Greetings from the free state of Alabama (we carry concealed w/out a license and any ammo shipped to our home :)
Recent testing results: Franchi Affinity 3, 20 gauge w/ 24" barrel cerakoted in Muddy Water. Apex TSS #9, 3 inch, 1 5/8 shot @ 40 yards. Barrel + choke cleaned btw all shots with BoreTech Eliminator/Shotgun Blend until patches are clean. Hits counted in inner 10 inch and 20 inch circles respectively. Sight: Aimpoint H1 red dot w/ Scalarworks Sync 01 mount. thanks to bwhana and others on choke recommendations...
Trulock .575 was 332 in 10" circle.. 220 in 20" circle... 332/220
Trulock .585 was 295 in 10" circle. 235 in 20" circle. 295/235
....more pics. didn't count 20" circles in these 2. '10 cores were too hot for my liking.
Awesome patterns... that makes me wanna chunk my Indian creek .562
slave, what kinda hit count are you getting w the IC 562?
I'm gonna go w/ one of the Trulocks... the IC and RR are very even but a little too tight.
All those are nice! I'm surprised that the RR was that much tighter, but have never tried one yet. That pattern was more like the IC 555 in mine.
thx. gonna shoot each Trulock once again and pick. i'm leaning .575.
Quote from: ragin-cajun on March 05, 2023, 07:35:24 PM
slave, what kinda hit count are you getting w the IC 562?
I'm gonna go w/ one of the Trulocks... the IC and RR are very even but a little too tight.
I haven't gotten a good count on it just yet. I ordered a few boxes of 9s and 9x10 apex. Hoping the .562 won't be too tight and blow out the pattern
That gun is a shooter for sure. Great numbers.
I added a 20 inch circle to two Trulocks' choke count:
Trulock .575 was 220 in '20 circle... 332/220
Trulock .585 was 235 in '20 circle. 295/235
You have a very tight shooting gun. You are putting up 30 yard numbers at 40 yards, which is amazing.
If it was my gun, I would run the 585 or 575 trulock.
Quote from: Glades on March 06, 2023, 09:22:15 AM
You have a very tight shooting gun. You are putting up 30 yard numbers at 40 yards, which is amazing.
If it was my gun, I would run the 585 or 575 trulock.
yep. only difference btw the 2 Trulocks about 30 or so hits traded btw 10" and 20" circles. in hardwoods .585; open greenfield .575. interesting all 4 chokes had same POI. gonna shoot 2 Tr. once more just for fun.
in the process of expensively sighting in gun...
all three Trulock .575 shots.... Avg. pellets in 10 and 20 inch circle = 530
last three Trulock .585 shots.
Avg pellets in 10 and 20 inch circle = 534.
very similar results w/ both chokes. 575 slighter tighter in 10 inch circle.
in 3 shots: the .575 averaged 326 pellets in 10" circle and 204 in the 20" circle. 530 total avg.
in 4 shots: the .585 averaged 306 pellets in 10" circle and 226 in the 20" circle. 532 total avg.
I am appreciative of Bwhana helping you out on the choke recommendations. I talk to him some and he seems like a really solid dude, and ALL of his guns are shooting great so you can believe what he tells you.
I for a long time have been an Indian Creek .570 kind of dude, and for a while wondered if maybe some of these awesome Trulock patterns that kept popping up were not really at forty yards. BUT - have seen too many of them the past two to three years and I am now a believer.
Always have liked the now late Mr. George and his company (A true gentleman to say the least), but I have seen so many awesome patterns by his chokes that I am starting to think that the Trulock .575 and .585 Precision Hunter may be the best overall chokes on the market today for number 9 TSS. I might be tempted to take your .585 to the woods simply because of the ever slightly better 20" coverage, but you probably just need to flip a coin because they are both beyond excellent.
You are smart to do a three to five shot average because one shot can lie to you. Smart men do their homework and you have done that and will be rewarded for it in the woods real soon. Thanks for sharing and good luck ragin-cajun!!
thank you mountain.
the IC and RR tubes were very nice patterns, just a bit tight for my liking.
I hope this post saves someone else some time and expenses on shells-- like others have saved me. Luckily i was able to document these shots trying to dial in my Aimpoint red dot.
You are welcome and I love to mess with patterning almost as much as I love to hunt turkeys. Just a lot of fun.
You probably already do it, but one thing that has helped me is keeping those patterns and rolling them up and storing them somewhere for future reference. When shells cost 10-12 dollars a pop, it saves both time and money to be able to look back a couple of years later and see if that new choke you are trying is really shooting better than what you tested a couple of years before. You think you can keep it all in your head, but it is hard to recall it all, and it really helps to be able to pull those patterns out two to four years later and compare to any new stuff you may be trying. It has saved me time and money by doing that because I don't have to reduplicate my work since I still have the patterns of previous tested chokes to compare to something new I am trying out.
But if everyone tested as well as you have done, we would all be much better off. You have done your homework and then some. Thanks again for sharing your results. I refer back to these patterns posted on here as well when helping others set their new guns up when I don't have personally saved patterns on a certain choke and load.
Patterns look great , but still a pretty tight core. I think you could open up even more. Turlock has an extended full choke that is .590 and an improved modified at .595.. I bet you would be pleasantly surprised at the results. Make sure to see what it does at 20yrds..
turkey is a tough bird. and in my experience I like it a little tighter than loose
last 2 shots w/ .575 locking in red dot.
Nice, that 575 is a winner for both of us!
yes sir... killed enough paper targets finding the winning recipe. all came together this am when the Trulock-Franchi combo did short work of this gobbler at 30 yds.
Congrats Cajun, that is a nice bird.
Awesome morning. Congrats..
Good for you, congrats!
First bird w 20g. I'll never go back. So nice carrying a 20 in the woods. Thanks to all for advice and well wishes.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230413/4dba8982d89f371e95544cdff94653a3.jpg)
I let my Franchi with 575 eat too in the rain Saturday. Carrying my Midland with same choke the rest of the season for lighter run and gun action.
congrats ragin-cajun and bwhana on 2 fine Toms, been following along, jealous over the #9 shot patterns, only #71/2 allowed in NJ. Happy to see good reviews of the Franchi, hopefully I am able to get some blood on mine this year!
birds hanging upside down means its time for buttermilk jalapeño turkey nuggets!
Great info here - just picked up an affinity compact 20 myself and was looking at the TL 585 but you have me convince to try the 575 as well.
Quote from: ragin-cajun on April 05, 2023, 10:28:09 AM
in 3 shots: the .575 averaged 326 pellets in 10" circle and 204 in the 20" circle. 530 total avg.
in 4 shots: the .585 averaged 306 pellets in 10" circle and 226 in the 20" circle. 532 total avg.
I'm in the process of building another shotgun in the offseason. I will probably get the .585 for sure for this latest gun based on all that I have seen (including your results), - but wonder if maybe Ranman is correct where he responded to you a bit earlier about someone needing to try the Trulock .590 which is also offered in the Precision Hunter line. I am tempted to believe (Based on all that I have seen and from your results as well) that that choke would run in the high 280's average in the ten and around 245-250 or maybe more on average in the twenty. I really like to stay at 300 or so in my core, but if that choke could average 245 plus in the outer twenty, that would be an amazing setup worth considering.
I was looking at your results, and if you take that one outlier out of your tests where your twenty-count dropped into the 190's, you were averaging 236.3 in the twenty for the other three combined shots with the .585. I know you went with the .575, but I really believe just based on your results that you posted, that the .585 is for your gun - the ever so slightly better all-around choke just because it gives you more leeway. With 306 in the ten for your overall average, you will be right at 199 in the ten at fifty, and at 130 or maybe a hair more in the ten at sixty yards (highly doubt you will ever shoot one anywhere near that far), but the point is it does show that your inner ten inch core is still plenty good on a longer than 40 yard shot even with the more open constriction.
Thank you again for posting your results. I hope that folks will take notice because any 3-5 shot average tells a whole lot more about a gun than just firing one or two shots which can lie to the shooter at times. I really like both chokes in your gun, but honestly feel from your results that the .585 is by a hair the superior choke of those two for your particular gun. Either way, you are well armed.
If I get a .590, I will let you know how it matches up with the .575 and .585. I am ever trying new chokes just to see what they will do. I honestly like patterning guns about as good as turkey hunting itself. Anyway, Your feedback is most beneficial for everyone reading on here, and I appreciate you posting it.
Mountain: I rarely shoot past 40 so either choke will work fine. let me know ur test results.
Honestly, one of my lower outside counts may have been a 3 inch hevi shot shell that mighta got mixed in my shells. Who knows.. At this point I'm just trying to keep dead center.
With TSS, I learned early on that the outer 20 inch coverage is really more important than the inner ten. Any TSS load through a modern choke will put more than enough in the ten to kill a bird to reasonable ranges, but a lot of chokes with great ten coverage will be sparse in the outer twenty pellet count, and that is where you miss birds.
To your reply, I totally agree and would take either of your setups to the woods, - and if I missed a bird, would know it was not the gun. I have a brand-new IC .570 just begging to get out of the box and screwed into something. I will try that first, and if that does not work, I will get a .585 Trulock Precision Hunter and possibly a .590 and let you know how they do. Please let us know if you try anything else and it shoots good for you in your gun. Thanks again.
Quote from: mountainhunter1 on July 29, 2023, 09:33:52 PM
With TSS, I learned early on that the outer 20 inch coverage is really more important than the inner ten. Any TSS load through a modern choke will put more than enough in the ten to kill a bird to reasonable ranges, but a lot of chokes with great ten coverage will be sparse in the outer twenty pellet count, and that is where you miss birds.
To your reply, I totally agree and would take either of your setups to the woods, - and if I missed a bird, would know it was not the gun. I have a brand-new IC .570 just begging to get out of the box and screwed into something. I will try that first, and if that does not work, I will get a .585 Trulock Precision Hunter and possibly a .590 and let you know how they do. Please let us know if you try anything else and it shoots good for you in your gun. Thanks again.
This ^^^
agree with everything u typed...
solid point on the 20 circle count... one thing gleaned in testing chokes: some chokes threw a tight 10 circle had a lot of fliers OUTSIDE the 20. know ur total pellet count in the SHELL is paramount. one reason is chose the 575/585 Trulocks is they distributed the majority of the 590 pellets of the #9 Apex TSS IN the 10 AND 20 circles.
IC 570 had a nice pattern. the 10/20 circle were just "better" w/ the Trulocks.
Quote from: ragin-cajun on July 30, 2023, 09:56:49 AM
agree with everything u typed...
solid point on the 20 circle count... one thing gleaned in testing chokes: some chokes threw a tight 10 circle had a lot of fliers OUTSIDE the 20. know ur total pellet count in the SHELL is paramount. one reason is chose the 575/585 Trulocks is they distributed the majority of the 590 pellets of the #9 Apex TSS IN the 10 AND 20 circles.
IC 570 had a nice pattern. the 10/20 circle were just "better" w/ the Trulocks.
That has been my finding as well. Too tight of a constriction and you start blowing the pattern out and/or you find that it patterns on a left or right diagonal across the paper target. Trulock is a great deal for what they cost. Mr. George (and now his sons) have provided a great product to the common hunting man. I will be back when I get this latest gun together and let you know how it shoots.