Turkey Loads (Best bang for the buck)

[Jackalope]

You get what you pay for. I've shot everything from the cheap 1.50 a round Remington's and Winchesters to the 3.5 hevi blended loads that cost 7.50 per shell. The difference is night and day. No comparison.

My thing is. Between the slate calls, mouth calls, turkey vest, decoys, sleep deprived days, the choke, and the hours spent chasing birds, another 6 bucks is pocket change to make sure I'm shooting the best I can. Are you seriously going to go through all that and at the most important moment rely on a shell you decided to save 5 bucks on? No me. Baffles me how someone will spend 80 bucks on a decoy, or 30 bucks on a call, then turn around and shoot a buck fifty shell.

 

[Bigslam51]

Just shoot them with a $13 arrow, they can be re-used

 

[Kaiser878]

You get what you pay for. I've shot everything from the cheap 1.50 a round Remington's and Winchesters to the 3.5 hevi blended loads that cost 7.50 per shell. The difference is night and day. No comparison.

My thing is. Between the slate calls, mouth calls, turkey vest, decoys, sleep deprived days, the choke, and the hours spent chasing birds, another 6 bucks is pocket change to make sure I'm shooting the best I can. Are you seriously going to go through all that and at the most important moment rely on a shell you decided to save 5 bucks on? No me. Baffles me how someone will spend 80 bucks on a decoy, or 30 bucks on a call, then turn around and shoot a buck fifty shell.

I understand what your saying. But will a 7 dollar shell make a turkey anymore dead at 35 yds than a 1.50 shell? I just don't see the need. Zach shot that bird yesterday with my gun and my shells. It was a box $13 box of remington 3.5s 5 shot. He shot it at 58 yards. And it was just as dead as the two I killed earlier in the week at 30 yards.

I'm not normally a Remington ammo shooter. But they patterned better than the regular winchester and federal 3.5 loads.

I can't personally speak on the high dollar loads. But I just can't see shelling out $35 for 5 shells. Maybe I'm cheap. Haha I know hevi metal is good shit.... but without a good Turkey choke..... they aren't gonna do you any good at 50 yards either.

 

[aholdren]

I enjoy turkey hunting but I don't ever expect to shoot a bird at 60 plus yards so the 3 1/2" loads are out the door. If I cant have them at less than 30yrds then I don't need to shoot them, honestly I don't care if I shoot one or not as long as I get to see a good show and they gobble some. I started out thinking I had to have a canon so I bought a single shot 10ga that was back bored and choked by a guy in Pennsylvania and at the end of the day all I got was a sore shoulder. Then I bought my 1187 and it just shoots 3" with a custom choke in it, my shoulder thanks me every time I pull the trigger. I know my gun and what pattern it shoots and I feel very comfortable shooting my cheap ass 3" shells LOL.

 

[Boarhead]

I shoot 3 inch also and they work just fine.

 

[yotehunter]

I changed to the xrs last year and wouldn't shoot anything else. My 2nd bird last year was at 54 yards. My first bird was at 7 yards. I love them.

 

[Jackalope]

I understand what your saying. But will a 7 dollar shell make a turkey anymore dead at 35 yds than a 1.50 shell? I just don't see the need. Zach shot that bird yesterday with my gun and my shells. It was a box $13 box of remington 3.5s 5 shot. He shot it at 58 yards. And it was just as dead as the two I killed earlier in the week at 30 yards.

I'm not normally a Remington ammo shooter. But they patterned better than the regular winchester and federal 3.5 loads.

I can't personally speak on the high dollar loads. But I just can't see shelling out $35 for 5 shells. Maybe I'm cheap. Haha I know hevi metal is good shit.... but without a good Turkey choke..... they aren't gonna do you any good at 50 yards either.

No it will not make them anymore dead at 30 yards than a cheaper shell. But there is a drastic difference in pattern density at 30 yards with the more expensive shell. The heavy shot blended load is actually stacked in the shell. It's designed so that the number sixes open up between 0-25. The 5s maintain a tighter pattern from 25-50, and the last shot to spread out is the 4s at 50+. The pellet count at 40 yards in the circle was double that of other loads I tested even though the overall pattern diameter was the same. I shot a bird two years ago that tried to slip out at 72 paces. Right around 70 yards and not in an open field. It's not my goal to shoot birds that far. But I want equipment that can get the job done if need be. It's the same reason we do not shoot $200 bows because it'll kill deer at 30 yards the same as $1000 bow. The booner that slips by at 50 yards is the reason we shoot more expensive bows, broadheads, and arrows.

 

[rsmith]

No it will not make them anymore dead at 30 yards than a cheaper shell. But there is a drastic difference in pattern density at 30 yards with the more expensive shell. The heavy shot blended load is actually stacked in the shell. It's designed so that the number sixes open up between 0-25. The 5s maintain a tighter pattern from 25-50, and the last shot to spread out is the 4s at 50+. The pellet count at 40 yards in the circle was double that of other loads I tested even though the overall pattern diameter was the same. I shot a bird two years ago that tried to slip out at 72 paces. Right around 70 yards and not in an open field. It's not my goal to shoot birds that far. But I want equipment that can get the job done if need be. It's the same reason we do not shoot $200 bows because it'll kill deer at 30 yards the same as $1000 bow. The booner that slips by at 50 yards is the reason we shoot more expensive bows, broadheads, and arrows.

Very well put. When it all comes down to it, dont matter if it's hevi shot blend or Winchester super x, as long as it patterns a lethal patern consistently at your desired distance than use what works for you. Tried both hevi shshot and Winchester double x mag #5 and both had a great lethal kill pattern out to 40 yards. Where I hunt in the woods 40 yards is the max you can get a shot off at so I went with the double x because they had a great pattern out to 40, if I was shooting further I may have chose the hevi shot because at 50 they patterned better. Just use what works for you and you will he just fine

 

[Schu72]

Never tried the blended loads. I have tried Hevi shot and still have a few rounds in the turkey vest. Shot Remington Nitro's years ago and Federals with the flight control wads. Killed birds with most of everything I have listed...and missed or wounded birds with them as well. The XRs seemed to pattern the best at distances I'm willing to shoot. Not sure I want to tempt myself by patterning beyond 50. I miss enough at closer distances.:smiley_blackeye:

 

[brock ratcliff]

I don't even know what kind of shells I shoot the most...

Here's a good story. Monday of turkey season I left the house late, had to turn around half way to the farm to go home and get my gun. I arrive at the farm in a hurry, grab the new box of shells from the back of the truck only to find I had purchased 3 1/2" shells, and my gun is only chambered for 3". CRAP! Well, being the pack rat I am, I had 3 3" shells in a box in the back so I was off chasing birds. I looked at the shells, noting the brass was pretty tarnished and they looked kinda old. When I got home I dug around in an ammo box and found about 20 shells, stuck some in my vest and forgot about it, figuring I'd select the freshest looking shells the next time I went hunting. Thursday morning rolled around and I decided to go hunting again. Running late, I grabbed the old long tom single shot and up the hill I went. I grabbed a shell out of pocket, loaded the gun, called in and shot a turkey. When I picked up the shell I noticed it was probably the oldest, nastiest looking shell I owned. The brass had even split when I fired it off! Yet, there laid the bird, feet in the air, stone-dead.
When I was a kid, my dad always killed turkeys with his 870 Wingmaster. It was only chambered for 2 3/4, and he though people shooting 3" shells were silly. I guess it's all in what a person wants from their ammo/gun combinations. I for one, do not require much to kill a turkey. I will never own a "turkey only" gun, and the thought of putting a scope on a scatter gun to kill a turkey is about as absurd as anything I've ever seen in the woods...to me, of course, and if you have a scope on your turkey gun, I won't think any less of you, but don't ask me to help you carry it when you get tired!