Beautiful red sunrise this morning...65*...ran some more shot load experiments with the new .62cal Virginia...never saw another soul...a theraputic 4 hours for sure.
Last year I settled on a load of magnum 6's with this particular new smoothbore and they do fine as a turkey load, like the previous .62cal did.
Today, after all the posts about using 4s and 5s for turkeys...and knowing I use #5s as my general purpose small game load anyway, I tested them pretty thoroughly in the .62cal on turkey head targets.
As suspected, the larger the pellets, the shorter the range in terms of my preferred pattern for a small turkey head target.
Best balance of pattern density / penetration / distance has always been magnum #6s for me.
Wouldn't want to use #4s at all due to the short pattern / distance limitation.
Looks like chilled #5s would work to around 25yds give or take a couple...but offered no new opportunity for turkey heads over the magnum #6 loads I already use.
Magnum #5s would probably do an eyelash better, adding 3-4 couple more pellets but didn't have any to test.
Might try the chilled #5s for the hands on experience of it on a day I'll turkey hunt woods where 25yds would be plenty of range...compared to working the edge of an open clearing or field where shots can be longer.
All the prep may be for naught...haven't seen a turkey on the property I have to hunt in months...season opens April 14th.
Last year I settled on a load of magnum 6's with this particular new smoothbore and they do fine as a turkey load, like the previous .62cal did.
Today, after all the posts about using 4s and 5s for turkeys...and knowing I use #5s as my general purpose small game load anyway, I tested them pretty thoroughly in the .62cal on turkey head targets.
As suspected, the larger the pellets, the shorter the range in terms of my preferred pattern for a small turkey head target.
Best balance of pattern density / penetration / distance has always been magnum #6s for me.
Wouldn't want to use #4s at all due to the short pattern / distance limitation.
Looks like chilled #5s would work to around 25yds give or take a couple...but offered no new opportunity for turkey heads over the magnum #6 loads I already use.
Magnum #5s would probably do an eyelash better, adding 3-4 couple more pellets but didn't have any to test.
Might try the chilled #5s for the hands on experience of it on a day I'll turkey hunt woods where 25yds would be plenty of range...compared to working the edge of an open clearing or field where shots can be longer.
All the prep may be for naught...haven't seen a turkey on the property I have to hunt in months...season opens April 14th.
