I'm not sure I'd want to count on 7 or 7.5s in a single load if lead shot is all we are talking about in an all purpose turkey gun. (But even then, I'm sure with a tight choke and inside of 40yds it WOULD kill with reasonable expectations!) But with heavier than lead loads and todays technology in guns, loads and chokes all of the sudden smaller than normal shot becomes "doable". I've shot Nitro loads from "Nitro Ray" in MO, along with his Rhino tubes for over 10 years! My favored load for "longer range" turkey hunting is his 3.5" triplex nitro load of 2.25oz 4x5x7 built specifically for my 835 Ultimag. That gun and load puts 12+ pellets on a Coke can at 65yds. I've got an 870 Supermag with Nitros and a Rhino tube that I've killed at over 60yds with as well!
Why shoot a turkey at 65yds? Well it's just like a long range deer rifle... for certain situations. I don't always carry this gun in the timber. But anywhere I might hunt alot of pastures, mature hardwoods or roads, lanes, gas lines, power line ROWs etc... THATs why I put this gun together over a decade ago (it has a red dot on it as well, simply can't shoot that far with bead sights). For 20yrs I hunted a large cattle ranch in the southern MO Ozarks and the conditions were very open so longer distances were just all you had sometimes. Honestly, inside of 50yds I'd just as soon be carrying my Winchester 1300 Featherweight, 21" barrel with a Jellyhead tube and a 3" load of copperplated 6s or any of the supermetal, heavier than lead rounds out there today. That gun carries alot better and easier than any other of my shotguns. (I have a BPS that lays them in there pretty well also, but I 90% of my turkey hunting is done with either my ancient 835 "rattle trap" or the 1300Featherweight I've had since I was a teen in the 80s)
7s "fill" the pattern very well and especially in the case of heavier than lead materials, they still retain ALOT of killing power. There is appx 100 more pellets in 1oz of lead 7s vs an ounce of 6s! For kids/women wanting to turkey hunt, I tell you what you can outfit a 20ga with a great choke, a quality #7 nitro or equivalent load and ANY turkey within 40yds is going to have a might rough day if they cross paths with that gun!
40yds used to be the gold standard for judging turkey guns and for alot of folks it's the limit on range. But with todays technology it's yesterdays 30yds! "50 is the new 40" but ONLY if the hunter first does his part and spends the money and time properly outfitting and testing his gun, loads and chokes. IMHO a guns distance limit is reached when it can no longer, 100%, put at a minimum half a dozen shots in the head of a turkey target. Whatever that distance proves to be, I then back that distance up 5yds and lable that gun at that distance.
Now before anyone asks, I'm ONLY talking about max distances under proper conditions. Open, clean areas only. 65yds through timber, leaves, logs and brush is NOT ethical!!! If you can't DIRT ROLL that tom at the first shot then you have NO business taking that shot in the first place...
