Originally Posted by
Topgun 3006
Brad---I hope there are a lot of turkey newbies and others that aren't real familiar with ballistics and patterning their guns that are reading this thread, as I think you have offered an awful lot of beneficial information for the average guy that hasn't done a lot except to go hunting thinking they are okay with what they have! Just grabbing a shotgun off the rack that you use for rabbits, etc. and sticking a turkey choke on it and going out doesn't hack it a lot of the time unless a gobbler is right on top of them. Then when a bird is out there at 40 yards and doesn't go down like a rabbit might at that distance they wonder why!!! My guess is that more often that not that many people who turkey hunt don't put the time and effort into doing what is necessary lijke you're talking about to assure a humane kill 100% of the time.
Thank you. And I don't think your right, I know your right. I believe more and more folks are starting to either ask questions about patterning a new turkey gun, or any gun that they might use to shoot turkeys with. And that's due a lot to the internet and forums like these. So that is a plus, but there still are quite a few that are lazy and think I'll just by a great choke like Indian Creek, Pure Gold, or Jelly Head and even if they buy the better Hevi-13 loads think they still don't need to pattern their gun. And typically these chokes with these Hevi-13 loads will shoot great. But you still need to verify that and to make sure your gun is shooting the load to center of point of aim. A lot of guns won't. And that's why a lot of guys miss.
And I can't illustrate enough to shoot at a true 40yds. I can tell you through experience that if you have a gun shooting deadnut at 40yds to your poa, your going to be about deadnut at 15, 20, and 30yds as well. A shotgun sighted dead on at 40yds is going to be good to even 50yds for centering the pattern to so dang close to like it was at 40yds, but you do need to make sure your pellet count is there. And again that don't mean you have to shoot at 50yds if you don't wish to. But you better make sure you have a choke and load that is guaranteed to shoot 200 shot in the 10" at 40yds just to be on the safe side at 50yds. And I would tell you a bare min of 180 in the 10" at 40yds. But 200 would be more of a set norm just to be sure.
I see so many guys that pattern their guns each year whether it be at the gun range, or talking to hunters at Walmart, gunshop, or where have you, and probably most come from turkey hunting forums like this on the internet that shoot small turkey targets you buy at Walmart like the Hunter Specialties or Primos that are like 11" x 11" or say even 12" x12" at 40yds. Now they think they are doing what they are supposed to for afterall it is a turkey target. But just shooting at these targets at a gun range with no backer is a big mistake. A lot of times your main part of your pattern won't even hit these targets or only half of your pattern will hit these small targets. So you don't know what really is happening on your pattern. Shooting these targets taped to the center of a big or huge piece of cardboard will tell the true tale of what your gun, choke, and load is doing. Then if you need a set of adjustable sights, or a red dot sight or scope you will know right away. And some guns can shoot patterns that are just about deadnut from poa to poi. Rem 870's are probably one of the best guns out of the box at doing this on most loads with the stock bead. But I can tell you firsthand and this goes mainly for Hevi-13 loads, that various Hevi-13 loads and I'm talking about shot size changes to smaller shot charges to bigger shot charges can all vary a little bit and shift your center of your poi from your poa. Trust me I have seen it in my 835 using a rock solid rest at 40yds and a dot sight that won't move shift zero using Hevi-13 3.5" 2.25oz #7's, Magblends 3.5", Hevi-13 3.5" 2.25oz #6's, and Hevi-13 3.5" 1.75oz #5's. And that's from having my Tasco open red dot sight zeroed perfectly with the Hevi-13 3.5" 2.25oz #7's at 40yds. All the other loads I mentioned above shifted slightly to say 5" from my poa.
I'll show you what size pieces of cardboard I like to use at 40yds taped. And again you can either use a stick on dot or draw a circle in the middle or tape a turkey target to the center or just aim at the center of the cardboard.
And what I love about big sheets of cardboard like this, and it don't have to be round, but it can be a big square or rectangle piece, but you get almost the entire pattern on the cardboard except maybe a few 10 or 20 pellets at probably the most. So when you shoot and you want to get a better feel of what the results are, you can do what I do, and that's turn the cardboard over and look at the backside. Now this just gives you the true idea of how difficult the head of a gobbler would have at surviving the center of your pattern.
I'll give an example of the 360 pattern I showed in another thread. Here's the backside. That's dead on anyway you try to examine it. I hit this about as deadnut as one could hope for.
But I hope more folks that read this in the future will take the time and the pride to pattern your gun, choke and load, and follow the methods I discussed here. They will have 100% confidence if they do.
Sorry for the long read.