Took a few shots with my sungle shot 12 with a Mossberg turkey choke and found that my max distance is probally 25 yards.. I just dont see how people do 30 yard shots.
ps pattern looks good but seems to shoot a bit low......are others aiming a bit high to put a nice pattern on the target at 30 yards?
When pacing it off i am calling a normal to large stride a yard.
What loads are you shooting? Adjustable sight of some form are vital to zeroing a turkey gun to point of impact. Most 12 gauge 3 inch loads should shoot respectably to thirty yards with even a standard full choke. I remember you said you were going to start with field loads. You should see quite an increase in pattern density when you shoot the heavier turkey loads. Anywhere between 1 5/8 and 2 ounces of number five or six shot is a good starting point.
Yeah I started with a cheap low brass birdshot. I am actually using 3" Rem Nitro Turkey loads. It could also be me since this is a bran new gun that literally i never shot untill last night afterwork.
I have always been a very good shot as I have done a lot of bird and rabbit hunting my whole life. I think its just a matter of getting use to this. Ill shoot it a bit more this weekend.
Hopefully you have adjustable sights. If not, they are cheap enough and easily available, you really need those. Use the light loads to get the sights close to pattern center at 20 yds. When you are ready to shoot the payloads, draw a ten inch circle and shoot for tthe center. Fine tune the sights if needed. Shoule be able to keep most of it in the circle at 20 yds. Once youve done that, u can start moving back to 30 and 40. When you can no longer keep 80 pellets in that circle, youve reached your max range. You also want uniformity, no big holes in your pattern. Many guns, load, choke combos are capable of much better than 80 hits at 40 yds, but that should be your minimum, whatever that range may be. If your choke is decent, you should have no problems at thirty yds achieving that. If u cant, u may need to try a diff load or a new tube.
PS no, your pattern should not drop noticeably from close range out to 40 yds, only it will open up as range increases.
Quote from: NEKVT on April 25, 2012, 07:29:20 AM
Yeah I started with a cheap low brass birdshot. I am actually using 3" Rem Nitro Turkey loads. It could also be me since this is a bran new gun that literally i never shot untill last night afterwork.
I have always been a very good shot as I have done a lot of bird and rabbit hunting my whole life. I think its just a matter of getting use to this. Ill shoot it a bit more this weekend.
To help better answer you, what choke diameter,flush or extended, shot size, barrel length are you using? Sights are not needed yet. How far you can be to get a suitable pattern is number 1 for now.
1.Remington Nitro turkey 3" 1 7/8 oz # 4 for the shells
2. Choke: (please note it says lead only, but the description says steel too?)
Mossberg XX-Full Turkey Accu-Choke Tube (Lead Only)
Accu-choke tubes handle lead, steel and all other non-toxic loads. Each choke tube is marked with a shot patterning designation as a guide.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Mfg Item Num: 95267
Category: CHOKE TUBES
Type :Choke Tube Extended
Gauge :12
Choke size :XX-Full
Model :500,535,930
Finish :Lead Only
3. Here is what I did....
I had a very large piece of cardboard. refrigerator sized. I then took pink pink postit notes and ligned up 6 of them spaces about a foot apart.
I then paced of 25 yards, and fired at the center of the postit note. I then was able to look and draw a 10 inch circle showing that i was hitting a bit lower than each note consistantly. So if i take less sight I should be able to hit it well. Rember this is a single shot breakopen with only a front BB sight.
move up from 4's they wont give you the numbers. 6's kill just fine and you'll get a whole lot more of them
Just my opinion but those remington nitrogen shells are junk. I shot them through a fee different guns with different chokes and they were lousy.
Quote from: mikejd on April 25, 2012, 12:17:07 PM
Just my opinion but those remington nitrogen shells are junk. I shot them through a fee different guns with different chokes and they were lousy.
That has been my experience too.
I would suggest trying Winchester HV's in #6 or #5.
Quote from: vt35mag on April 25, 2012, 12:32:35 PM
Quote from: mikejd on April 25, 2012, 12:17:07 PM
Just my opinion but those remington nitrogen shells are junk. I shot them through a fee different guns with different chokes and they were lousy.
That has been my experience too.
I would suggest trying Winchester HV's in #6 or #5.
:icon_thumright:
Quote from: NEKVT on April 25, 2012, 09:20:11 AM
1.Remington Nitro turkey 3" 1 7/8 oz # 4 for the shells
2. Choke: (please note it says lead only, but the description says steel too?)
Mossberg XX-Full Turkey Accu-Choke Tube (Lead Only)
Accu-choke tubes handle lead, steel and all other non-toxic loads. Each choke tube is marked with a shot patterning designation as a guide.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Mfg Item Num: 95267
Category: CHOKE TUBES
Type :Choke Tube Extended
Gauge :12
Choke size :XX-Full
Model :500,535,930
Finish :Lead Only
3. Here is what I did....
I had a very large piece of cardboard. refrigerator sized. I then took pink pink postit notes and ligned up 6 of them spaces about a foot apart.
I then paced of 25 yards, and fired at the center of the postit note. I then was able to look and draw a 10 inch circle showing that I was hitting a bit lower than each note consistantly. So if i take less sight I should be able to hit it well. Rember this is a single shot breakopen with only a front BB sight.
If you are shooting low and want to raise the POI then you need to have MORE of the bead on the target , not a finer bead. For #4 Rem Nitro 25 yds is about right. If it was my gun I would first shoot H-13 3-2-#7s through that
Mossberg XX lead only choke, second choice is Win 3-2 #6 lead for a lead only shell. Most turkeys killed are shot at distances under 35 yards in this area. Good Luck To You .
Quote from: NEKVT on April 24, 2012, 07:39:33 PM
Took a few shots with my sungle shot 12 with a Mossberg turkey choke and found that my max distance is probally 25 yards.. I just dont see how people do 30 yard shots.
I've read all the posts so far and have a few suggestions. First of all, I'd "deep clean" the bore of that gun as well as your choke. (If you're not familiar with that process, you can click on the banner below this post and read the article
"Cleaning a Shotgun Barrel")Secondly, I would would purchase a couple boxes of 3" Winchester "Super X" shotshells with 1 7/8 oz of #6 shot. They are the ones in the gray box (X123MT6) and you can usually find them at Walmart for about $7.00 or less for a box of 10 shells. They work very well and can deliver excellent pattern at up to 40 yards.
You are certainly using the correct method of determining how your pattern looks and I think with just these 2 changes, you can have a very acceptable turkey gun without making any major investment.
Thanks,
Clark
Deep clean bore, even though its a bran new gun?
Quote from: NEKVT on May 01, 2012, 01:30:52 PM
Deep clean bore, even though its a bran new gun?
Yes.....Yes.......and YES!!!!
Lots and lots of good info and the procedure is on Clark's web site. What you could do is polish your barrel 1st, then deep clean it. Polishing procedure is listed here on OG in a "sticky".
Listen to what Clark told you. He knows his stuff.
Yeah I read that polish stickey the other day, pretty wild....