I still havent patterned my shotgun yet, the range has been closed. How many pellets should i have in the kill zone at about 30 yds to make a good shot?

Technically you need one. The old standard was 3-5 pellets consistantly in the spine/brain to have a "killing" pattern at any range. It is still valid.

depends on size of the shell, size of the load, and the choke you're using. If you provide this information we could probably give you a number of shot at 30 yards.

I prefer 10 to consider it a "killing" distance.

However, I killed a monster tom ~5 years ago with a single pellet, because the rest of the load went into a 4 inch maple sapling I never saw. I skinnned it out, and it had one pellet at the base of the skull. One other single pellet penetrated the fleshy tail, just enough to puncture the abdominal cavity and refresh my memory as to why birds were termed "fowl"...[:'(] lol

I think between 5-10 (from a 12 gauge or bigger) is a very safe and comfortable estimate. If shooting 6 shot (or higher), I would not recommend shots longer than 40 yards unless you're using a denser load, such as Hevi-shot or Winchester X-tended.

S&R

Hope this info helps, I shoot a 12guagemossberg 500, 26" with a comp n choke, I patterned a couple weeks ago.
Winchester 3" #6 at 30 yards 28 pellets in the kill zone
#4 16" "
Winchester Supreme High Velocity
#5 at 30 yards 20 ""
40 yards 7 ""
Federal 2 3/4 #4 at 25 yards 33""
3016 ""

Hope this helps.

I had some targets with a realistic drawing of a turkey head includingthe vitals (brain and 2 neck bones). They target itself said you needed 8 pellats in the kill zone. When I patterned my gun I usually had 10+, but if you looked at the brain or neck bones I usually only had 2-3 that hit those.

ohoh, not sure any of those patterns will cut it. another hunter is claiming 43 'vital' hits at 60 yards. and doesn't feel that 6-10 true 'vitals ' hits is enough to cleanly kill a turkey

I like to have at least 5-10 in the kill zone at my max distance.

I have been consistent with 6-10 kill zones and 25-30 bb's in the complete head at 40 yds, more at 30 yds and so on.
3" #5 nitro's and a .660 carlson ext tube

i use a 12g 3in 2oz load with a 26in barrel and superfull choke. i think #4s or 5s.