MichiganBowbender

Theres lots of ways to kill a turkey, but I wouldn't sell my shells/gun just yet. Get a few under your belt. As far as shells, there will always be something that sounds better. It's called marketing.

kdsberman

Hold on....not to ask a dumb question...but are we talking about the Nitros or the actual Hevi-Shot brand? Just wondering because I noticed Nitro has something called "Hevi-Shot". Im confused here.

mouthcaller

I'm no expert, but I'll give your question a stab.

Hevi-Shot was developed by Environmetals and the name "Hevi-Shot" is tradmarked by Environ. Another trademarkedname for "heaver than lead" shot made by Environ is Hevi-13. Initially Environ didn't actually load and sell the ammo, but they entered an agreement with Remington to load the shells. They were sold by remington as "Hevi-Shot Magnum" turkey loads and the box carried the Hevi-Shot logo and trademark. Sometime in 2006 Environmetals suspended the agreement with Remington and started loading and selling their own brand of ammo trademarked as "Hevi-Shot" loads.They sell loads for not only turkeys, but waterfowl, coyote, pheasant, etc.

http://www.hevishot.com/products.html

Environ also sells Hevi-Shot to reloaders. The Nitro Companyn Mountain Grove, Missouri purchases Hevi-Shot from Environ and loads it in their own propriatary line of shells which we commonly call "Nitros". These are extreme, max loads and cost around $5.00 per shell. These are the shells I have previously spoken about in this and other threads. They also load a "econonmy" line of turkey ammo containing a triplex combination of copper coated lead 4s and 5s with Hevi-Shot 7s.

http://www.nitrocompany.com/

Confusion exists concerning the Remington line of "Nitro" ammunition and the Nitro Company's line of ammo we commonly call "Nitros". Remington has been loading various lead shells in their "Nitro Premier" line for years and owns a trademark on the "Nitro" name as it applies to shotshell ammunition. These are not the "Nitro" loads which turkey hunters are referring to. The Nitro Company doesn't refer to their own ammo as "Nitros" because it would be a trademark infringement. Turkey hunters simply refer to the Nitro Company's turkey loads as Nitros because it is easier to say than "the Hevi-Shot turkey shells loaded by the Nitro Company"

Other manufacturers,specifically Winchester and Federal, load their own version of "heavier than lead" shot. Winchesters "Supreme Elite" line has the "Extended Range HD" turkey loads containing Winchester's brand of "heavier than lead" shot. They claim that theirs is better because it is rounder than Hevi-Shot (Hevi-13).

http://www.winchester.com/products/catalog/shotlist.aspx?bn=16&use=16

Winchester HDis rounder but I don't know if it makes any difference. Hevi-13 actually isn't perfectly round - the pellets have a nipple sticking out but it doesn't seem to affect performance.

Federal loads their version of "heavier than lead" shot they call "Heavyweight"in the Premier Ultrashock Heviweight line. I don't have any personal experience with it but the 3.5" 12 gauge and 10 gauge loads of straight 7s are popular with many hunters.

http://www.federalammo.com/ballistics/Ammo_Search.aspx?act=choose&firearm=5&s1=1


There you go - that's about all I know.

kdsberman

Mouthcaller.....that was awesome. Honest to God, that is extremely helpful.

hillbilly archer

Man, I hate to tell ya this, those are not the turkey loads, the remington website list them @ 1 3/8 oz. shot and the Wingmaster HD Turkey @1 5/8oz. shot. I did the exact same thing, they had them right in the middle of the turkey loads and I didn't even notice that they were only 1 3/8 oz . I patterned them @ 40 yards with several other #4 and #5 loads Federal, remington, Winchester, and they had the worst pattern of all of them. The gun is a 870, 28 inch barrel, kicks .665 choke. They will kill a turkey for sure,but I'm sure the actual HD Turkey loads would work much better.

But you might as well try them, they may shoot very good out of your gun and I hope they do.

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/shotshell/wingmaster_HD.asp

Looks like the difference is the HD Turkey loads 3" #6 are slower and 1 5/8 oz. shot versus 1 3/8 oz.

usa

Here in Ca. we don't have a choice when hunting anywhere there may be a condor, so I hated to pay the high price for Hevi-Shot, last weekend I killed a turkey at around 40 + yd's and the shot broke his wingbone and leg into 2 pc's useing my 870 with the Primos Tightwad choke, great combo

quax

HBA and Lefty, this load will pattern for turkey; they are just a little finicky and don't like to be overchoked.

Here are some results out of a Browning Gold Classic Stalker shooting the 3" 1.375oz #6 1450fps Remington HD Wingmaster loads. 40yds/10" circle

Jellyhead .670: 103 pellets - not too shabby, especially at 1450fps
Carlson .665 nonported: 60 pellets



That being said here are the results of Hevi-13 3" 2oz #6s at 1090fps - same gun.

Jellyhead .670: 139 pellets
Calson .665: 160

Lefty26

I understand they are not turkey loads. I will primarly use them for ducks but I figured for that price I could get them a try for turks.

quax

lefty, what gun/choke do you plan to shoot them out of?

For me, these shells outshot regular Win HV lead #5s.

I will probably just stick with the Hev-13 since i got high pellet counts, but shooting the Remington HD with the Jellyhead at 360 fps faster is pretty tempting, especially getting 103 hits at 40.

hillbilly archer

Sounds like the regular Wingmaster HD doesn't do well out of a .665 choke. My choke does recommend #4's or #5's with my setup though.

Believe me, if they shot that good out of my gun, I would definately use them, regardless if they weren't actual turkey loads.