Why Join the Hevi-Shot Bandwagon?

[West Augusta]

I get 110 in 10 at 40 with lead.
I get 256 with Hevi 13 mag blend 5,6,7.
I shoot an 870 Express Super Mag with a 665 Jellyhead.
I now think it is that important.

[chcltlabz]

Well since Hevishot hit the market, no other shell has won the still target championships.  All categories, all classes, all guages.

That's a pretty impressive statistic.  Call them shady, say its overkill, say whatever you want, but they've still dominated patterning competitions.

[3" 870 Shell Shucker]

Well since Hevishot hit the market, no other shell has won the still target championships.  All categories, all classes, all guages.

The all-time world record NWTF still target record of 54 hits in a 3" circle at 40 Yards was accomplished with original Winchester XRHD through an INV+ Indian Creek .675 choke.

[Smart longbeard]

Well don't beat me up to bad but.......... i shot a bird at about 53 yrds using #7 hevi 13 3.5" and did not kill him. Basically he raised one wing and flew out of the field. Everyone may love hevi 13 but as for me i will be trading my hevi 13 and jellyhead for my old trusty standard winchester in #4 or #5 shot and my gobblin thunder choke. I have killed a lot of turkey with the gt and if i can't shoot past 45 yrds i will not pay the price for hevi 13. Just one opinion. Btw... it may not have been exactly 53 yrds because i didn't range find it but i did go home and pattern the gun at the same distance by steping it off and it produced a really good pattern. People may say i missed the turkey but i have fully adjustable sights and i patterned the setup.

[Tom Foolery]

To answer your question about pellet size, why shoot Hevi #4's that have enough energy to 80+yds when they will be lucky to give a killing pattern at 40 due to low pellet numbers. 

A local here in town shot lead 4's for years and just smoked turkeys with his setup.  Anything other than 4's was hummingbird shot.  He bought WinXR #4's and hevi 4's and started loosing birds.  When he patterned them he had around 40 pellets on a sheet of paper at 40yds.  All the energy in the world but not enough pattern density to matter.  He went back to lead 4's because hevi or XR 6's or 7's were not enough or turkeys.  He could not wrap his head around the fact that they are HEAVY shot and there are less pellets per ounce of hevi 4's than lead 4's and that the hevi 6's were more effective than lead 6's.

[smitty1hunter]

good point.

[new2turkey]

you'll just have to buy some and shoot them....

That's what got me on board... I heard great things from here and decided to give em a try. I bought 10 full size targets and 5 hevi #6s... for a whopping $23 dollars.

They patterned with higher numbers and with a more even pattern than my selected load for this year... That's what I'll be using.

[trkehunr93]

This is my reason.  I have shot the "old white" 3" 1 3/4oz. #6's up until this year (switched to 3.5" #7's) and have not had one drop like it had been hit in the head with a brick like this one did at 30-35 yrds.  Never had my lead loads do that even with 20 yd. shots.  Plus I could never get the pattern with lead that I get w/ Hevi 13.  just my 2 cents

[goblr77]

This is why.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[goblr77]

And this.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[strutnrut1]

All I know is I shot lead forever and when I decided to try Hevi Shot I tried #6s and Magnum Blend. The 6s were way better than anything I had ever shot before and the Mangum Blend was even better than the 6s.
I think the difference in companies is R&D the shot is great and then the matched choke tubes they are awsome. 

[longbeardlife.com]

shoot them both and you will see. also try nitros and you will see.  but if you dont want to spend the extra money thats ok too.   but the new htl shells are awesome and they help alot if you misjudge a birds distance...

[mcgruff1533]

I shoot both lead and HTL, but will do my hunting from now on with HTL.

Here's an example...

Federal Mag-Shok lead 3.5-2-6 with FCW and my SSX .643" choke @40 yards:   124 hits in a 10" circle

Hevi 13 load of 3.5-1.75.6 through my SSX choke @40 yards:  155 hits in a 10" circle.

Now I realize that an extra 31 pellets isn't a make or break pattern, but consider the Hevi 13 load is throwing a better pattern with a 1/4 ounce smaller payload.      At 30 yards, the Federal FCW #6 pattern was better than the Hevi 13 pattern but once I moved out to 40 yards, you could see (and count) the difference.

HTL wins for pattern density at 40+ yards... for shots out to 30-35 yards, lead is still plenty adequate!