kdsberman

Hey im going to pattern/sight in my turkey gun today with my new scope and new Nitro shells. Im heading to an open hay field to do it. Im just wondering what you guys use to shoot at or what you stick your targets to? Im trying to decide if i should stick some cardboard up or something. Thanks

JW

Ya I use a big piece of cardboard and a turkey target.

Swamp collie has a pinned post above to help you with patterning.

I start at 10 yards and try to knock out a quarter sized orange dot and I use trap loads. 2 3/4 - # 8 shot. I do have my tight turkey choke in. I use this load until I can consistently punch that dot out. I do remember I went over 70 plus clicks to get the scope there.
Then I move back 10 and try again. If on - I go to my turkey targets and real turkey loads and make any minor adjustments then.

And I do use a shooting bench to lock the gun down. Once I have it in - then I will sit on the ground and free-hand.

Oh during this process do check all scope mounts! Make sureall screwsstay tight.
After I was done and happy with the results I put a tiny bit of lock tight by loosing each screw one at a time and then re-tighten before I went to another. I set the gun in the sun and 30 minutes later checked one last time. It was still on. I have not touched the settings on this scope now for better than 6 yrs. I do shoot one or two each yr for pre-season.Ithas stayed Smack on.

JW

kdsberman

Awesome. What do you put the cardboard on? Do you nail something to the ground?

Ihuntandfish

I just nail a piece of cardboard and and turkey patterning target to a small wooden stake, and then pound the stake into the ground. I usually will shoot a shot or two at 30 and 40 yards.

Adrian J Hare

I have a range right in the front yard and its setup to shoot everything from rifles to shotguns. A great back stop of railroad ties infront of a large dirt pile. I have a 20-30and 40 yard posts to shoot from while I sight in the turkey guns.

here's a pic of it,

JoeA

For a quick and dirty check....blast a coke can at 30yds. You won't see the misses, but the hits will be obvious. If your gun wipes out the can, then you're pattern is on.

This is not so good for determining where the center of your pattern is or how your choke tube affects the shot pattern. This a "field check" if your gun gets knocked or takes a hard bump while it's in the truck. A bud who hunts with an NEF single shot showed me this. His bird buster will blammo the the can at 40yds.

mauser06

definitely get some large pieces of cardboard or something and put your target on that. the first thing you need to do is find the center of the pattern and make sure you point of aim and point of impact(center of pattern) are the same. ive seen them be pretty far off...you gotta get them to match up or your wasting pellets...

if you cant find LARGE pieces of cardboard, use small pieces(cut up a box or something) or use news paper sheets or something if you have to. i like cardboard because its thicker and stiffer and doesnt rip and tear easy so it makes looking easy at it and counting and determining easy...you can hold that up however you wish...ive always liked wood pallets if you can find one somewhere...if not anything will work to hold it up as long as it can be shot...dont use metal....

once your gun is shooting the center of your pattern where you aim you can go on and finish patterning

loadbreak

Second on the large cardboard. Instead of a turkey target I just use some cheap christmas wraping paper and put a small dot that I can see from what ever distance I'm shooting from.

kdsberman

I actually went out when I patterned it today and found a big piece of plywood that i stood up with stakes. Earler today I went and bought a roll of resin paper which was recommended to me, and stapled that to it and it worked great. I dont have any numbers, but let me tell you, the patterns were great. I was at 32 yards patterning trying out my new Nitro H517 shells. Awesome patterns!