....
You ain't telling me nothing I don't know already hawkeye!
My pattern at 15 yards is about the size of a pie plate... thats the WHOLE THING... no flyers outside it... the main part of the patter is about the size of a tea saucer (~ 6" in diameter).
My solution.... I have a scope on my gun. Every bird I've missed in my life has been inside 15 yards.
That said.... how far away will I shoot a turkey... I prefer not to shoot until they are inside 35 yards... why..... well thats just me, I like to get them in close. Its sort of like super tuning a race car just to drive it to and from work each day. I think I like playing with different loads/chokes just to see what I can make it do. Never hurts to have a little more than you need.