Federal Flight Control
 

Well, I patterned my turkey guns for the season this week.

Finally tried out the flight control shells. Not bad. I got 140 pellets in 6" circle at 30 yards. compared to 80 from winchester and remington..

These were 2oz 3" lead loads.

Still not happy. I want to get at least 15 hits in turkey head and neck at 40 yards. I have tried alot of different ammo. But think I need a decent turkey choke. Still using the Remington Turkey choke.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

what size shot

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

No 5, and No 6. Have you tried them? Anything to add?

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

This freaking patterning crap is for the birds. No pun. Second year in a row, I have tried patterning two different shotguns.

I have littlerly 6 box's of various ammo from remington winchester, and federal. Different wieghts, different shot size. I have two different guns I use for turkey, Browning Gold 3.5" and a 870 express 3".

After two days of this, I know that winchester's premier don't pattern that well. But everything is so inconsistent. I bought this high dollar flight control crap buyign into the hype, and it doesn't do any better then remington premier copper coated or nitro high velocity. I am back where I started last year shooting remington 3.5" 2oz #5 with a hard limit of 40 yards (and thats if everything is perfect), with a comfortable limit of 30yards.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

BC,

I also went through this very frustrating journey and what I've found is that the choke matters most. Unforutnely they are expensive to try because once you fire a load through them they can't be returned. Not to mention they are between $40 and $60 each. An old buddy of mine patterned his remington with a very high end choke, approx $60, with the Remington heavy shot to put a ton of pellets in the head and neck at 60 yards.

I've seen him shoot a bird at 63 yards and it was literally a boom flop! Literally.

Try some different chokes if you need better performance. I settled. Haven't lost a bird yet. 5 so far.

Tom

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

I have a SBE and have done the same as you BC and am frustrated too. I have purchased 3 different chokes and several boxes of shells and can't seem to get the reults I am looking for. Nothing even close to a 60 yard pattern and like you have settled on 40 yards as max for the loads I have tested. My best is with Winchester #5. The Rem heavy shot didn't do as well even with a special choke designed for it. Federals patterned the worst but did getslightly better thanthe Winchester with the new flight control shells. I did have my gun lazer ported several years ago and wonder if that is hurting my patterns. It actually is supposed to help allowing the end gasses a way to excape eliminating the back pattern from blowing out the leading shot or something like that.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

I might go out and buy a pattern master today and give it another try in the morning. I got 100 dollars of ammo I am blasting thru. Wind is howling at 35mph+.

Maybe I am being unrealistic. I get on average 20 shots in a 6" circle at 40 yards.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

Buy an UnderTaker extra Full choke tube and some Winchester Supreme 3" #6's and be done. Why 40 Yards? Maybe you should be practicing your calling instead of testing multiple brands of ammo.[8D]

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

I shoot flite controls through my undertaker tube wiht very good results to 50yrds. havent paterned past that so i couldnt tell you

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

Understaker is what I got on my browning. POS if you ask me. I mean no offense if you have one. Just not working for me.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

No offense taken. It works excellent in my BPS. Thats the way it goes, just because it works for one doesn't mean it will work for all.

That would be acceptable to me, but everybody has their own standards. From personal experience I think that you would be hard pressed to get a shotgun to hold as tight a pattern as you are expecting out to 40 yards and beyond. As a side note, I've seen shotguns that pattern better with "looser" chokes than with tighter ones. it seem counter-intuitive but it happens. Sorry if I ruffled any feather (pun intended)!

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

No feathers ruffled. Just leaving in the morning for a week long turkey hunt. And as usual, I waited until the last moment to get things done. I promised last year to get a 50 yard turkey gun put together and didn't.

I keep hearing of these 60 yard kills on turkey's but with my guns, I wouldn't dare take that long of a shot. I do have another gold hunter, I might try it out.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

i like to use federal premium turkey loads, maybe ill try the flight control shells thanks for the info

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

I think that thosearemostly hyperbole. I think that those 50 yard guns arekind of like 1/2 inchrifles,alot of folks claim to have them but few actually do.

If you don'tmind taking pot shots at turkeyspast 50 yards then eventually you'll get lucky and drop one (it only takes one pellet in the right place) andthen you canbrag about having a 65 yard turkey gun;).
OBTW, I'm not implying that you are"that kind of guy". I'm simplyvoiceing my opinion on some of the coffee shop heroes that brag about there guns etc.

I've shot a lot of 12 gauges from 23/4" to 3 1/2" and 45 yards is a long shot with any of them.

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

I don't know much about how my buddies shotgun patterned at 50-60 yards. But it is an old remington pump with a 4x fixed scope on it. He absolutely plastered this bird at 63 yards exactly. I ranged it for him.

That bird was anchored.

Tom

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

If you really want to kill turkeys at 40+ yds, the nephew of a friend of mine has what you want. It's a 10 ga. semi-auto, shoots 3 1/2" shells stuffed with BB's. Some states permit this, I guess, and some don't. All I know is what I've been told. He took it on a hunt some where in the South, and killed his bird immediately, even though they were hanging up just out of normal range. Some of the other hunters were having trouble keeping birds down. He lent his gun to one or more of them, and according to him, their troubles were over.
Don't know if this is a viable option for where you hunt, but it seems to work well for him.
Just a story as it was told to me..............

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

Lots of good stuff here and you know what I think I'll try out the factory full that came with my SBE just for grins. When I first got it I took it to the range and shot it 6 times using Winchester 3 1/2" number 5's. I thought I really had something because it appeared to have lots of range but nearly took off my shoulder. I had a good size black and blue mark and a swollen trigger finger. Lots of kick for the old version of the gun that weighs about 6 pounds. At the urging of a friend who had the same gun I sent it out for a forcing cone polishing and extension and laser porting to reduce recoil.I had them sell me their tightest turkey choke and used it that first season with decent results. As time went on I tried 2 other turkey chokes looking for something that would reach out just a tad further. You know how they market these things and sad to say I was hooked. Now it has been several years later and I have gone through about 200 worth of extra chokes and I am not in any better shape. I'll let you know how it works as soon as I can shoot again. Just had minor surgery and they told me to cool it for a couple of weeks. So just like you BC I'll be doing it all at the last minute....just like usual. My season opens May 1. :D

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

Well, didn't matter anyway. Hunted for over 3 days and it snowed in western MD 10". Killed the hunting. Birds were very unresponsive. So all that patterning didn't pay off.:(

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

Have you tried #4's yet? They work much better for me, especially with a tighter choke. I don't think spending a bunch of money on a choke is going to help you. They are all pretty much the same except for the constriction. If you get a new choke with the same constriction as the one you have now don't be shocked if you get nearly the same results. There really isn't anything that high tec about chokes in my opinion.

The key is finding the right choke size and load that works in your gun.

I think 40 yards is pushing it with a 12 ga 3 inch load anyway.

Good luck, let us know what you find out.

Paul

RE: Federal Flight Control
 

Oh, my buddy has a 870 special purpose turkey gun in 3 1/2. It shoots just fine with the stock extra full remington choke it came with. His will kill birds out to 50 yards, it patterns good that far, but you have to aim high because the pellets are dropping by then.

I use a browing A-5 stalker in 2 3/4 with high velocity pheasant loads an economy turkey choke. It patterns pretty good but haven't got a chance to take it turkey hunting yet.

Paul