What is the best 12ga 3" non hevishot load in your personal opinion?
Winchester Longbeard XR's. Very tight patterns though.
I would have to vote L.B. XR, only if you shoot a 12ga, they are not offered for 20ga
LBXR for sure
Win Lb's are leading the way in the lead loads, everyone else is playing catchup! I hope they don't screw them up or change the them.
No lead shell on the market can compete with the Winchester Long Beards.
Quote from: Gobble! on February 24, 2016, 11:41:03 PM
No lead shell on the market can compete with the Winchester Long Beards.
Fact.........
Quote from: Izzyjoe on February 24, 2016, 09:52:04 PM
I hope they don't screw them up or change the them.
That's why I bought 2 cases of them! That should last me many years.
Depends on what range you expect to shoot your turkeys. If they are beyond 30 yds, I agree with everyone that said LBXR. Amazingly tight patterns for lead. If on the other hand, you truly have no intention of shooting at birds beyond 40 yards, you would be better served IMO with conventional Winch shells or Thugs.
Same as this ^ JMO. I like the Win HV. LB's are too tight for my liking.
Quote from: BandedSpur on February 25, 2016, 09:37:56 AM
Depends on what range you expect to shoot your turkeys. If they are beyond 30 yds, I agree with everyone that said LBXR. Amazingly tight patterns for lead. If on the other hand, you truly have no intention of shooting at birds beyond 40 yards, you would be better served IMO with conventional Winch shells or Thugs.
Good point.
Fed. turkey thugs are good with right choke combo, but my local Walmart hasn't stocked them yet, I'm not sure if they will, cause everything else is on the shelf and the clerk said they wasn't getting anything else.
Quote from: BandedSpur on February 25, 2016, 09:37:56 AM
Depends on what range you expect to shoot your turkeys. If they are beyond 30 yds, I agree with everyone that said LBXR. Amazingly tight patterns for lead. If on the other hand, you truly have no intention of shooting at birds beyond 40 yards, you would be better served IMO with conventional Winch shells or Thugs.
This. ^^^
Quote from: stinkpickle on February 26, 2016, 12:50:38 PM
Quote from: BandedSpur on February 25, 2016, 09:37:56 AM
Depends on what range you expect to shoot your turkeys. If they are beyond 30 yds, I agree with everyone that said LBXR. Amazingly tight patterns for lead. If on the other hand, you truly have no intention of shooting at birds beyond 40 yards, you would be better served IMO with conventional Winch shells or Thugs.
This. ^^^
agree
I'm old school, at the range I shoot at, the Winchester XX and the Federal old school lead shells are hard to beat.
If I had a dollar for every bird that one of these shells had taken, I could have retired along time ago.
Quote from: surehuntsalot on February 27, 2016, 12:16:24 AM
I'm old school, at the range I shoot at, the Winchester XX and the Federal old school lead shells are hard to beat.
If I had a dollar for every bird that one of these shells had taken, I could have retired along time ago.
Yup, that is what I have come to with the Longbeards. I have a couple of shotguns set up to shoot them and turn 215-230 @ 40 with a 3" shell. The Win XX 3/2/6's will turn 140's @ 40 but is much more suitable for hunting since the majority of turkeys I have harvested in 40+ years of turkey hunting have been inside 30yds.
I like the Thugs for a lead shell. They are pretty darn consistent shot to shot, not too tight at 20 yrds but plenty dense at 40. I have pretty much switched to htl the last couple of seasons but I would be perfectly happy to hunt with either the Thugs or Longbeards when my htl supply runs out.