Well, it sounds as if you want to get it right the first time, so let me recommend this combo: 4x5x7 Nitros and a Jelly Head .660 choke. Sure, you'll pay $130 for 25 shells but you'll be set for a few years and the Jelly Head will run $40 tops. If you shoot 7 of the Nitros per year they'll last you 3 years. That's $40'ish per year if you break it down. I'll guarantee you that you'll spend more than that if you buy 2 or 3 boxes of ammo per year trying to find that load that'll shoot just a little better than before. I'll also guarantee you that you won't find another shell that'll shoot any better either. You'll go broke trying to beat it.

Those nitro shells have a pretty neet idea about them. They put 4's, 5's & 7's in the shell. And hevi-shot for the 7's. Kind of how Federal has those heavy weight mag-shok in 7's. They get away with using 7's because they use a hevi-shot type load.

It sounds like they are using the 7's as a buffer, so its a buffer and a killer at the same time.

One guy counted 22 #4 pellets, 81 #5 pellets and 382 #7 pellets for a total of 495 pellets in the shell.

But for me 10-16 in the head and neck at 50yds is plenty for me. Thats with federal fliteconrol 3.5", 5's. I can't really afford those nitro's. But I would love to give them a try.

Take a look at this web-site they did some testing with those nitro's

http://www.jesseshunting.com/article...gory14/11.html

If you've got ducks I'd gladly drive down there in the winter and let you shoot the gun yourself

I put a 2-7x32 scope on the gun two springs ago and haven't missed a bird with it since. In the spring of 2006 I shot a bird at 18 yards and nearly took his head off. Took another one at about 25 and a third at 35. Only shot one with the bow last spring. Having the scope helps a lot with close shots I suspect. That and having the bird hold still for a second.

I've got ducks, but not like it used to be. You know the story I'm sure. Swamp, you going blind man. Only old blind people use scopes to hunt turkeys.

Thank you for confirmation...

One thing that I failed to point out that I believe Simp pointed out in a later post from my first one on this thread is that those high pellet hit counts in a 10" circle are coming from shells that are using smaller shot such as #6 and #7. Several of the guys over on NWTF are using the Nitro shells and several are not. There is a lot of debate on whether #7 is too small to do the job from 40 plus yards away (but that is a debate for a different thread)! If you want a such a tight pattern, you can achieve a 300 pellet count pattern from 40 yards away with the correct shell and choke. If you would like to see a picture, I am sure that either Simp or I can provide you a link, as I believe Simp goes by the same name on the NWTF website (I use r33h on the NWTF website, too). Hopefully I am not wrongfully speaking for you Simp, but I don't think we would have a problem providing a link to a pic.

Not a problem at all! I'll see if I can find a link to a couple of pictures.

Here's one that's pretty impressive. http://www.nwtf.org/message_board/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=shotguns&Number=41 2666&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o= 0&fpart=


And another. This one is absolutely mind boggling!
http://www.nwtf.org/message_board/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=shotguns&Number=41 2282&page=5&view=collapsed&sb=5&o= 0&fpart=

Pellets per ounce (from chart of manufacturer)
#4 = 107 per ounce
#5 = 180 per ounce
#7 = 342 per ounce

Nitro's breakdown in the shell is 25% - #4, 25% - #5, and 50% - #7

So in a 2 oz load of 4X5X7's....There are approximately
#4=54
#5=190
#7=342....Total 586 pellets+-.

Therefore 50% of the pellet count is # 7's. This will give one more holes in paper, but what does it do for extended range, since # 7 loose there energy much quicker that the larger pellets???

Well, I guess it is common sense, almost twice as many pelletswill give you twice as many hits. That is a good question though. Will the 7's have an impact on a 50yard shot? Of course on paper they do. At close range, it really doesn't matter. I'll stick with my Rem. hevis and HD's.

Same here.

But we're talking about Hevishot, not lead. A Hevishot pellet has roughly the same amount of energy at any given distance as a lead pellet 2 sizes bigger. In other words, a #7 Hevishot pellet has the same amount of energy as a #5 lead pellet. That's one of the biggest pro's of Hevishot. You can get away with shooting a smaller pellet and still haveenough downrange energy to kill.