Turkey load

[Spikebuck]

For better or worse track of the wolf talked me into the wool wads.

I'm thinking ToTW suggested wool wads because you have a choked barrel. The wool wads are a lot easier to get into a choked barrel than a long and more solid fibre wad.

While I fully intend to try out the Skychief load, I haven't taken the time yet. My turkey load in my cylinder bore smoothie is 75 grs 2f, two lubed 1/8" felt wads, 1 1/2 oz of #6 lead shot, two thin overshot cards. That load gives me about 25 yards of good killing range. So I don't think ToTW is exaggerating that the wool wads can replace the hard card and cushion wad in a "normal" shot load. That said, I have no doubt from all I've read here that Skychief's load in a cylinder bore would be superior. With a choked barrel it might not be as necessary and harder to load.

 

[withakri]

Makes sense. Sounds like I've got a little experiment to work on in the coming weeks.

 

[Robby]

I'm thinking its' going to be a tough year in western NY. It has been spring like for a while already with lots of trees and shrubs leafing out and opening day is two and half weeks away!!! They've been out strutting gobbling for quite a while already. Hope I'm wrong.
Robby

 

[withakri]

Yes, I've definitely had a few seasons in the northeast where it felt like the birds were just done breeding and not all that active. I also have friends that are good turkey hunters and swear by hunting the end of the season for their best opportunities with big toms. Definitely gets harder to see them out in the open etc when the hay fields get tall. Plus nothing is more miserable than turkey hunting while being covered in mosquitoes. I imagine if you have birds breeding early but then a weather event that leads to lots of nest failures they turn it on again. Maybe by opening week this year lots of hens will already be on nests and you will have more toms on the landscape without hens dictating their every move.

I think a lot of bird hunting seasons could use a little bit of adjustment in timing. Always seemed to me that it finally got cold just after duck season ended or that peak woodcock migration happened after the season ended etc. I think with some of these gps tags etc they have some better data now to make those kinds of adjustments. Maybe with turkeys the biologists like the fact that the toms have breed before they get shot so wouldnt move up the season too much. Especially as there seems to be some regional declines in turkey populations... although from what I've seen harvest rates are pretty low so its likely not due to hunting pressure.

 

[Spikebuck]

I'm thinking its' going to be a tough year in western NY. It has been spring like for a while already with lots of trees and shrubs leafing out and opening day is two and half weeks away!!! They've been out strutting gobbling for quite a while already. Hope I'm wrong.
Robby

Well Robby...hang on to your shorts because we are sending cold weather your way! Usually you guys get what we had in 2 or 3 days. It's been cool and wet here and tomorrow we might even get some snow showers! Funny though....we had 70's and even two days in the 80's last week but when it got quite a bit colder yesterday, I heard my first tom gobble while I was out walking my dogs down a dirt road. The first Minnesota season opens tomorrow...hopefully the people in that season didn't pack away the long johns yet.

 

[Rató:rats]

Morning boys
So this is my loading sequence right now. Powder, thin leather disc overpowder, shot, thick leather wad( 5/8 of an inch) mink oil lubed over shot.
Patterns are so so. I use the thick wad on the theory that it’s weight will let it drop out of the shot column sooner. I noticed a lot of you guys use thin cards either over shot or over powder and I’m curious why? My leather keeps everything nice and tight in the bore which I thought was all that was desired. Am I wrong? I have some nitro cards to throw in the mix if that might do anything to help out. I’ve also punched out some thin cards from cereal boxes but haven’t found a reason to use them yet. I guess my question is why use the thin cards at all?

 

[Spikebuck]

The thin cardboard cards are just there to hold the shot from rolling out of the barrel. They easily fly out of the way when exiting the barrel so as not to disturb the shot column. One is usually good enough. I personally like two as I have had one work loose on occasion and never had the issue with two overshot cards.

 

[Britsmoothy]

The thin cardboard cards are just there to hold the shot from rolling out of the barrel. They easily fly out of the way when exiting the barrel so as not to disturb the shot column. One is usually good enough. I personally like two as I have had one work loose on occasion and never had the issue with two overshot cards.

I use a few as a wad too. With a blob of lube in them too.
The penny dropped after reading a journal from VM Star.