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Tennessee Hunting Forums
Long Beards & Spurs
Why do turkey hunters miss/wound their gobbler?
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<blockquote data-quote="Andy S." data-source="post: 5294919" data-attributes="member: 131"><p>I have and I know what you mean. I started with old school 12G 3.5" 2 oz Winchester High Velocity #4s (<em>black shells, gold lettering, 270 pellets total</em>), then graduated up to 12G 3.5" 2 7/16 oz Nitros (<em>kills on both ends</em>), then stepped down to 12G 3.5" 2 1/4 oz Mag-Blends (<em>5,6,7 shot</em>), then 12G 3" 2 oz handloaded TSS #8s, then 12G 3" 1 oz TSS #9s duplexed with 1 oz Lead #7s, then eventually graduated to the kid gun I tote today (<em>compact 870 20G</em>), shooting handloaded 20G 3" 1 5/8 oz TSS #9s (<em>588 pellets</em>). I have shot a lot of targets, recovered a lot of wads, even built a shot trap early on to recover TSS because of the cost, and can remember the days of a lightly bruised cheek bone and black eye from shooting eight of the 2 7/16 oz Nitros when I changed chokes (<em>Kicks to Indian Creek</em>) and the POI changed, A LOT, like 8" high! With all of that said, these days, I am a firm believer in "<strong><span style="color: rgb(184, 49, 47)">set it and forget it</span></strong>" as I have not patterned my main turkey gun (REM 870 20G 21" bbl) since I first dialed it in years back with handloaded TSS #9s. I still load the same basic recipe for it and it continues to perform. At that time, I field verified 20, 30 and 40 yard patterns with the TSS #9s and determined it was good to go with pellet density at all yardages and POA = POI. With TSS, and it's consistent uniform shot string without many fliers, you can estimate 75% pellet retainage inside the 10" and 20" circles for every 10 yards the distance increases. Generally speaking my Rem 870 20G 21" bbl turkey hunting gun shoots 250/250 inside the 10" circle and 20" circle at 40 yards, thus 250 * .75 = 188 pellets estimated inside each circle at 50 yards, and 140 pellets estimated inside each circle at 60 yards. I am just explaining the math, not advocating for anyone to shoot at a wild turkey at these distances. All of that to say, I have spent a ton of time and more money than I care to admit over the last few decades tinkering with shotguns/chokes/shells to make sure my turkey hunting setup was dialed in for the hunt. Those days are pretty much past me, but I did setup one new 20G last year and shot 3-4 TSS shells to get it dialed in at 40 yards. I started with lead #8s to get it on paper, and fine tuned the TSS #9s POI with 3-4 TSS shells. YMMV, just make sure your setup shoots straight (POA=POI) and you have the pattern density and uniformity you need at the distances you plan to hunt/shoot, and you should be fine.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Andy S., post: 5294919, member: 131"] I have and I know what you mean. I started with old school 12G 3.5" 2 oz Winchester High Velocity #4s ([I]black shells, gold lettering, 270 pellets total[/I]), then graduated up to 12G 3.5" 2 7/16 oz Nitros ([I]kills on both ends[/I]), then stepped down to 12G 3.5" 2 1/4 oz Mag-Blends ([I]5,6,7 shot[/I]), then 12G 3" 2 oz handloaded TSS #8s, then 12G 3" 1 oz TSS #9s duplexed with 1 oz Lead #7s, then eventually graduated to the kid gun I tote today ([I]compact 870 20G[/I]), shooting handloaded 20G 3" 1 5/8 oz TSS #9s ([I]588 pellets[/I]). I have shot a lot of targets, recovered a lot of wads, even built a shot trap early on to recover TSS because of the cost, and can remember the days of a lightly bruised cheek bone and black eye from shooting eight of the 2 7/16 oz Nitros when I changed chokes ([I]Kicks to Indian Creek[/I]) and the POI changed, A LOT, like 8" high! With all of that said, these days, I am a firm believer in "[B][COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]set it and forget it[/COLOR][/B]" as I have not patterned my main turkey gun (REM 870 20G 21" bbl) since I first dialed it in years back with handloaded TSS #9s. I still load the same basic recipe for it and it continues to perform. At that time, I field verified 20, 30 and 40 yard patterns with the TSS #9s and determined it was good to go with pellet density at all yardages and POA = POI. With TSS, and it's consistent uniform shot string without many fliers, you can estimate 75% pellet retainage inside the 10" and 20" circles for every 10 yards the distance increases. Generally speaking my Rem 870 20G 21" bbl turkey hunting gun shoots 250/250 inside the 10" circle and 20" circle at 40 yards, thus 250 * .75 = 188 pellets estimated inside each circle at 50 yards, and 140 pellets estimated inside each circle at 60 yards. I am just explaining the math, not advocating for anyone to shoot at a wild turkey at these distances. All of that to say, I have spent a ton of time and more money than I care to admit over the last few decades tinkering with shotguns/chokes/shells to make sure my turkey hunting setup was dialed in for the hunt. Those days are pretty much past me, but I did setup one new 20G last year and shot 3-4 TSS shells to get it dialed in at 40 yards. I started with lead #8s to get it on paper, and fine tuned the TSS #9s POI with 3-4 TSS shells. YMMV, just make sure your setup shoots straight (POA=POI) and you have the pattern density and uniformity you need at the distances you plan to hunt/shoot, and you should be fine. [/QUOTE]
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Why do turkey hunters miss/wound their gobbler?
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