Pygmy

My goal in picking a turkey load is to use one that delivers a dense pattern of shot to provide multiple pellet hits on the head and neck of a turkey.. Turkeys, being such a large bird well protected by heavy feathers, can absorb a lot of punishment from a body shot and still run or fly off..However, it only takes a few relatively small shot deliver to the vulnerable head and neck area to kill a turkey.. #6 shot, with it's higher pellet count, gives me a denser pattern.. That said, I used #4 shot for many years with good results, and also killed some turkeys with # 5's...Over the last 10 years or so I have finally settled on 6's..Works for me..

Talking lead shot only, I could get by shooting everything that I shoot with #6 shot.. Turkeys, grouse,pheasants, woodcock, crows , squirrels, rabbits...I kill them all with 6's... Back when lead shot was legal for waterfowl, I used to kill a BUNCH of ducks with lead 6's and 7 1/2's.. Nontoxic shot changed that.. You need bigger shot and higher velocities with steel. 2's and BB's are standard now.. Predators require heavy lead or denser than lead nontoxics..4's 2's and BB's for lead as well as buckshot loads..

Very simple, Rob..Low brass shells are generally cheaper, kick less and are more than adequate for most upland game hunting..They also put fewer shot pellets in the eatin' meat..Why churn a rabbit into bunny burger with an expensive heavy loaded shotshell when low brass sixes get the job done with less damage on BOTH ends of the shotgun..?. For turkey, waterfowl and predators everyone I know uses heavy magnum loads.. About the only time I use regular high velocity loads is for pheasant, because those big roosters sometimes require a more powerful load..In a 12 gauge that would be a 3 3/4 dram equivalent, 1 1/4 oz load...Any brand... For woodcock, grouse, crows, pigeons,rabbits and squirrels I use low brass either #6 or #7 1/2, in the cheapest promo loads I can find.I do most of my upland hunting with a 20 gauge.. For waterfowl I use Kent fasteel #2 or BB in 12 gauge 3 inch magnum. For turkeys I use 12 gauge 3 inch magnum buffered copper plated turkey loads, either Winchester XX or Federal Premium #6 shot..

So when are you going to invite us all over for a "chuck roast"..?

High brass/low brass is a somewhat vague term dating back to when shotshells were made of paper. In those days, more powerful loads required more brass on the head for strength. Hence, less powerful loads (generally with lighter shot charges) such as target loads and standard loads for smaller upland birds and animals came with a short brass head, and more powerful loads for bigger game and longer range shooting such as waterfowl, predators, turkeys and such had a higher brass head. Modern plastic heads are so strong that they don't even NEED a metal head..Some members here will remember the ACTIV line of shotshells which were made in powerful magnum and slug loads and were all plastic..They worked fine. However, due to tradition or whatever, metal case heads have persisted on shotshells...Generally the lighter loads have low brass heads and the heavier loads have higher brass heads.The loads you bought, a 3 dram equivalent, 1 1/8 oz 12 gauge load, is actually a low brass load .It is a good all around load for squirrels, rabbits, upland game and will serve fine for turkeys at moderate range, say within 35 yards or so.

A round or two doesn't warrant gun cleaning unless you are shooting black powder or old military ammo with corrosive primers.Rimfires can be fired many hundreds of rounds without cleaning with no ill effect. Even high velocity centerfires can be fired dozens of rounds without need for cleaning. in many cases, wear from the cleaning rod is worse than leaving the bore dirty, within reason.. Take your .22 or your shotgun or your .243 and blow hell out of that cheeky rodent...<<grin>>...

SOS.... So many people are so concerned about what the OTHER guy is doing, that they can't enjoy the sport themselves...

Oh..They're lead shot....The Hevi-Shot I am familiar with is nontoxic, denser than lead, and cost around $2 per shell ( or more)... I am not familiar with the brand you pictured, but if they pattern well in your shotgun they should work fine for turkey within reasonable range and other small game. Looks like you've set yourself up with a good battery for deer plus turkey, other game birds and small game animals. I am a big fan of the 7mm08..It has been my favorite whitetail cartridge for the last 15 years or so...Perhaps longer....

Inch and a half groups are more than enough for any practical big game hunting..My M70 bolt action in .280 never shot smaller groups than that on it's best day and I've killed a number of critters with it at 300-400 yards. That said, although I have shot semi auto shotguns all my life, semi auto centerfire rifles just have never tripped my trigger. My only centerfire semi auto rifle is my M1 Garand, which I use with issue sights. My groups with it off the bench run about 4 inches with a 150 spitzer and 47 grains of IMR 4895, which supposedly duplicates the WWII era military loads..

Larry...It was on the roadway between the trailer and the food plots...perhaps 100 yards uphill from the trailer... Wooly, even if I had a camera, the action happened so fast I wouldn't have had time for a shot... Probably could have got a shot of one of the cubs climbing a tree, but I don't think I'd want to get out of the truck with Mama only 30 yards away..I had my .357 mag with me as usual, but the last thing I want to do is to put myself in a position where I have to kill a mama bear to save my silly butt.. I am glad I was in the truck when I surprised her..She was close enough so that if I was on foot, things may have become kinda dicey..

Holy NON TOXIC, Batman !! Are you sure of that price ? $11 for a box of 25 Hevi-Shot ? That's like half of what I have ever seen them...I'd quit buying steel and shoot the Hevi shot for ducks and geese all day long...

I went up to the property this morning to disc up one of my food plots.. I was driving up a farm road, woods on my left and hayfield on my right, and I came up over a knoll.. There, about ten yards away, was a black blob that HAD to be a bear..Nothing else in nature is that black.. Suddenly a head popped up, and the bear ran into the woods, followed by THREE cubs...I'd guess they were perhaps 15 pounders.. I stopped for a few seconds and could see Mama standing about 30 yards back in the woods as the cubs scurried up trees.. Not wanting to stress her anymore, I drove up over the hill and tended to my business...

All of my hunting loads ( except those for my M1 garand) feature Barnes TSX or TTSX bullets... However it has nothing to do with eagles... The damn things are deadly accurate in my rifles and they kill as well as well as any other bullet I have used..They also nearly always exit, and I like an exit hole...Two holes are better than one.

ALL available 130-150 grain bullets will do a good job on game.. From point blank to 300 yards, there isn't enough difference in factory loads, in terminal performance or trajectory, to quibble about. Find the cheapest 130, 140, or 150 grain factory load that groups well in your rifle, sight it in 3" high at 100 yards and hold center ribcage on any deer or similar sized game out to 300 yards, and you'll have meat on the table.

Tri-Star Raptor...Never heard of it...I'll have to check it out. Early 3 inch mag autos, both recoil operated and gas guns, would not cycle with light loads..I had a 3 inch mag A-5 and the lightest loads it was designed to use were 2 3/4" magnums, although it cycled slugs smartly. My 3" mag Rem 1100 will not cycle 2 3/4" loads WITH the 3" chambered barrel installed..However you can mount a 2 3/4" barrel on it and shoot skeet loads all day.. Some early gas guns like the Rem M58 had a switch that you could set for either light loads or heavy loads, and of course the early long recoil operated guns had friction rings on the mag tube that you could adjust for either light or heavy loads. Most current production autos, both recoil and gas, are designed to fire any shells from light target loads through 3" or even 3.5"magnums. Perhaps the Raptor needs a few rounds put through it "wear off the new edges", so to say.. I bought a Rem 1100 skeet gun once, and when it was brand new, if I did not clean the gas piston, chamber, and mag tube every 100 rounds or so it would fail to extract. After 1000 rounds or so, it wore in and I no longer had that problem. Good luck with your new toy, Rob...

I may have missed something...The only shotgun that I saw you mention was a M37 Ithaca, which is a pump gun. What make and model is your new shotgun ?

Don't get mugged by the Amish Mafia while you're at the windmill..<<grin>>.. Have a good trip !

I am truly sorry for the pet's owner... However, it is only nature taking it's course.. Dog gets in bear's face, bear reacts normally..It could have very easily been a bigger dog that did the dirty deed..Too bad for Hercules...

Red..Looks like a little DIVERSITY TRAINING is required here.... I know....I attended diversity training class THREE times while I was working.. Must be they thought I was a slow learner....

" I feel sorry for people who don't drink.. They wake up in the morning and realize that this is the best that they are going to feel all day ."....Frank Sinatra....

Rob...Lately I detect an anti-alcohol slant to your posts.. Did you drop a beer can on your toe or something ?

Very cool, TF...I have never witnessed hummingbirds mating... I HAVE watched pileated woodpeckers copulating on a limb while I was spring gobbler hunting. Does that make us EVEN ?? (grin)... Aside to Curmudgeon...The first time I bowhunted elk in New Mexico, I was amazed at the variety of hummers..Lots of wildflowers in the Rocky Mountains in September for them to work on. After that trip one of my partners started bringing a hummingbird feeder to camp with us, and it provided lots of entertainment during the mid day hours when were were lounging around camp because the elk were shaded up.

One of the nastiest wounds I ever saw on a deer resulted from a friend of mine taking a neck shot on a PA buck with a varmint type bullet in his 22-250. If he were hunting in thick cover rather than open woods he very well may have lost it. The bullet left a shallow, pancake type wound on the surface, blowing away what looked like 2 pounds of meat, but failed to break the neck..He had to track the deer and finish it. It was still on it's feet when he finished it with a head shot. I saw a similar wound once from a muzzleloader.. The guy was usuing a saboted pistol type bullet ahead of a heavy load of pyrodex.. The bullet blew up on the shoulder and left a massive surface wound but failed to penetrate the chest cavity.. He was lucky and managed to reload and finish the deer, but it may well have escaped..

There is not a lot of public land on Keuka Lake from which you can fish from shore..A couple of spots are the Village lakefront at Hammondsport and the area around the boat launch at Keuka State Park in Branchport.. However, the Cohocton River flows right through Bath and it is a blue ribbon trout stream..There is quite a lot of public fishing areas along it, from Bath upstream past Avoca and even further up. Some areas are limited to artificial lures only, and some very good fishing can be had with spinners and other small spinning lures and flies. Many good fishing areas run close to and are accessible from State Rt 415.. Check the DEC website for public fishing areas on the Cohocton.