superstrutter

What satisfies you? Some of you here seem to try for perfection. On one post a few of you questioned 20 hits in the kill zone. You found out it was at 50 yards instead of 40 and that was better. If I can put 20 pellets in a turkeys head and neck at 40 yards, he is going down hard. Some of you say 20 hits in the kill zone at 40 yards is not good, why? One of you stated you got over 300 hits in a ten inch circle at 40 yards. Heck, I'm happy to get over 150 hits. To make you happy after patterning, how many hits in the kill zonemust you have at 30 and 40 yards? If I get at least 10 to 15 kill zone hits at 40 yards I'm satisfied. The kill zone of course being the head and neck(vertabrae). At 30 yards I'm shooting for 15 to 20 hits. This is plenty to put a turkey down for good. Some of you expect more, so let's here it.

4patches

about a dozen is good for me, dont like picking shot out of my teeth at dinner time. what bilds my confidence level isnt the pellet count in the head ,its the consistency of the pattern, and point of impact.i shot at turkey shoots for a few years and the tale of the paper was never consistent, but the point of impact was. so at the pattern board you might get your 20 or so pellets, but in the woods on your butt, free hand ,at a moving turkey head will be a different story.

Dixon

I definitely agree w/ 4patches on this one. To me there's a difference between patterning a gun on paper and being in the woods on your butt. Too many other factors involved (brush, trees, wind, etc.)

fantail

3 killing hits makes me happy as I believe 1 would get the job done.

OntElk

you mentioned killing zone and 10 inch circle. I don't worry about counting killing zone. I want a nice consistent pattern in that 10 inch circle at 40 yds with as many pellets depending on the load size. Like you said 150 is great. A nice pattern with not a lot of holes and I am good. The targets with a turkey head make it a little more fun to aim at but a large sheet of paper with a 10 inch circle and a bullseye in the middle for aiming is all I need.

By the way if Iam right about the post you are referring to, I was one who criticized that pattern a bit assuming it was 40 yds. I believe I maybe counted about 80 pellets with not really a consistent pattern. 80 would be almost half of what you stated. if it was #6's then there is literally hundreds of pellets flying somehwere else. That ain't chasing perfection. It's just not a good pattern even if 20 did happen to hit on that particluar shot. IMO

maytom

For years I wasn't happy with the chokes and loads I was shooting out on my gun (Win 1300), especially at the 40 yard marker, until I seen a friends pattern target that he shot while using the Nitro/Rhino combo. I was flabbergasted!![:-]
I took the plunge several seasons ago, and picked up a .660 Rhino choke and some Nitro H378 3" 4X5X7 plated hevishot shells, and haven't looked back since. This is what I always was looking for, pattern wise, at 40 yards. That's a 10" circle with an honest 316 pellets inside. It's a nice tight patternat that distance, giving me the confidence to take that 40 yard shot without worrying about a cripple or wounding a gobber.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/PKay2004/TommyThreeToes92/fc5c1829.jpg

Tree climber

as long as I can get 10 or 12 in the head and neck target at 35 yards, setting with by back against a tree I'm fine. I like them closer than that.

zubba

Although this is true, when you look at the percentage, I would aim for atleast 10-12 in the kill zone. However, at anything closer than 30 yards, there should be quite a few more than 10-12 in the kill zone. Try a different shell and/or different loads.

Mr. Longbeard

I would say 3 hits beeing the minimum. But I wouldn't be satisfied with that

When I pattern my gun at 40 yards I usually shot at least 5 shots...

My 5 shots may go something like this

1st 12 hits in vitals
2nd 8 " " "
3rd5" ""
4th 7 " " "
5th 9 " " "

I'll average those out and say I get 8 hits consitently in the vitals at 40 yards...