What is the rule of thumb (if any) on how many pellets should be in the head/neck area when you are patterning your shotgun? When I patterned my 12 ga last week I was getting 50+ at 30 yards and 30+ at 40 yards with #4s,#5s, and #6s. Not to say that I'm going to change chokes or loads but is this a good count?

I'm not a gun person
I bow hunt,
But 50+ seems like a heck of alot,
is there anything left?
i was guessing +20 or so,

Grizz, 2% of that will kill a turkey,just use good ammo to do
the job. Head/Neck shots!

I had a 8 1/2 X 11 Turkey Head target on 2X4. I would pound it into the ground right in front of a barb wire fence. Every time I shot with the Winchesters, it would flip the 2X4. By contrast, I shot some older Remington #4 magnums (2 3/4) at 30 yards and the 2X4 barely moved and there were only about 6 holes in the head/neck area.

20 should do the job if you get a good shot

I'm happy with 6-10 in the kill zone at 40 yards... I have 3 turkey guns and I've tryed all kinds of choke shell combo's and the best I've gotton was out of my 870 with a Ventilator choke. I was averaging around 15-18 hits in the brain and neck verteba at 40 yards. You guys that get 20 plus hits from factory guns must really be lucky

I got bored a feww weeks ago and decided to pattern my 870 3" gun. I've been using a Super Full Turkey choke with Win Supreme 6's for years without failure.

On this testing day I bought a box of the Fed Flightwads in 6's. I used the Win Supreme 6's as well. I also tried a regular full choke.

The best I got was 16 pellets in the head and vertabrate. I didn't count ones that didn't hit these areas. The winning combo was the Flight wad with the regular full choke. I tested everything at 35 yards. The second best was with what I've been using for years. Super Full choke with the Win Supreme 6's. It scored 12 pellets. The longest bird I've ever attempted was 47 paces. It tumbled over and flopped dead pretty quickly. Had I known it was that far I would have probably waited him in closer.

To get 20+ seems like the next level to me. I would try to get that if my system ever failed me.

A target I used a while back, (one that showed the spinal column and brain outlined), had printed in the lower conrner, "6 or more pellets in the vital area for a clean harvest".

Obviously one pellet in the brain is all you need, but having at least 6 in the spine / brain outline should mean that your pattern is concentrated enough at that particular distance to be ethical.

Please don't mistake "pellets in the head and neck" for "pellets in the kill zone." It's the ones in the actual brain and spine that count. If you can consistently get from 5-10 in the brain and spine you are doing great.

That is extremely good.
Chuck