RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

Matt:

The Winchester HD's are a great load too. I've got their 1 3/4oz 3" loads in that Mossberg that Dan is using now. They just don't stuff as much shot into the bigger 3.5" loads, their heaviest load is 2oz. I'm sure they would get the job done though. Dan killed both his NY and PA birdsthis year with that gun and loadusing a lower end Primos Gobble Stopper Xtreme .665 choke that I setup before he got it. His NY bird wasat 52 yards......[8D].

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

There was quite a lot of heated conversations about this very topic over on the NWTF forums about a month or two ago. If I remember correctly, one guy over on the NWTF fourms said he took a phone book and set it up at 40 yards and shot. He said that the #7 shot pellets didn't penetrate very far at all. I personally don't have any experience with Nirto loads...this is based on this guys comments. To me, #7 just seems too small, but bigger and better things come our all the time.

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

So what's the actual thinking on these Nitro shells then? They put a bunch #7 1/2 (I didn't know there WAS a straight #7 shot by the way?) and/or smaller shot mixed in just to say they have "X" number of hits in 10" at 40yds?....... hoping that if guys are taking 50 yard shots with these that a #4 or #5 catches the tom in the coconut doing the actual damage?

I'd really be curious to know an autopsy on one of these shells because you gotta admit 300+ hits inside 10" at 40yards is pretty impressive but I wouldn't want to be blowing salt in a birds face at that range or farther either. ;):D

Toobad there's probably no way to tell what percentage of hits in those 10" circles are made by shot LARGER than #7 1/2?

I didn't think turkey guns and loads involved this much thought or tinkering. [:-]LOL I guess I'll just be happy with a super cleaned barrel and my 3.5" Hevi #6's and hopefully 200-220ish on average inside that magic 10" circle at 40.

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

Remember...those #7 Hevi-Shot pellets will have about the same energy as a #5 lead pellet at 40 yards.

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

Matt somebody put up a thread during the season that put up some numbers.... and if I recall there were less than 100 4s and 5s.... and well over 300 7s. I've heard the thought tossed around that Nitro uses the #7s almost like a buffer.

Will #7.5s kill at 40 yards? With lead shot, I would place my bet on no. Not from a physics standpoint anyway. I'm sure its been done before.

Will #7s kill at 40 yards? Hevi-13 typically shoots/hits as hard as two sizes larger in lead. So a #6 hevi 13 hits like a #4 lead. A commonly quoted phrase is that hevi-shot hits the same as two sizes larger in lead.... and in big shot like buck shot and Ts and even Bs and 2s.... I'd say its certainly about right. However, that ratio increases as shot gets larger... and decreases as shot gets smaller. I'd believe that a #7 hevi-shot (not hevi-13) at 40 yards would hit about like a #6 lead. I've used #7 hevi on ducks back when Rem was loading it, and it was great inside 35 yards on wood ducks and teal.... but I made the mistake of taking a poke at high goose with it.... and I might as well have been shooting sand.... pillow cased him.... and he never flinched.

I think that inside 40 yards... #7 hevi would be a fine turkey load...infact... I think it would be most useful in a 20 gauge where pellet count is often an issue... but inside 40 yards... anything #7 can do... #6 can do as good or better. And if you get a 50 yarder.... #6 is still game.... but will #7 be? I don't know.

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

See... I just don't believe that Simp. When pellets get that small.... the difference in weight between lead and hevi-shot isn't nearly what it is with larger pellets. Infact, I don't really even think that #6 hevi hits like #4 lead....

Those comparisons were drawn up to compare hevi-shot to steel shot... and the recommendation was that if you normally shoot #2 steel... you can now shoot a #5 hevi shot. The thought was that it would shoot about three sizes smaller than steel. Keep in mind that with steel... you go two sizes larger than you would with lead.

The whole two sizes heavier than lead came about as a result of Hevi-13.... but hevi-shot never was that way. If you look at the difference between steel and lead.. the difference is about 4g/cc. The difference between lead and hevi is only about .8 - 1.2 g/cc (depending on whose chart you use). To me, it just doesn't add up, especially with smaller sizes. I think that if you weighed a #5 lead and a #7 hevi... you'd find that the #5 lead was heavier. And keep in mind that as the shot size gets larger... the gap quickly closes.

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

I guess my question was a bit loaded. I saw on the NWTF forum (I believe it was on there) that someone cut one open and found a mostly#7 and other shot that looked much smaller as well. That's why I asked here. ;)

Andy's thoughts pretty much mirror mine. That's why I went for straight #6's in the Hevi load for my setup.It was cheaper, available at any Gander Mountain, and I didn't really want to pay the money or support Rhino for a choke and it seemed that lots of people were having good luck with the Indian Creek/Hevi 2.25oz load combo. It just seemed a straight load of #6's should do it out of this combo every time at 50 yards and that's all I'm reallylooking for.

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

Great discussion - but I will stick with my Winchester Supremes #4s. It has the muzzle velocity and packs a punch better than the 5s or 6s I used in the past.

Long ago my partner used the 4x6 load and could not understand why at about 28 yards he missed this turkey. Then it happened again and we immediatley went to a quick set up pattern board. To our amazement we found this load at a certain range gave him a hole in his pattern. I do beleive both boxes can still be found in the bottom of a cedar swamp in Mich!:)

JW

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

All I know for sure is that at a measured 39 yards, Aturkey will drop like a sack of potatoes with my 835, jelly head, and hevi-13 #6's. Thats also all I need to know;)

RE: 200 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards????
 

YOU BETCHA - SOUNDS GOOD TO ME AND IS WHY I DID NOT CHANGE......


But like anything else I wonder what new hype the shell manufacturers will come out with next.

JW