wildcat junkie Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 First of all, I know I'm not employing the optimum combination, but it's all I have at the moment. I'm pressing my son's 20ga Ithaca M37 Ultralight into turkey hunting service. It has a Colonial .572" turkey choke screwed into the 24" vent rib barrel. I have a set of Williams "Slugger" sights mounted on the rib. This morning, I had a chance to pattern Federal Turkey loads with the "Flitecontrol" wad. With standard Federal 20ga 3" magnum upland loads of 1 1/4oz of copper plated #6 shot I was getting 75 pellet hits in a 10" circle @ 30yds. With the Federal Turkey loads pushing 1 5/16oz of copper plated #6 shot in the "Flitecontrol" wad, I averaged 127 pellets hits in a 10" circle @.30yds! That's almost a 70% improvement with only 5% more shot! I burned up 7 of my 10 shells fiddling with the sights. The 1185 fps Turkey loads impacted considerably higher @ 30yds compared to the upland loads. Now that I adjusted the sights, they are hitting just a hair high dead on @ 12yds, pretty well centered but still a smidge high @ 30yds. With a hold on the feather/skin line on the neck it will put the best of the pattern in the neck/ head. Averaging 4 hits in the brain/center of the neck vertebrae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACHINIST Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Very cool.I will be trying some of the 3RD degree after season.My 870 really likes the longbeard and the hevi shot and I have enough of that but from what I have been reading the 3RD degree sounds like a winner to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2012_taco Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I used to shoot the federal flightwads in my 12 ga 870, but i switched to the hevi shots. They pattern very similar (in my gun) but the hevi shots have the most knock down power I have ever seen. I have literally snapped the necks of birds at 40 yrds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat junkie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 I used to shoot the federal flightwads in my 12 ga 870, but i switched to the hevi shots. They pattern very similar (in my gun) but the hevi shots have the most knock down power I have ever seen. I have literally snapped the necks of birds at 40 yrds. I'm trying to find some Federal HW #7s, but nobody on the Internet has them. All I can find are #6 & in a 20ga, I don't want to reduce the pellet count. All kinds if 12ga HW #7s. :-( 1 1/2oz of HW #7s will have a similar pellet count as the lead #6s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alloutdoors Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/5-rounds-federal-premium-mag-shok-20-gauge-3-heavyweight-turkey-load-shells?a=1587296 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alloutdoors Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Wish you could still find them for $15 a box. Good thing I bought a case at that price. Edited April 12, 2015 by alloutdoors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat junkie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/5-rounds-federal-premium-mag-shok-20-gauge-3-heavyweight-turkey-load-shells?a=1587296 When you select the shot size, it says: "Item Currently. Not Available For Sale"! Edited April 12, 2015 by wildcat junkie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alloutdoors Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Sorry about that, I was looking at that on my iPad and it wasn't displaying the page properly. 7's seem to be scarce this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat junkie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Sorry about that, I was looking at that on my iPad and it wasn't displaying the page properly. 7's seem to be scarce this year. Yea, they seem to be the best size given their energy retention & pattern density. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat junkie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Sorry about that, I was looking at that on my iPad and it wasn't displaying the page properly. 7's seem to be scarce this year. Yea, they seem to be the best size given their energy retention & pattern density. I bookmarked the site to favorites. If I can get the performance that others are reporting W/the 3" 20ga 1 1/2oz HW #7 s that others are reporting, I see no need to lug around a heavy, hard kicking 12ga. The little Ithaca M37 UL only weighs about 5# 10oz empty, probably right @ 6# loaded. The 1 5/16oz @ 1185fps loads don't kick bad either. I wouldn't think 1 1/2oz @ 1100fps would be much different. I had a Mossberg 835 Ulti-mag & it was downright brutal W/2oz loads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alloutdoors Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/federal-premium-shok-heavyweight-shotshells-pht258f7-gauge-1100-tungsten-shot-rdbx-p-109804.html Currently in stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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