smooth bore turkey barrel

hey guys what is best size of shot in a colerain turkey choke barrel for turkeys or best paterns and should i shoot lead or copper plated lead thanks and where is the best place to buy shot 20 ga

Never tried nought but lead
You can get shot via Buffalo arms on line

Ron hall said:

hey guys what is best size of shot in a colerain turkey choke barrel for turkeys or best paterns and should i shoot lead or copper plated lead thanks and where is the best place to buy shot 20 ga

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For non toxic goto ballisticproducts.com
For lead and Steel rotometals is good.
As far as shot size I'm not am expert there but I'd hazard a guess at #2 or perhaps #4 with as heavy a powder load you can put under it without blowing the pattern......

Avoid rotos bismuth. It's cheaper but it's not consistently spherical or the right size.

theres only one way to tell what your gun likes.

2 shots said:

theres only one way to tell what your gun likes.

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yup will shoot her as soon as it arives

Check your game regs for max shot size if there is one.
I like #5s for a balance between the pellet mass if #4 and the shot count/density of #6. If I couldn't get #5 I'd go to #4.
I don't have one of those choked barrels. But shot size is shot size, regardless of choke,,,,, or gauge.

Brokennock said:

Check your game regs for max shot size if there is one.
I like #5s for a balance between the pellet mass if #4 and the shot count/density of #6. If I couldn't get #5 I'd go to #4.
I don't have one of those choked barrels. But shot size is shot size, regardless of choke,,,,, or gauge.

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i allways shoot 6s in reg shot gun but new to the fowler world

Somehow I ended up with a large coffee can full of #5 nickel plated shot and that's what I'm using this year.
With a choked barrel, is seems #5 would work fine, you just need to figure the amount of charge.
Robin

Ron hall said:

hey guys what is best size of shot in a colerain turkey choke barrel for turkeys or best paterns and should i shoot lead or copper plated lead thanks and where is the best place to buy shot 20 ga

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I've killed many, many turkeys with a hot load of #6 shot. I aim at the middle of the neck. A body shot is a waste of time, IMHO.
The copper plating makes the lead harder to deform, which is a great thing.

Do the metal can test. If it doesn't punch through the can get closer or add powder. Tuna cans are great.

Robin101 said:

Somehow I ended up with a large coffee can full of #5 nickel plated shot and that's what I'm using this year.
With a choked barrel, is seems #5 would work fine, you just need to figure the amount of charge.
Robin

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5s are what most pheasant and squirrel hunters use.
Great find!!

I use 5’s in mine. Plain Ol lead!!!

FiremanBrad said:

I use 5’s in mine. Plain Ol lead!!!

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Plain lead will do fine, but the copper coated doesn't hurt any, and may help.

I use copper plated 5's. Works great

My Colerain barrel likes
1 1/4 oz of #6 lead and 75 grains of 2f. Used that load for 30 years.

My Kibler 58 is jug choked and loves #5’s for gobblers

Zutt-man said:

My Kibler 58 is jug choked and loves #5’s for gobblers

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Is yours the 58 smoothbore? Were you able to have kibler jug choke it or did you have to send it elsewhere to be done?

ThompsonNC said:

Is yours the 58 smoothbore? Were you able to have kibler jug choke it or did you have to send it elsewhere to be done?

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I PM’d you!

Eterry said:

I've killed many, many turkeys with a hot load of #6 shot. I aim at the middle of the neck. A body shot is a waste of time, IMHO.
The copper plating makes the lead harder to deform, which is a great thing.

Do the metal can test. If it doesn't punch through the can get closer or add powder. Tuna cans are great.

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I agree with using #6 copper coated for turkeys in a muzzleloading smoothbore. If shooting a cylinder bore, 7 1/2 shot out to 20 yards works well. I’ve killed over 20 turkeys with #6 shot in a full choke muzzleloader out to 40 yards in a 12 guage with 70 grains 2f and 1 1/4 ounce shot. Also aim just below the head and get clean one shot kills.

okawbow said:

I agree with using #6 copper coated for turkeys in a muzzleloading smoothbore. If shooting a cylinder bore, 7 1/2 shot out to 20 yards works well. I’ve killed over 20 turkeys with #6 shot in a full choke muzzleloader out to 40 yards in a 12 guage with 70 grains 2f and 1 1/4 ounce shot. Also aim just below the head and get clean one shot kills. View attachment 332797

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As always, not so much what you use, but always WHERE you hit them.

I saw a guy pump two 20 Guage rounds into a tom at 20 yards, knocking it down, but it running off. Both body shots.

I have a 10 gauge underhammer with 32" full choke made by Ken Adair. I've patterned it to 50 yards with 2oz #6 shot and 105gr FFG. But I haven't used it in the field.
Dad had, now mine, a 12ga 36" full choke cartridge gun. I've personally killed cottontails at 75 paces with #7 1/2 handicap trap loads, stationary.
He made incredible shots with it. So, every gun has a mind of its own.

Imho, open choke guns do well with larger shot. Choked guns do best with smaller shot. That's also the consensus of law enforcement.
YMMV

Give this a try too and see if it helps. It improved my pattern a bunch with cylinder bore using skychief method. I run 1 oz of #4 shot mixed together with .5oz #6 shot for turkey load. It filled in the gaps on my pattern I was getting.