10" counts vs. knock down power

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

I think you centered that bird above.

I ate that birds lunch.  But this was a pattern I shot earlier that same spring with these same lot # of shells that was sent at that 24lb gobbler.  This should show you approximately the pattern results.  But it was a little cooler that early in the morning.  But even a 250 to 270 pattern would have been devastating. 

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

Ok David no cardboard here. 

Trust me these Hevi-13 7's will do what any Win 6 load out there will do and then some for killing any gobbler.  I get a chuckle out of guys that refuse to think pattern density from 7's aren't going to kill as good as 6's.  Your 100 feet per sec advantage load of 6's don't mean much to me when you think about it.  Take a look.  I'll take the 7's anyday.





Now this will prove what I am about to show you or anyone else on here. 

Now remember this bird was hit at 40yds with a smudge factor of 2+yds for the sake of this site.

Now this is where I hit the bird with the center of my pattern, and I was aiming at the middle of the neck.  Notice what side it's on. 



Now here's the biopsy results from the other side. 



 

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

And I will add I am by no means putting down 6's.  They will work fine.  But don't think for a second they will give you a killing edge over the 7's.  That's all.  The proof is in the photos above. 

[savduck]

I think we are getting away from the original posters question.

Yes, if you look far enough back there used to be charts showing penetration comparisons between the different HTL loads. All of the HTL loads are impressive and hit and penetrate extremely well. i seem to remember winchester extended loads 5s penetrating very well like the TSS. It's really more of a personal preference on your shot size.

Some guys run 5 and 6 s because that's what they are used to or thats the size that their states allow. Some guys like to shoot 7s, some like to use TSS nines.

I think the explanation that your looking for would be this. At 40 yards, all the different HTL loads hit hard, penetrate, and pattern well. On this board we don't speak much of anything over 40, so if you have all these loads that can kill at that distance switching to 7s gives you the advantage of having higher numbers in your pattern. Higher numbers lead to more lethal hits. If a box of federal heavyweight 6 cost the exact same as the 7s, but the 7s will put 50 more pellets in a ten ring why not take advantage of that. They all have knock down power at 40 yards.......even the 7s.

One of the other reasons for taking advantage of shooting the smaller pellets is that if you miss judge distance. The HTL loads all have enough pellet energy to kill past 40, even though we don't discuss that to often on here. So for sakes of this, lets just say you mis judge distance by 5 or 6 yards over 40, you will have less pellets in your pattern than at 40. Shooting the higher pellet count small shot, gives you the advantage of retaining more pellets in your core pattern so that even a mistake can be a ethical kill shot.

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

savduck,

That pretty much hit the nail on the gobbler.   

And really the 7's may put upwards of a 100 more shot in a 10 ring.  Makes sense to me. 

[paboxcall]

savduck,

That pretty much hit the nail on the gobbler.   

And really the 7's may put upwards of a 100 more shot in a 10 ring.  Makes sense to me.

I agree, I think you and Del both made a solid case for HTL 7. By choosing HTL 7 you are not sacrificing anything to achieve the denser pattern results, which is to the heart of the OP question, and why I shoot Hevi 3-2-7 exclusively.

With lead there is always a trade off -- 4s for more energy less pattern, 6s for better pattern less energy, settle on 5s for little of both worlds.  HTL 7 takes that issue right off the table.

[WickedBama]

These hw shells are flying so fast there's no question of the knockdown iv seen turkeys rolled at 50 with #7.

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

You guys have got it.  Like I said the majority of those hits up and down that neck on that bird above were complete pass-throughs.  That neck was ate up.  And what impressed the heck out of me was the pellets that shot plum through the breast and out the opposite side.  That bird flopped, but he was dead before he hit the ground.  And you got to remember you get a lot of snowman pellets which are pellets stuck together with the 7's that are actually about the size of a lead 4 or 5 in a shell.  So really your shooting a duplex type load anyway for those that want the bigger size shot. 

[30_06]

#7's work plenty well for me. This one was taken at 35 yards.

[chipper]

#6 or #7 htl loads , if patterned and said patterns are centered on point of aim, will kill any turkey in North America  every shot every time inside of 40 yards. I've  killed turkeys with both as have others on this board. I like #7 inside of 40 yards and every turkey I've shot at the last 3 years with that load were drt. The same can be said for # 6 in my experience