turkey loads

[berickson]

i am moving to an area that has turkey seasons.

i am considering chasing them with a 20 gauge fowler.

does anyone here have any favourite loads?

cheers

 

[roundball]

I followed the advice on this website entitled: The Versatile Smoothbore
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html

GM .62cal Flint Smoothbore barrel
80grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke prelubed wad over powder
1+5/8oz #6s
Circle Fly OS card

Two shots, two turkeys

 

[paulvallandigham]

Roundball: What is the diameter of that Prelubed Ox-yoke wad you are using in your 20 gauge? Thanks.

 

[Rebel]

60 grs of 3f, 4 thin overshot card wads, 1 1/8 oz #5 magnum shot, and another thin overshot card. Good to 20-23 yds. Most unchoked smoothbores aren't good to further than that no mater what guage. JMO

 

[berickson]

thanks for the replies.
all other loads i ran down were 90-100 gr 2F or 3F, 2 to 2 1/2oz of shot... seemed way too heavy to my way of thinking.
it seems to be head shots so you have to be able to hit a walnut inside your pattern. of course this is all theory to this point, never having hunted turkeys.
come to think of it that might be the answer... buy a bunch of unshelled walnuts and shoot, back up, shoot etc.
when you start missing walnuts thats the range of your shotgun.
charcoal briquets might work, but squirrels don't eat charcoal briquets :grin:

 

[The Baron]

A 20ga smoothy makes a fine gobbler-getter! :thumbsup:

I too tried heavier and heavier loads of powder/shot, and found they performed more poorly than more moderate loads did on the patterning board. I've got my best patterns using 4 thin overshot cards between powder and shot (no heavy cards or wads). My .62 Caywood shoots best with 80gr. 3F, 4 o/s cards, 1 1/8oz. #6 and an o/s card to hold it all in. This load has accounted for 6 toms.

 

[berickson]

thx again for the info
i have a 28 ga trade gun and a 12 ga dble flinter.
in both guns cushion wads seemed to leave voids in the pattern.
i just use cards, it keeps things simple.
my 12 ga goose load was 80-90 gr 2F and 1 1/2oz of bismuth (4s or 6s i think)
worked on geese and ducks.
my load for the trade gun was 60gr 3f and about
1-1/8oz of #6 lead. only reason i used 1 1/8oz, was that's what my charger threw.
both loads are game getters. that's why i was wondering about the heavy loads.
i don't think a turkey is much tougher than a canada goose in motion.
i could be wrong tho.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I did a post recently on shot cups I made from paper and shooting them from my cylinder barreled gun. Using 11/2oz there was a significant difference than with out the cup. Check it out.

Britsmoothy.

 

[roundball]

"...i was wondering about the heavy loads...i don't think a turkey is much tougher than a canada goose..."

Distance is the x factor...smaller shot charges work great on a tom's walnut sized brain at 20yds in woods settings...but the smaller shot charges rarely if ever get it done at 40yds if you're set up on an open field with long shots...pattern thins out too much

 

[The Baron]

...
in both guns cushion wads seemed to leave voids in the pattern.
i just use cards, it keeps things simple.

This is exactly what I found. I read here about using o/s cards only and it works great.

Your goose load is pretty much same as what I shot in my 12ga. New Englander. In my 20ga, I shoot 90gr. 3f and about 1 1/4oz. #4 Bismuth (volume measure). I do use a lubed wad on my waterfowl loads, and limit my range to under 25 yards.

Turkeys are tough as nails if you hit them in the body. But as was mentioned, the trick is to put the pattern on their mellon, and it's lights out. A small charge of shot hitting their head/neck at good velocity is much superior to blowing a bunch of wasted shot all around them, IMHO. My 20ga. is a straight cylinder, and I limit myself to 20 yards with good success.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

O horned one, you might consider Runnball's "tampon shot cups", or as they might have been called in period "cotton-tail drogue shot concentrators": http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...11/post/546024/hl/tampon/fromsearch/1/#546024
If I can ever get out patterning, I'm going to test some that I made up like the coin-roll cartridges, as well as some made from unslit (plastic) steel shotcups.

Remember, for targets, you've got the "walnut" plus the "commo wire", and the spine probably doubles or triples the actual kill-zone area.

Ya gonna be at the lunch Saturday?

Joel

p.s. - found BritSmoothie's thread: http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...d/222535/post/586088/hl//fromsearch/1/#586088

 

[10 gauge]

I'm going to try this load out in my Brown Bess. 75grs of FFg one 11ga 1/8" over powder wad, one Ballistic Products 12ga multi metal wad with no slits its just a heavy plastic cup with no finger cuts this should keep the pattern tighter, 1 3/8 oz of lead #2 shot and an over the shot wad.
The wads are on order now, so after the tests I'll let you guys know if these un-cut heavy duty plastic wads make a difference.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you don't slit the wad some, it may not release the shot, and you will have a single hole in your paper target at 25 yards. Try it, but don't be surprised if that is the result. I got that result trying a tube without slits in it myself.

 

[slowpokebr549]

I had the same results as Paul, one big hole in my pattern board. You have to slit them some, though I wonder about Runnball's idea of tying a cotton ball on a string behind it. It might slow the wad down enough to get a tight pattern out of an unslit wad. I am very happy with a similar load to Roundball's for turkey. Ox yoke wad over powder and a paper overshot wad patterns quite well for 25 to 30 yard shots.75 grains of 3f to 1-1/4 of shot is the magic number for my 12. Copper shot helps tighten my patterns a little as well.

 

[roundball]

"...Copper shot helps tighten my patterns a little as well..."

Slowpoke, if you don't mind me asking, what brand of copper plated shot did you use?

I've been using an old bag of Winchester lubaloy copper plated #4's for squirrels and they improved the pattern so much I wanted to try some in #6s for turkeys.

But all I could find was Lawrence brand and ordered it assuming it would be the same as Winchester Lubaloy...but I thought it was junk compared to the Winchester...it appeared to be nothing more than a copper colored "wash" over cheap soft lead shot, not even hard or magnum shot...and it patterned so much worse than my regular magnum #6s I couldn't use it...I'll have to burn it up on skeet targets or something close like that.

I need to find some of the good plated stuff made by Winchester or somebody and am having a hard time finding any...

 

[paulvallandigham]

Roundball: Ballistic's Products sells plated shot in a bottle- and its darn expensive-- but you might check into that.

I cannot speak to quality, or compare it to the older Winchester Lubaloy plated shot. I never had any of that.

I do have a bottle of plated shot from Ballistics Products( copper plated #5), however, and by appearance, it looks okay. I have not used any of it yet. I want to test the paper cups to determine how many and how deep the slits need to be to get the tightest patterns, before sacrificing any expensive shot at the range!

 

[slowpokebr549]

Well, thats a problem Roundball,cause I am using some old Winchester copper 6 shot that I bought when Riders went out of business in Pittsburg Ks. I went ahead and bought it when I first started reading this forum. I read a couple of your posts and thought I would try it. If I had been a little quicker they had some #5 but someone beat me to it. I use regular lead for most of my quail and squirrel loads, I save the copper for turkey.I have found that my gun at least, patterns well with duplex loads of mixed four and six shot. Coyote Joe makes fun of me though whenever I mention it. :blah:

 

[slowpokebr549]

Now I know to not order the Lawrence brand. :hatsoff:

 

[roundball]

Yes, the real copper "plated" shot is outstanding...I've Googled for it, I've asked a local shop to see if he can order any, but nada, zip, zilch, zero results.

I wonder if Winchester was the only one who made true copper plated shot...they called theirs 'Lubaloy'...and maybe its no longer made...well, if you hear of a place I can order some send me a PM, and I'll do likewise...

 

[10 gauge]

"Precision Reloading" has the best selection for shotshell reloading, they even have nickle plated shot.