buckshot

[john4645]

I posted this down in hunting also, I was wondering if anybody hunted turkey with a 20 ga loaded with buckshot. If so How many balls in the load and what were the results.

 

[Maestro]

What are your local game laws concerning shot size? Here in PA anything larger then #4 shot is illegal for turkey.

 

[john4645]

We can't use buckshot here in WI. In the track of the wolf catalog they mention that in their 20ga fusils that #4 buck shot is a perfect load for turkeys. So I was wondering where can you hunt turkeys with buckshot and how well does it work.

 

[Rebel]

Same here, no lead shot larger than #4. Better check the game laws before using Buckshot.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Here in VA I have killed many turkey in the fall with no. 4 buckshot but in spring I always use no. 5 shot or a BB and and no. 4 duplex load.

 

[rudy parnell]

Ditto, on the Buckshot in NC and SC. Got an idea that if your gun will shot the stuff it will work. My beef is that oddly enough it will most often result in alot of maimed and injured birds. Most lethal shot is to the head and at close range. And for my two cents...a quick follow up shot is the most ideal and ethical approach for Game that can take flight or run as fast as lightening and absolutely vanish at the crack of the gun. Hats off to the fellars that make shootin and killin look easy. I've had some chilling results and heart stopping disappointment with my early days in the Turke woods. My best advice is to hammer the daylights out of the BIRD and make ready for round two!

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I believe the practice of head shooting turkeys with small shot is a rather recent development. It used to be common practice to load #2 or BB and shoot at the whole bird. We now have specialized guns, chokes, and loads expressly for turkey heads but I don't believe that was the "traditional" way it used to be done.
Colorado permits rifles in the fall season but shotguns only in spring, no shot larger than #2. A 20 gauge load of #4 buck would get pretty thin past about 25 yards, I'd think BB might provide the best combination of pattern and penetration where legal and #2 shot might also be good.

 

[HistoryBuff]

In Tennessee:

"Shotguns 20 gauge or larger using ammunition loaded with number 4 shot or smaller. No restrictions on number of rounds in magazine."

You shouldn't have a problem with the number of rounds in the magazine, whatever that is. :winking:

HistoryBuff

 

[HistoryBuff]

I am planning on trying my hand at turkey hunting this spring. I will be using a 20 gauge fusil with 1 1/8 ounces of #4 shot and 80 grains FFg Goex.

HistoryBuff

 

[paulvallandigham]

History buff: You would be better off using #5 shot with that load, but pattern the load, regardless of what you use. I like #5 shot because of the down range energy it transfers, and the added number of pellets you get over using number 4 shot. #5 just seems to throw consistent patterns that are dense, while I get large holes or gaps in the patterns using #4. If you hold the range to 35 yds and under, you should have no problem hitting a turkey in the neck or head with two or more shot. And, at that range, the energy is enough for a clean kill. Check the Lyman Shotshell Reloading manual for the tables they give on energy, velocity, drop, and time of flight for different shot sizes over 20, 40, and 60 yds. You can get a denser pattern of shot by reducing that powder charge to 70 grains, or even 65 grains. The important thing to focus on is keeping as many shot on the target as you can, which requires dense patterns.

 

[HistoryBuff]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give that and other loads a try on a target before I go for the turkey.

HistoryBuff

 

[ffffg]

please refrain from suggsting loads that you havnt used on birds to newbies asking for information.. the thing that some arent understanding is that when the wings are down on a bird your have to go thru two sets of feathers, with a soft compression factor giving tremendous difficulty to pennetration. when you hit a bird with wings down the shot hits the wings and they and the body featheres compress before pennetration. this reducesthe power considerabley thus reduces pennetratioon to a part of the bird that will likely only wound it..kind of like the bullet not going thru the hide on the far side.. but differnt of course.. you can pummel a duck at 35 yards with number 2 shot and it can simply swim away. yes youve killed it but unless you have a dog youll never get it.. you can use huge shot and go right thru the beast, but my deer ran 60 yards with a 62 cal hole clean thru the lungs both sides..there will be fewer hits the bigger the shot with no predictability of where the hits will be like a well aimed shot.. another point- a body shot on a bird that will run isnt going to be much good unless hes in smooth mud or fresh snow,where you can track a light animal for 100 yards thru thick brush.. a body shot will bring a duck or goose down but not awlays kill it. they usually will find a patch of brush or small pothole to hide in if its available.. ive had ducks hit with body shots dive down attach to an underwater plant and dround staying there until you reach in and pull it out.. .. to kill outright you need to hit the brain, spine, then for next best kill, heart or major artery from heart or to brain etc.. the further you get damage from the brain the further its going to run.. game is not hard to hit, but its darn hard to stop it in its tracks.. birds are no different.. use number turkey targets that show kill zones to the brain, limit your distance that will give you patterns that will hit the zones the target shows, and shoot for the head, shoot a tin can to see if pennetration is sufficent with the volocity your getting at the maximum distance that pattern is effective.. :hmm: dave.

 

[flaming canvas]

In Tennessee:

"Shotguns 20 gauge or larger using ammunition loaded with number 4 shot or smaller. No restrictions on number of rounds in magazine."

You shouldn't have a problem with the number of rounds in the magazine, whatever that is. :winking:


Unless he's carrying 6 round ball wrapped up in a copy of Muzzle Blast
HistoryBuff

 

[vinnynj]

i dont hunt turkey but do hunt tree rat same ideas apply verry tough animal and a stationary target i use a 62 smoothie shooting 95 g 2f and 2 wonder wads 95 grain 5 1/2 nickel plated shot and 1 over shot card wad this will kill tree rat to 35 yards has also taken rabbit ,pheasant ,crow ,wood chuck and coon not a plesant load to shoot but a good killer in my gun like i said im not a turkey hunter but this has worked wll for me

 

[HistoryBuff]

ffffg,

I didn't think about all that. I am expecting the birds to go down pretty quick, like groundhogs or blackbirds. Are you saying that isn't the case with turkeys? Tracking a deer with a good blood trail a few tens of yards might be one thing, but a smaller animal over little more than leaves and brush could be a pain. The stalk is hard enough from what I've seen from watching them. I would hate to wound one and have to track it more than a few yards.

HistoryBuff

 

[rudy parnell]

:hatsoff:

 

I guess your point was "no body shots"? I have hunted turkeys for many years and have successfully brought home every one I shot in the body with #4s. Admittedly two of them required a follow-up shot--they are tough birds. Remington used to sell a duplex load (I guess you could duplicate it in BP loads) with #2s mixed with #6s so you had a choice of head or body. The head/neck shot doesn't always work either--hunting situations are rarely perfect or predictable. I once shot a turkey in the head/neck (breaking its neck) in Oklahoma at a range of 10 feet--only to watch it fly off. I shot it again on the wing and then had to run it down and finish it with my knife. I used to turkey hunt with a double. I had called that turkey up over a cliff face that I was sitting atop. When using a 3 shot auto or pump I would load #6s for head and #4s for wing shots on the body if needed--you do not have that luxury with a MLer. As other have said, buckshot is illegal in most states for turkey.

 

[The Baron]

How could a turkey fly off with a broken neck? Is there any chance the second shot, or the fall broke it's neck?

 

How could a turkey fly off with a broken neck? Is there any chance the second shot, or the fall broke it's neck?

Nope, the first shot clearly broke its neck, it was dangling before it took off. My wingshot probably hit back in the body. I jumped doen the small cliff face and ran sfter the bird, wrestled it down and finished it with my folding knife. Only time I've seen that. Like I said, hunting situations are not always clean and predictable.

 

[musketman]

How could a turkey fly off with a broken neck? Is there any chance the second shot, or the fall broke it's neck?

Adrelinin, the same way a deer shot through the heart can run for several hundred yards...