Apex Ninja 3" 1 5/8 oz 8.5's
280 in 10"
124 in 20"
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What are y'all's opinions on this pattern? I'm new to this.. Is this too hot of a core? There seems to be some holes in the pattern. Should I try less constriction?
Thanks!
Trey
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Here is a cropped pic.
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Anyone?
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That's a good one, I'm doing 235 in 10" with 1.5 oz of straight 8s.
That's great at 40-50 if that is from a 40 yard target, but tight for a bead site at 20. At 20 with a red dot you should be good, just my opinion. It depends on your anticipated shot distance.
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I would not be comfortable shooting any TSS load that only put 124 in the 10-20 ring. You should be able to do much better.
I think the ten count is awesome, but I personally would have concern about hunting with a pattern running with a low 124 count in the outer twenty portion of the pattern. If he bobs that head, you will miss sooner than later. Try his .570.
Thanks for the input! This is from 40 yards. I was thinking the same thing on the outer ring. I'd be more comfortable with something more even.
I have a Trulock .585 coming that I have heard great things about. It's not a great time to be finding a choke right now, everyone is out of stock.
I might try to get ahold of William and try a .570
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Quote from: Tandin93 on March 24, 2023, 04:53:38 PM
Thanks for the input! This is from 40 yards. I was thinking the same thing on the outer ring. I'd be more comfortable with something more even.
I have a Trulock .585 coming that I have heard great things about. It's not a great time to be finding a choke right now, everyone is out of stock.
I might try to get ahold of William and try a .570
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I would suggest that you try the TruLock .585 before dropping more money on an additional choke. Your ten count may drop every slightly, but not enough to matter if it does, but your outer twenty count should go way up with that .585. I think you may have a winner with that combo, especially on the matter of increasing the outer part of the pattern as you presently need to do. But of course, I would also have said the same about the .562 Sumtoy. The point being though that I do not think you will miss on two solid choke choices in a row. Try the .585 first before you spend more of your hard earned cash. Please let us know how it turns out.
Quote from: mountainhunter1 on March 24, 2023, 06:16:27 PM
Quote from: Tandin93 on March 24, 2023, 04:53:38 PM
Thanks for the input! This is from 40 yards. I was thinking the same thing on the outer ring. I'd be more comfortable with something more even.
I have a Trulock .585 coming that I have heard great things about. It's not a great time to be finding a choke right now, everyone is out of stock.
I might try to get ahold of William and try a .570
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I would suggest that you try the TruLock .585 before dropping more money on an additional choke. Your ten count may drop every slightly, but not enough to matter if it does, but your outer twenty count should go way up with that .585. I think you may have a winner with that combo, especially on the matter of increasing the outer part of the pattern as you presently need to do. But of course, I would also have said the same about the .562 Sumtoy. The point being though that I do not think you will miss on two solid choke choices in a row. Try the .585 first before you spend more of your hard earned cash. Please let us know how it turns out.
Sounds great. I will update when the choke comes in on Tuesday. I'm fine with the 10 count dropping some, I'm just hesitant with the outer count. Thanks for the help!
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Smart thing would be change the shell. Then when you need the hot pattern for whatever reason go to that shell when in woods or need open pattern shoot different shell. :z-twocents:
Quote from: SumToy on March 26, 2023, 09:14:39 AM
Smart thing would be change the shell. Then when you need the hot pattern for whatever reason go to that shell when in woods or need open pattern shoot different shell. :z-twocents:
That is definitely something I will try as well. I have tried the Apex and the Federal. The Apex was MUCH better than the Federal. Any suggestions of ammo to try?
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Verdict, or Rogue and maybe Salt Creek. All have a good website that you can order from. There are a few more, but they might be a tad harder to get in hand. With a different load, you may love the Sumtoy .562. But I can almost promise you that you will find a good pattern between the coming .585 and your Sumtoy. No way that at least one of them does not pan out. But you have two excellent chokes, and both should shoot great if offered the right load down the barrel. Just a bit of a hassle to try different rounds, but well worth it.
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Here is the pattern with the trulock .585 w/ the Apex ninja #8.5's
250 in the 10"
192 in the 20"
I have some of the Mossy Oak Greenleaf blend from Apex coming, as well as some Rogue 3" #9's. I will post pictures of these when I get them in.
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I like that a lot. Much more forgiving. Is that with the .585?
Quote from: Ranman on April 02, 2023, 10:41:03 PM
I like that a lot. Much more forgiving. Is that with the .585?
Yes sir. .585 ported
I'm really liking this one. The barrel wasn't super clean on this shot, so it possibly could have been a bit better.
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That's a great looking pattern!!! I don't see why you would want more. Best of everything!!!
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Quote from: runngun on April 03, 2023, 01:28:19 PM
That's a great looking pattern!!! I don't see why you would want more. Best of everything!!!
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I'm loving this one!!
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Here is the pattern with the Apex Greenleaf
10" - 282
20" - 310
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I like the .585 much better overall than your first pattern you posted. But man, that final greenleaf 9/10 pattern is just something else. Very few patterns will put more in the 20 than the ten and yet still have a high (280 ten count). I love that pattern because there is no turkey walking out of that even if you are not spot on with your aim. The only issue on that load is those tiny pellets. If he is beyond forty steps (hopefully you stay forty and in), they will fill up his breast and you will eventually find yourself at the dentist with a broken tooth. It can happen with the straight nines as they are pretty small as well, but those tens are some kind of small and often hard to run down in the breast meat. I do love the .585 and for the money not sure it and the cousin .575 precision hunter can be beat.
Quote from: mountainhunter1 on April 15, 2023, 12:01:40 PM
I like the .585 much better overall than your first pattern you posted. But man, that final greenleaf 9/10 pattern is just something else. Very few patterns will put more in the 20 than the ten and yet still have a high (280 ten count). I love that pattern because there is no turkey walking out of that even if you are not spot on with your aim. The only issue on that load is those tiny pellets. If he is beyond forty steps (hopefully you stay forty and in), they will fill up his breast and you will eventually find yourself at the dentist with a broken tooth. It can happen with the straight nines as they are pretty small as well, but those tens are some kind of small and often hard to run down in the breast meat. I do love the .585 and for the money not sure it and the cousin .575 precision hunter can be beat.
I'm with you on the #10's. I definitely plan on keeping it under 40, but I don't want to break a tooth! I think either load is a great hunting pattern. Thanks for all your help!
I picked up a new Beretta yesterday, so patterning that one is next!
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I like both of those .585 patterns as well. If you go with the 9/10 setup, just site your gun in a fraction high and it will help a lot if you wind up shooting a bird at 45-50 yards. Easy to misjudge yardage and shoot a fraction further than we think we are shooting sometimes. But the twenty coverage on the 9/10 is as good as it gets. Nothing is walking out of that pattern at reasonable ranges. I hope you hammer several this spring - and will try to remember to check back with you to see how it does in the woods on live birds. I think you will be pleased. Appreciate you sharing as these patterns help to save others time and money as they set up future guns.
Quote from: mountainhunter1 on April 16, 2023, 09:04:24 PM
I like both of those .585 patterns as well. If you go with the 9/10 setup, just site your gun in a fraction high and it will help a lot if you wind up shooting a bird at 45-50 yards. Easy to misjudge yardage and shoot a fraction further than we think we are shooting sometimes. But the twenty coverage on the 9/10 is as good as it gets. Nothing is walking out of that pattern at reasonable ranges. I hope you hammer several this spring - and will try to remember to check back with you to see how it does in the woods on live birds. I think you will be pleased. Appreciate you sharing as these patterns help to save others time and money as they set up future guns.
Well, I'm glad I took your advice on the sighting in a bit high. I shot a gobbler this morning at what I thought was about 40. Ended up being about 46. Killed him stone dead! A blast of a hunt!! Thanks for all the help! I hope it helps others as well!
Also, the yote didn't like that load either!
Great opening morning in Mo!
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You had an awesome morning. That is a good looking Tom. Congrats on him and the yote. I can tell you smoked him with the feathers laying around on the ground. I think you have found a winning setup. Yep, your twenty coverage is so good that you can aim a tad high on a reasonable longer shot and still stone him. Very few people are getting a twenty coverage to match what you posted on here. That is why I honestly believe that no bird is ever going to be walking out of that at reasonable hunting ranges. By the way, filling the breast of the coyote full of pellets is a good thing :fud:. Glad you scored - thanks for sharing your success with us.
Quote from: mountainhunter1 on April 17, 2023, 05:19:32 PM
You had an awesome morning. That is a good looking Tom. Congrats on him and the yote. I can tell you smoked him with the feathers laying around on the ground. I think you have found a winning setup. Yep, your twenty coverage is so good that you can aim a tad high on a reasonable longer shot and still stone him. Very few people are getting a twenty coverage to match what you posted on here. That is why I honestly believe that no bird is ever going to be walking out of that at reasonable hunting ranges. By the way, filling the breast of the coyote full of pellets is a good thing :fud:. Glad you scored - thanks for sharing your success with us.
Yes sir! I believe this is a set up that will be around for a long time! It's good to know that it will kill a turkey, so effectively at that range, even though I don't ever plan on shooting turkeys that far. In fact, that is the farthest I have ever shot a turkey. Most have all been under 30 yards. But it is good to know that I have that cushion if I need it!
This gobbler really caught me off guard. This morning started off great with four birds gobbling at sunrise. I started working one bird, and he seemed like he was wanting to play, but all of the sudden all of the gobblers hushed. I knew I didn't spook them, but I did not have a clue what had happened. A few minutes later, I heard something coming through the woods toward me and look to my left and see a coyote headed my way. I'll let her get to about 15 yards and she found out quickly that she didn't like TSS. Lol
After shooting the coyote, I drug her off a ways, and after she was taken care of, I decided to call just to see if I could locate the gobblers I had heard earlier in the morning. When I called the first time, he gobbled about 150 yards away, so I scrambled to get set up as quickly as I could. Before I could even get set up, he gobbled again, and was getting closer.
I looked around for a place to get set up, and there was no way that I could get to a tree that would be able to hide me. Everything that was close would not have hid me well enough, and he would have been able to see me as soon as he topped the rise that was in between him and I. The only thing I could see was a mound of dirt and chose to lay down behind it, peeking over the top. It wasn't ideal, but looked like it might work!
After getting set up, I began to call and he immediately responded and started coming my way. He eventually hung up at 80 yards, strutting and gobbling his head off. I finally got him to break, and when I shot him, I thought he was a tad closer than he was because of the terrain that was in between us. I got him to come in from 80 but he hung up again, strutting up and down an ATV trail, and I didn't think he would be coming any closer. Because of my set up, I was worried about him, circling me. If he would have, I would have been busted, and there was no way that I would have been able to turn around and shoot that way without spooking him. So, although he was a little farther than I wanted to shoot him, it all worked out in the end!
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Awesome morning - awesome hunt. I learned it the hard way early many years ago, but one thing that will help in that scenario going forward is to simply remember, do not call to a bird until you are at a spot that you want to work a bird from. I ask myself, can I and do I want to kill a bird from this spot? If you call before you get to that point, you will find yourself over and over having to dive behind something. There are times when he gobbles before you call and he is in your lap and you just have to do the best that you can, - but if you have not called yet and he is not point blank, pick the spot you want and get to there and then call and it takes a ton of pressure off of you when he does show up. Happy you scored. I can tell that you will not ever forget that hunt and that is really what it is all about. Congrats again.
Is that with #8's??
Quote from: Fullfan on May 02, 2023, 06:55:52 PM
Is that with #8's??
The most recent one is with 9's/10's. Apex Greenleaf blend.
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Definitely a winner and field proven. No bird is going to walk out of that pattern. Congrats..
Quote from: Ranman on May 06, 2023, 05:13:35 PM
Definitely a winner and field proven. No bird is going to walk out of that pattern. Congrats..
Yes sir. Thanks! 2 birds with it this year. I'm loving it.
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