Loading for Turkey hunting

[New Hampshire]

I posted this in the Turket hunting forum but have not gotten any responses, so I re-copying it here as it probably should have gone here to begin with.

Ok, Im still new to Turkey hunting. Come Monday I start my second season. Now my ammo selection went something like this..."Hmmm, that Remington Hevi shot is supposed to patern real tight. OK Ill take a box of 3", 1 5/8" Mags and put in a factory Remington Full choke tube."

Well I did pattern the gun and it shoots pretty tight. At 10 yards there was one huge hole that would have left a turkeys neck nearly ripped off, and out to 30 yards there was still upwards of about 6 pellets in the neck/brain area. But being the eternal tinkerer I am I am thinking of stepping to the next level. Ive dabbled with shotshell reloading, mainly just light loads used to bust so clays at my clubs trap thrower. Nothing fancy. So here I am thinking of Reloading my own Turkey loads. So I need some advice, consoul, opinions....you get the idea.

First Shot:

Ive been using #6s, but thats just what happened to be in my hands at purchase time. Nothing more nothing less. Whats everyone consider a good size for both Hevi Shot and Plated shot? Next is, with my being able to tinker haevily with my own loads is the need to keep going with Hevi shot necessary? I understand it has superior penetration capabilities, but if Im dumping 6+ pellets of plated shot into a Turkeys kill area I cant imagine any big bird walking away (or flyinf, flopping....you get the idea.)

Charge weight to Velocity:

Whats the best way to go, Lighter shot charge weight with higher velocity or heavy payload with slower velocity? Is there any real advantage having 1 7/8 oz over 1 5/8 oz of shot? Or is there a real advantage in a couple extra hundred fps? Whats a good balance?

Hulls:

This one may be easier to answer. Whats the better, more durable hull. Which one has better interior dimensions that lends to high preformance with heavy turkey payloads?

Wads and Powder:

Should I be looking at specific powders? What I mean is those that are designed for magnum loadings. And what about wads? I know about BPI and have ordered from them. They offer the Turkey ranger wad. Is this the best wad, or will I still get great preformance from the more common factory wads from the likes of Remington, Winchester and etc.?

Choke Tubes:

Like I mentioned, I have a factory Remington Full choke. I got it because it was readily able to be used with Heavi Shot with no damage to the choke. Should I look at a tighter choke for plated shot? I know Im still a cherry to turkey hunting, but I am with the crowd of not having a "super mega" tight pattern. The thought being that at too tight a constriction the closer shots could be so much like a slug that a near miss would be...well a miss where as a little bit looser might still result in the minimum pellet dump in the turkeys kill zone. I just have the stock rib and bead, but am thinking of moving up to a fiber optic, no magnet no tape sight set. But thats still in the air right now. Im probably gonna get a resounding "YES" from everyone, but is it worth the money to go to these sights?


I think that about does it. I do have a chrony, so I can get velocity measurements as well as patterning to test uniformity of the whole load. Is there a suggested distance from the muzzle to put the chrony? I dont want to put any holes in it, if ya know what I mean  ! I can get my hands on some Lexan, so should I make a cover to put over the eyes for protection? Any tips or tricks? Things to watch out for?

Ill probably have a few more, so thanks in advance.

Brian M.

****added******

Thanks folks.

[Duffy]

I took a factory Winchester load, tore it apart, measured everything and started from there. After about 100+ rounds of messing around I have a load that's as good if not better.
I found that there is a balance between payload and velocity. Higher vel usually results in tighter patterns and as little as 30 fps makes a difference. Slight changes to components and assembly procedures also can make a difference, wad pressure, buffer type and quantity, crimp condition ect. I didn't have powder charge recomendations and started from scratch and worked up. If you have only "dabbled" in shot shell reloading you'd be better off buying the turkey loads or sticking to the published turkey load's.
Just for info, I use Longshot powder, Fed hulls & primers
Nickle plated #5 and a felt, Nitro card, obturating wad column.

[New Hampshire]

Duffy,
Thank you for your response.  I had intended completely to stick to published data.  But you have indeed provided me with a good starting point.  It looks like Ill keep with a 1 5/8 oz loading.  I noticed that there is some data out there for stuffing 2 ozs of shot into a 3" case.  I was not sure 2 oz is really necessary, and so I decided to focus on the 1  5/8 or 1 7/8 loadings.  As for cases.  I see BPI has new, clear Federal cases for sale.  I dont know if these are the standard plastics with fiber base wad or not.  I guess Ill have to contact them on it.
One more quick question.  Ive seen mention before about "wad pressure" or "wad seating pressure."  How does one go about measuring this?  Also, Have you ever thought about roll crimping?  How do you think this would affect patterning if at all?
Again, Thanks.
Brian M.

[Duffy]

First off I'm loading for a 10 gauge.
The reason I like the Fed hulls is they seem to give the highest vel with lower pressures. The down side with the paper based ones is they sometimes don't last very long with max loads. My load works out to about 2 1/16 oz of shot or 900 grains. When you add the 20g of buffer it's close to a     2 1/8  oz payload. I have gone lighter and faster and also heavier & slower and this seems to give the best consistancy. Thought of a roll crimper but haven't tried it, as I don't have one yet. It may give an improvement because I have noticed that when the case mouths get wimpy the vel and patterns go to pot. You can see it in the bbl after the shot. A good load leaves the bbl nice and clean while one with a bad crimp or cocked wad is dirty with unburnt powder.
As for wad pressure,  that's sort of a trial and error thing. You want a firm seating on the powder charge but don't want to compress the legs of the wad too much if that's the type your using. I use stacked cards, felts and a gas seal but they still need to be slightly compressed for good ignition and proper crimping. If your using a turkey ranger or a steel type wad theres no compressable legs so just seat them firmly on top of the powder then add your filler wads or felts. If they need some compression you'll know because it won't crimp very good or will bulge. I use a PW 375 press and it holds the shell in a FL die all the time so you can compress them pretty good. That is one thing I noticed with WW factory loads is that they are very firm and the vel only varies about 3-5 fps between shots. Oh yeh on the Chrony don't try and shoot through the screens, theres so much crap flying by that it either dings one or makes readings inaccurate. I was doing most of my testing during cloudy days and just leave them off with the chrony setting about 8 feet or better away. You may get some strange readings because of the secondary shadow from the wad sometimes. If it happens too often just move a bit closer or don't shoot too high above the unit.
Too Low is very bad too!

Hope this helps ya some.

Ryan

[New Hampshire]

Again, thank you.  Some very valuable info.
Brian M.