Very disappointed with my turkey gun pattern. ''SUGGESTIONS PLEASE''

[btmonnat]

I just bought a Winchester Super X pump, the turkey model w/24'' barrel. Put a FF III W/ picatinny  mount onto a weaver base and bought a Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike .665 choke. I made sure it was sighted in good and went out to try some turkey loads. At 40 yards the best I could get out of this set up was 30 - 51 hits in a 10'' circle out of the 3 1/2'' #5's. I was using all #5 winchester turkey supremes. I have tried  2 3/4-1 5/8oz, 3''-1 3/4oz and 3 1/2''-2oz. This is all copper plated shot. I would like to stay with lead if possible. I do not know if I should change shot size, choke tubes, or the shells themselves. I am new to this and if I can not find something better than this I am not even going to start turkey hunting. SUGGESTIONS PLEASE.

[outdoors]

Did you DEEP clean the barrel before you shot ,, Im sure this would make a big difference

[allaboutshooting]

I just bought a Winchester Super X pump, the turkey model w/24'' barrel. Put a FF III W/ picatinny  mount onto a weaver base and bought a Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike .665 choke. I made sure it was sighted in good and went out to try some turkey loads. At 40 yards the best I could get out of this set up was 30 - 51 hits in a 10'' circle out of the 3 1/2'' #5's. I was using all #5 winchester turkey supremes. I have tried  2 3/4-1 5/8oz, 3''-1 3/4oz and 3 1/2''-2oz. This is all copper plated shot. I would like to stay with lead if possible. I do not know if I should change shot size, choke tubes, or the shells themselves. I am new to this and if I can not find something better than this I am not even going to start turkey hunting. SUGGESTIONS PLEASE.

Your numbers do sound very low. Just to make sure we're on the same page, you are shooting at "big paper" at least 3' x 3' and circling the best 10" pattern, regardless of how it relates to your point of aim, correct?

I do agree that you should deep clean the bore. It really does help more than might be imagined, even on new guns.

It's also true that barrels less than 26" in length can at times be challenging to pattern.

I suspect however that you might do much better with those shells (I'd recommend #6 shot) with a tighter choke than the one you're using. I understand that Indian Creek will trade with you until you get something that works. I'd recommend that you look at one of their chokes in the .650 to .655 range. See if they'll exchange the one you have currently for one of those.

Based upon past experience, if you shoot at big paper to make sure your POA/POI relationship is correct, deep clean your bore, use #6 shot and a choke in the .650 - .655 range, you should be just fine.

Thanks,
Clark

[gatrkyhntr70]

You should be getting better results. I had 3 of these guns 2 were 26" models and one was the turkey model. They all patterned good, One thing that was a major dissapointment is that every last one of them had poa/poi issues. I would deffinately shoot the big paper to be sure of your pattern.

[btmonnat]

I have cleaned the gun just like I do my trap gun but when you say deep clean I do not understand what you mean. I looked at my target and I could have moved the 10'' circle to where I could have picked up maybe 20 more holes, which would have put me around 70. That still is not what I would consider acceptable. Another thing I noticed I had to adjust my FF III to its highest setting to sight it in, so I do believe these guns have a POI issue. I did try 1 #6-3 1/2'' because that was all I had and it did look better but I thought it was just because there were more pellets. This gun was made in Turkey for Winchester. This may not be a good thing. I wonder if the Winchester SX 3 is made here or in Turkey because before I spent a lot of time and money on this I would trade a SX 3 if I thought it was better.

[allaboutshooting]

I have cleaned the gun just like I do my trap gun but when you say deep clean I do not understand what you mean. I looked at my target and I could have moved the 10'' circle to where I could have picked up maybe 20 more holes, which would have put me around 70. That still is not what I would consider acceptable. Another thing I noticed I had to adjust my FF III to its highest setting to sight it in, so I do believe these guns have a POI issue. I did try 1 #6-3 1/2'' because that was all I had and it did look better but I thought it was just because there were more pellets. This gun was made in Turkey for Winchester. This may not be a good thing. I wonder if the Winchester SX 3 is made here or in Turkey because before I spent a lot of time and money on this I would trade a SX 3 if I thought it was better.

It sounds like a POA/POI issue but your choke may also be a little too open for those lead loads. I get good patterns, certainly not as good as with Hevi-13, from my Invector+ barrels with much tighter chokes. Browning recommends and offers a .640 choke for their Invector+ barrelled guns.

If you'll click on the banner below and go to the article "Cleaning a Shotgun Barrel" you'll find the deep cleaning method. It's simple but takes a little time. It can't hurt your bore, just gets any gunk out of it that may be hurting your patterns.

The SX3 is made in the same factory in Belgium as the Browning guns. They are both owned by the same company. I have one and it's an excellent shotgun.

I hope some of this helps.

Thanks,
Clark

[gophert]

I would go with #6 to increase your pellet count, but you may have to settle for a 30 yard rig until you move up to better shells.  You've spent quite a bit of money on the gun itself, but are cutting cost on probably the most important component, the ammo.  I don't want this to sound harsh, but why would you spend so much on your gun and then be surprised with the outcome when you shoot inferior shells.  You've got a great gun, but a good choke and right load will make it what you want it to be.

[SumToy]

You have a good gun.  Look into a HTL load or Fed FCW lead.  I like little bigger choke BUT the IC guys have had good luck with the 665. 

[Ruger M77]

I'd try a differrent choke ur gun should do better than that even with lead 5s

[Thomas6689]

if your gonna stick with lead try the federal with the flight control wad