I have been working hard each weekend to test different lead loads through different chokes. The photos below illustrate the best combination I have found so far. After breaking a tooth on HeviShot and spending almost a grand at the dentist to fix an exploded tooth, I have gone back to lead shot. Lead shot will give when I bite into a mouthful of turkey, tungsten will not!
I have to say that the factory Browning "spreader choke" that came with the gun works very very well. I run it in the top barrel with a fast (1500 fps) 2 3/4" load of #6s (Federal Wing Shok) and from zero to 15 yards I get a nice broad but effective pattern. At 20 yards or so the pattern gets a bit too sparse, will use the bottom barrel for 20 yards and out, for closer shots, will use the top barrel. I like the option of being able to choose choke/spread in under a second! Have 3 pounds of TSS glued into the buttstock cavity to reduce recoil. The set up is working nicely so far!
Anyway, the Findings:
*The factory Browning Ultimate Turkey choke that came with the gun did a fine job but I wanted to see if I could do better. No idea what the exit diameter of this choke is. 3 inch #5s in all loads tested. Winchester LongBeard XR smoked all the rest. Tested Rem. Nitro Turkey (worst), Federal Premium Turkey (fine); and Federal Grand Slam (decent).
* Tested the Jellyhead Invector Plus next (.670 according to the package). The choke beat out the factory choke and was the leader until I got my Jebs choke this past weekend.
*Tested the Jebs Headhunter (.660) and it did even better than the Jellyhead, and substantially better than the factory Browning Ultimate Turkey choke.
Here are representative examples of the patterns I am consistently getting with the Jebs HH .660 and LBXR 3" #5:
I am still quite new to turkey hunting, so please advise if this is this good enough or if should I keep experimenting? Overall, Oh My God, is there a lead load out there that can beat Winchester Long Beard XR? If so, i'd like to see it! That stuff is AMAZING!
40 Yards - 100 #5 lead pellets in 10 inches on average
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/Browning%20Ultimate%20Turkey%20w%20Jebs%20.660%20and%20LBXR%20num5%203%20inch%20at%2040%20yards.JPG)
50 Yards - 70 #5 lead pellets in 10 inches on average
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/Browning%20Ultimate%20Turkey%20w%20Jebs%20.660%20and%20LBXR%20num5%203%20inch%20at%2050%20yards.JPG)
I want to see pics of the gun :funnyturkey: pattern looks good to me
As requested, and a 50 yard Federal TSS #9 3" test target from this past weekend as well.
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/Browning%20Ultimate%20Turkey%20w_%20Aimpoint%20T2%20%20%20Open%20%20%20%20%2004%2001%202018.JPG)
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/Browning%20Ultimate%20Turkey%20w_%20Aimpoint%20T2%20%20Closed%20%20%2004%2001%202018.JPG)
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/50%20Yard%20Target%20with%20Federal%20TSS%20num9%203per22%20%20%20%20%2004%2001%202018.JPG)
Very good looking gun!
What red dot are you using?
That's sharp thanks for the pic. Does it have sling mounts?
I am running an Aimpoint T2 on it. Never had an Aimpoint T1 or T2 fail no matter how much abuse I throw at it.
You know, the only flaw of this gun is the lack of handy sling attachment points. I noted this to Browning. Sling studs can be installed but for that price, come on Browning, they should be included! Otherwise, it seems it might be the perfect turkey gun!
How far apart do the barrels center their patterns at 15 yards?
Good question. I have not tested that. Is that something I need to check on?
I would not take it for granted the barrels hit the same spot over all distances. They should hit within a few inches of each other. Check both for point of aim versus point of impact up close, like 13 yards. Zero your dot for the distance barrel. Make sure the close barrel hits close enough to still work.
If you zero the dot for the top barrel as your distance barrel, you will avoid canting the gun throwing your shot wide.
Good advice! Luckily I had read similar advice somewhere here and had zero'd the dot for the long distance (lower) barrel/choke. I then tested the factory spreader choke in the top barrel and HOLY COW does that spreader choke work great! It works so well that beyond 15 yards, the pattern becomes useless very quickly. It really is designed to blast a big pattern at point blank range. The same point of aim gets me this great result up close, I got lucky with this gun, the barrels are regulated nicely. This gun has me covered whether they are in my lap or are distant:
10 Yards with Spreader choke and Federal Wing Shok #6:
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/10%20Yards%20144%20in%2010%20inch%20circle%20%20Browning%20Factory%20Spreader%20Choke%20and%20Federal%20num6%20Wing-Shok%20%2002%2018%202018.JPG)
15 Yards with Spreader choke and Federal Wing Shok #6:
(https://photos.imageevent.com/magdump/turkeytestpatterns/websize/15%20Yards%2090%20in%2010%20inch%20circle%20%20Browning%20Factory%20Spreader%20Choke%20and%20Federal%20num6%20Wing-Shok%20%2002%2018%202018.JPG)
Nice gun, I hunt with an o/u .imo I would put the spreader in the bottom.long distance on the top barrel. My bottom barrel poi is lower .with the wider pattern it really would not matter
Very nice gun!
I have the same gun except mine is the ATACS FG Camo. I agree with you that the spreader choke patterns very well. The other factor choke patterns good to but I've been wanting to try something else. I want to try a ported Trulock Precision Hunter. You can get them in .060 .070 .075 .080. What constriction do you think I should try? Having the option of switching to the spreader choke makes me lean toward the tight .075 or .080. If I like the trulock I might also get a ported Precision Hunter cylinder .00. Got to have matching chokes in an O/U! I assume the factory spreader choke is a cylinder.
I've been using Federal 3rd Degree in the spreader barrel and TSS in the tight barrel. The flightstopper pellets at the front of the 3rd degree emphasize the fast opening pattern of the spreader choke. I've found it to be a great combination. I've harvested 10 turkeys with the Cynergy and surprisingly 7 were with the spreader choke/barrel. These 7 were taken between 10-32 yards. I was expecting to use the tight barrel more often than the spreader. In fact, I could have/should have shot 9 of the 10 with the spreader. Twice I had the gun on the tight barrel but by the time I had a clear shot the birds were well within 30 yards. I shot them with the tight barrel because I didn't want to take the time to switch.........and risk loosing the shot opportunity.
I also run the same gun in ATACS camo as well.
I have an aimpoint H1 micro on top and run two pure gold chokes in mine.
That being a .670 on the bottom barrel for 25 yards and out and a .720 on the top barrel for 25 and in.
I run longbeards in the long barrel either the 3- 1-3/4 oz #5 or the 3-1/2 -2oz #5 . It doesn't put up 200 plus in 10 like a lot of guys are getting but the 3 inch is consistently putting up 140s to 150s while the 3.5s are in the 160 to 170s all day at 40 yards. . Nice even hunting patterns.
The short choke is killer out to 25 and in with plain old 2-3/4 inch win xx #6. Very forgiving.
I've had this gun for 2 seasons now and have killed 4 toms with it. 3 on the short range choke.
8, 18, and 23 yards. One on the long choke at 33 yards. I normally keep the selector on the short barrel to avoid unnecessary movements and sounds at close quarters. Those birds that hang up out there a ways are easy to make the switch on.
I must say after running and still curantly owning many pumps and autos , I firmly believe this O/U setup to be the perfect turkey shotgun. I think this will be my final Turkey gun, that's is unless I find a nice little 20 gauge o/u to build on. Been thinking about a 20 gauge Citori micro Midas satin hunter with 24 inch barrels. That would be a sweet little gun.
I put a T1 on mine, or may be it is an H1 I can't remember for sure. I added a Tango Down cover. At the time they offered the cover in ATACS FG but now it's only black or OD Green. I just finished the second season with the Cynergy and I'm hooked on O/U for turkey. Having two choke choices and two ammo choices is fantastic. Also, I don't think people realize how much shorter they are compared to a pump or auto. My friend missed a turkey with his pump this year because of a miss fire. The Tom flew when he chambered another round. It made me think.....if that happens to me I just need to pull the trigger again.....another plus for O/U.
I'm about to order a Trulock choke or two for the Cynergy. They recommend I go with a specialty choke not the Precision Hunter I mentioned before. The choke is not on their website yet but they are available. They have one tested and designed for Federal TSS #7 and another choke for #9. I'll post results but it will be a while before I can test them out.
Does anyone know if the Browning Spreader choke is an Open Cylinder or IC? Or something else?
I can see no disadvantages in running the O/U . It's really like having 2 guns in one.
The spreader is supposedly a cylinder choke with helical rifling to spin out the shot to have it open the pattern quick.
With the 2-3/4 #6 that I wanted to shoot in the close range barrel the pattern with the spreader choke was a 15 yard choke at best. I was really looking try and split the difference with the two chokes so opted for the .670 and .720 option which worked out exactly as I wanted. I just happened to have those chokes on hand as I used them on other brownings. The .720 is a pure gold waterfowl choke and is dimensionally outside the same as there turkey chokes which matched up well.
I see from your report that the spreader choke performed much better for you with the 3rd degree load, which makes sense as it uses the flight control wad that seems to perform really well in open chokes in all of federals loadings. That wad is holding your pattern together better than the standard wad I put through mine.
I'm not done with the spreader choke just yet. I have an Indian creek in .665 as well as an patternmaster anaconda in .670 to try in the future as well as several boxes of 3-1/2 inch 3rd degree that I have yet to try at all.
Once I found my currant set up to be adequate I stopped testing and hunted it. I am interested however to try different combos out to see if I can improve on the current set up.
I won't be testing anytime soon but will try and post the results when I do. Maybe I will resurrect this post in the future with the results as they are very specific the this platform.
By the way during my initial testing I also ran a pure gold .680 and a .696 . The .680 was slightly beat out by the .670 , still very huntable however and the .696 was a little tighter than what I was looking for in the short barrel but again very do able. I haven't written the .696 off just yet. The .696 is a fantastic coyote choke with bigger shot B.B. #4 etc. But that's a whole other subject.
Have fun with your cynergys guys , I look forward to hearing more about them in the future.
Great looking gun
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