Like many of us I spend much time in the turkey woods with the goal of calling in a bird for someone else. However when I have a tag as well I bring my gun in the hopes of shooting a double. A few times the person I am calling for will put a marginal hit on a bird and all hell breaks loose! Once a turkey is wounded its all bets off and I do my best to to bring things to a close. When backing someone up I carry a 3.5 inch gun. (Formally a Remington Supermag; this year a Mossberg 835.) Right now I am using Winchester HV #5's. Next year I am switching to hevi to get more out of the Pure Gold on my 835. So my question is "ideally" would Magnum Blend or #7's serve this purpose better. I understand that this is purely hypothetical(that's half the fun!) but these situations do occur either when backing someone up or as a second anchoring shot after a less than ideal first shot.
7s they produce a better pattern
Theoretically the Mag Blends would hit harder because of the larger shot I suppose but realistically I don't think it matters.
Since your shots as a backup man would primarily be at moving targets, I'd think that you might want a shell with a little more open pattern. I'd also think that having some larger shot would be good because when your shooting at a moving bird, you might not always have a clear head shot. For a backup shell, I'd go with the magblends. A little more open, they have some larger shot, and they also have a little higher muzzle velocity so they should pack some knockdown.
I would suggest shooting any shell first, then making a decision on how it patterns.
God Bless,
David B.
Yes in the actual situation the patterns each load will be the ultimate deciding factor. As a hypothetical I am thinking the magnum blend may be ideally suited for the task of ending a grazed gobblers suffering. My only wish would be that a retailer here in madison wi would carry a selection of hevi shells. Unfortunately this isn't a very gun friendly city and it seems to scare off excellent sporting goods stores.
my back up shell is a 3.5" 2-1/4oz #4 Pb load or Hevi13 3.5" 2-1/4oz #5's
7's for every shot
Hevi 13 Mag Blends
I think any of them will be good. 6's and 7's shoot same POA/POI for me, but mag blends are 6" low and left, so I can't back up with them. They would be my choice if they shot the same.
This is how I load my gun Hevi 7 then a Hevi 7 ........... and then another Hevi 7 :fud:
this year it was all nitro's. next season will be all TSS 9's
Quote from: bowhunter84 on May 04, 2011, 10:00:41 AM
this year it was all nitro's. next season will be all TSS 9's
Ditto. I am shooting H-13 and Nitro 7's this year, but TSS 9's for next year.
This is classic old school/new school thinking in this thread. It took me a little while, but I don't believe the bigger is better for longer ranges when it comes to shot size.
I also love a rage 2-blade, but it is horrible for running shots. lol
I guess I'm leaning more old school on this subject. A wounded turkey shot turns into a giant pheasant hunt! I think a good 3.5 inch of copper-plated 4s or 5s is the way I'm leaning. With the intention of breaking down a flying or running gobbler. I like a nice even 30 inch pattern at 40 to 50 yards.(Emergency shot)
All TSS 9s for me...
Quote from: joey46 on May 04, 2011, 10:56:33 AM
#9s - really?? - a whole lot of States better changed their regs before these become the new rage in long range turkey killing.
I will guarantee you most game officials have no idea what TSS #9s are capable of
MB or H-13 #5's for me....
mudhen
Fastcat, I did that for a long time. I shot #6 copper plated lead with a #5 then a #4 for backup.
Fast forward a few years. I took the time to pattern #4's at 40 yards. 250 pellets in a 30" circle leaves a ton of holes in the pattern that are bigger than turkey vitals. It has killed a ton of turkeys for sure, but when I look at it on paper it scares me.
That is true those old #4 patterns look pretty sparse compared to the HTL small shot that guys are using now. Its amazing how times change! You don't need to rewind that far to find #4 lead and fixed full chokes were the cats meow! It was probably easier on the brain cells before 3.5 inch shells existed!
I'm like Fastcat. In the pre-HTL days my standard loading strategy was 3" Federal Heavyweight 2 oz. # 6s in the chamber then Federal Heavyweight 2 oz. # 2s in the magazine. If the load of 6s didn't anchor the bird the #2s would definitely do the trick. The second shot is never pretty. Your bird is in high gear leaving the country and your probable target is going to be his butt. You need something to break him down in the body. The 2s were definitely bone breakers.
Unfortunately, a few years ago, somebody shot Jack Murray, our TN TWRA Turkey Biologist in the head with a load of 2s while he was turkey hunting. He survived but just barely. The powers-that-be decided that since the 2s would penetrate a human skull, they should be outlawed for turkeys and almost everything else. Once again the weapon got blamed for the actions of a stupid human so they baned the 2s. Now the largest shot you can use hunting small game in TN is a #4.
Luckily, with the advent of HTL, we can still get the effectiveness of the large #2 shot by using the denser, heavier Hevi-Shot 4s and stay legal. At the same time we can fill in some of the holes in the pattern of the large shot by shooting the blended shot loads. Best of both worlds.
I do still miss the Heavyweight 2s though. I once had to finish off a bird that wouldn't stay down on the first shot. He was running down a logging road directly away from me. When the #2s caught up with him, he rolled like a ball. I paced it off to where he dropped. It was 93 steps. One #2 pellet hit him in the back of the skull. Yeah, it was a Hail Mary, but it saved me from losing a wounded turkey.
PA doesn't allow any shot larger than #4 for turkey. Hasn't for as long as I can remember... Thing is, #4 HTL shot gives you almost BB lead perfomance with even less air resistance. That's alot of punch in a little pellet! We absolutely CRUSH big, old late season Canadas out to 50+ yards with #4 HTL loads. Like somebody sucked the air out from under their wings!