The reason you can drop down too 7s with Hevi-Shot type loads is because of the physical weight of the metal the pellets are made of(tungsten iron mix). Size wise they are sized like lead, but because they weigh more (than an equally sized lead pellet) they result in more knockdown and penetration when driven too equal velocity. YES the 7s will kill like lightening! They do have the knockdown of lead that is 1-1.5 larger sized lead. Since the shot is smaller you can get more pellets in a equal weight load compared too lead (like 2oz of lead 6vs 2 oz of HS 7s) but because of the shots heavier metal you don't give up knockdown.

Nitro Ammunition (Mtn. Grove, MO) also makes a straight 7 load. I stock them and have them from 20ga too 10ga in every size shell. They are expensive tho, $5-$6 a piece! But for those who use them, you know there is NO substitute!!!

LOL, "Nitro Ray" also makes a 3oz 10ga load with nothing but 7s. Talk about an OBSCENE pellet count. Over 1k!!!
RA

For those interested, here is where you can get these online

http://www.1st-shooting-supplies.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=1SS&Pro duct_Code=PHT191

Anyone that has done their homework knows the #7 hit as hard as #5 lead. I shot the Nitro 4x5x7 into a 2'' green oak plank. The #7 did just as well as the #5's.

God bless Nitro Ray, but Summbitch them shells are high dollar......

What I don't understand is... If your gun patterns #5 or even #6 hevi shot good out to 40 yardsWhy would you want to shot #7's[&:]

I guess if your turkey gun patterns like crap then you might want go with the #7's

Mouthcaller stated that a 3 1/2'' loadof #7's had 400 pellets. Iwas wondering why the pellet count was so low if this is a 2oz. load. Because in a 2oz. load of lead #6's wich are bigger than #7's there 450 pellets. If the federal Heavyweigh 3 1/2'' loads have a 2oz. shot load of #7's and there is only 400 of them then the size of the shot is closer to the size of lead 5's than lead 7's. I would like to try them but they are claiming the heavyweight 7's weigh as much as lead 5's, and if the pellet count of the 7's isn't higher than lead 5's I don't want tospend the money on them.

2oz of hevi shot is heavier than 2oz of lead[&:]So that means less hevi shot will weigh as much as more lead

duuuuuuuu!!!!!!! I must be an idiot, I knew that hevi shot was heavier than lead (hense the name hevi shot). I wasn't thinking of 2oz.'s of shot I kept thinking of a 2oz. wad. Which if you used a wad that would hold 2oz. of lead it would hold more than 2oz. of hevishot. It's amazing how something that simply can just slip your mind when you are making things harder that they actually are. Thanks Mr. longbeard for clearing up my stupidity!!!!!1

the last i checked 2oz. weighs the same no matter if it is lead or hevi. 2oz is 2oz. the difference will lie in the amount of mass that the 2oz is comprised of.

Right!! SO, if you have 2 oz of lead #5 and 2 oz of Heavyweight #5, there'll be fewer pellets in the Heavyweight, so "going up" in shot size, to #7 Heavyweight, gets you something like the same # (probably more) of pellets in 2 oz of #7 Heavyweight as you'd get with 2 oz of #5 lead, for example.

So then the question is, is it better to have 500 (or 400 or 300 or 200--whatever your gun patterns) pellets of #7 Heavyweight hit a 30 " circle at 40 yards, or 350 (or 250 or 150--again, whatever your gun patterns) pellets of #5 Heavyweight? While I understand the #7 carries penetrating power that is 1.5 times lead, the same is true of the #5 Heavyweight pellet, it has 1.5 times the penetration power of a #5 lead pellet (and a #5 Heavyweight pellet probably has more than 2 times the penetration power of a #7 Heavyweight pellet or some such, as a #5 pellet is bigger than a #7 pellet) and I don't think I need 350#5 Heavyweight hits to kill a turkey.

Wow!!! As I think of it, I'm really confused!! Should I shoot # 5 Heavyweight or # 7 Heavyweight this spring?? Help!!!!!

It can be very confusing but I think I have a way of putting it to help make more sense. Lead #7's have (a guess) 550 pellets for every 2 oz. of shot. Since heavy shot,Fed heavy weight and win Xtended weigh more than lead (10-30% more) it takes 10-30% less number of pellets to make 2oz. That is why Fed heavy weight #7's only have 400 pellets in a 2 0z. load.