With the right choke and shot combination, a 20-gauge shoots some mighty tight turkey hunting patterns.
Over the last couple of weeks, I tested various turkey loads in Remington V3 and Winchester SX3 12-gauge shotguns fitted with Carlson's Winchester Long Beard XR tubes. Both guns were very lethal at 40 and 50 yards with 3-inch Winchester LBXR shells stuffed with 17/8 ounces of No. 6 shot.
The SX3, however, placed the densest part of the pattern about 6 inches to the left of the aim point, which was unsettling. When an approaching gobbler has your nerves on five-alarm red alert, you do not need to clutter your thinking with unwelcome mathematic calculations.
I recently read an article by Randy Wakeman about the incredibly dense patterns he got with a Winchester SX3 20-gauge fitted with a Trulock Heavyweight 7 tube firing Federal Heavyweight No. 7 shells. Federal Heavyweight 7, he wrote, is the greatest 20-gauge turkey load ever produced, and it outperforms No. 5 lead at all ranges and in all respects.
On Friday, I tested the same combination at laser verified ranges of 30 and 40 yards. To my chagrin and disgust, I learned that my SX3 20-gauge also patterns 4-6 inches to the left of the aim point. I am exceedingly displeased about this.
A reader and fellow turkey hunting enthusiast, Desmond Clapp, sent an e-mail last week to share that his Remington 11-87 Super Magnum 12-gauge expresses the same tendency.
"I have found out the hard way that 6 inches of error does make the difference between a miss and a clean kill," Clapp wrote.
He remedied that problem by installing a Truglo Magnum Gobble Dot Pro Series fiber optic metal sight on his shotgun.
Most fiberoptic sights clip to the bead magnetically or with plastic flanges. Many require removing the front bead and screwing the front fiberoptic sight in its place. That is a major hassle with Remington shotguns because the front bead is pressed into the rib. You have to drill it out and tap new threads into the hole.
The Truglo Magnum Gobble Dot Pro Series sights screw against the rib horizontally. You don't have to remove anything. They are also adjustable for windage and elevation.
Clapp recommends sighting in with light No. 8 field loads at 20 yards. When properly sighted in, he said the wad should punch through the bullseye. Then, follow up with your turkey loads to verify zero.
My first official test shot was at 30 yards with a 23/4 inch, 11/8-ounce load of Federal No. 7 Heavyweight. I held at the bottom of the target, at the neck/back junction. Ten pellets hit the entire length of the spinal column, and two hit the cranium. Nine additional pellets hit the neck very close to the spine.
I shot at a second target holding dead on about 6 inches low. Five pellets hit the spine. One hit the cranium spine junction, and one hit the cranium. Eleven pellets hit the neck.
Those are lethal patterns, but they don't faintly resemble those that Wakeman claimed.
My next two shots were at 30 and 40 yards, respectively, with 3-inch, 11/4-ounce loads of No. 5-6-7 Hevi-Shot blend. At 30 yards, I held 6 inches to the left. Eight pellets hit the cranium, seven hit the spine and one nicked the spine. Seven hit the neck.
At 40 yards, the pattern was much less dense, but still six pellets pierced the cranium, and one hit the cranial/spinal junction. One hit high in the spine, and four hit the neck.
With a properly sighted in Truglo Magnum Gobble Dot, I would feel confident shooting a turkey out to 40 yards with the Hevi-Shot Magnum Blend.
I also attempted to test a Trulock turkey choke in a Browning Sweet 16 using Express Long Range shells containing 11/8 ounces of No. 6 lead. That's a pheasant load, but killing a pheasant on the wing is a lot harder than killing a stationary turkey.
Not with this load. Two shots at 30 yards would kill a turkey, but only barely. We're going to have to work on this.
On the other hand, it's called "Sweet" 16 for a reason. It kicks a lot softer than the SX3 20-gauge.
If you set up any Auto-5 properly by adjusting the bushings and friction rings for light or heavy loads, the Auto-5 is one of the softest kicking shotguns ever made.
If I can find a turkey load it likes, we're going to spend a lot more time together.
Sports on 02/19/2017