The 16 Gauge Project--Old School Turkey Killer

[Borden811]

Well, the shooting is done. It might take me a while to upload all 14 pics, and list all the pellet counts. I will say there were some surprises. If I don't get the patterns posted tonight, I'll have them up tomorrow for sure!

[WildTigerTrout]

IMO if you want to shoot a gobbler "Old School" than you should use old school ammo also.......Lead. Just my opinion.

[BOFF]

Great to read. May you have a great success, and many memories made this year!!


I have a Winchester Model 12 16 ga. and it is finicky on ejecting the spent shells. It seems to like the Remington Game Loads.

Just might want to try shooting 2 quick shots to be sure.

God Bless,
David B.

[rempumpman]

Now this is truly "a must read book"' can't wait to see what happens this spring; going to be doing the same thing but with a winchester model 37 single 12 but I'll be using lead' we had a ol' timer who killed 24 turkeys with an model 37 but he used nothing but the old time paper shells that he had; he was on his way to killing the 25th bird using these paper shells but was killed in a car wreck while traveling to his turkey hunting camp; he was 80 years old when this happened; absolute true story.........rem

[Borden811]

IMO if you want to shoot a gobbler "Old School" than you should use old school ammo also.......Lead. Just my opinion.

Maybe you missed this part in my original post.

"If the weather allows, I plan on patterning Thursday afternoon after work, at both 30 and 40 yards. Ideally, I'd like to use lead, since that's what "Pap" used, but if the Hevi-13 yields significantly better results, I'll use it in fairness to the turkeys. They deserve the most efficient death I can deliver."

I'm not going to take lead to the woods just for the purpose of taking lead, if the hevi shells will allow me a better chance of making the cleanest kill possible.(Note: not extending my range, but having a more even/dense pattern).  If the hevi 13 has a pattern similar to lead, but not markedly better, then by all means I'm using lead.

[Borden811]

Ok, here we go. First off, after patterning this gun, I now realize why the "Old School" guys had a self imposed limit of 30 yards. It's safe to say I won't be taking any 40 yard shots with the 16 gauge. Sure, it could kill a turkey that far with a couple of the loads, but the pattern wasn't dense/consistent enough for me to even want to try it. I was pretty surprised by the results. Then again, I had to remeber the patterns I'm used to seeing have 300 pellets in a ten inch circle at 40 yards, from a 12 gauge with 2 1/4 oz. of shot. These little 16 gauge shells only have 1 1/8, with the exception of two that had 1 1/4. That's a lot les than half the number of pellets I'm used to shooting. I'll post the 40 yard pics first. I took all the pics right after the shot, while the paper was still on the patterning board. I drew circles and counted pellets last night at home. I'll put the numbers up later today, for now I'll just post the pattern pics and see what you guys think. For reference, the white aiming dot was a 3 inch circle. Most all of the patterns(if you could call them that) at 40 made me want to puke. 

[Borden811]

Here's the 30 yard batch. There were a couple of loads that would be "usable" at 30 yards. I've already made up my mind which one I think is the best. Lets hear it from you guys which you think is the best. 30 yards is for sure my max with this gun, with little room for yardage estimation errors. So, I'll rpobably go with a 25 yard max, which allows me 5 yards for error. Here are the rest of the patterns. I'm missing the Hevi duck pattern at 30 yards. I'll have to uplaod it when I get home. Hevi Duck is added, I must have forgotten to snap a pic of it at the range, so the "after the count" pic will have to suffice.

[Borden811]

Here are the pellt counts in numbers. I tried to put the pics in order from worst to best in both the 40yd and 30 yd posts. All pellet counts are from drawing a 10 inch circle around the densest part of the pattern, regarless if POI was the same as POA.


40 yard results:

Winchester Super X - 18

Remington Express Power Piston - 19

American Eagle - 22

Federal Hi-Power - 24

Remington Express Long Range - 38

Federal Premium - 42

Hevi Duck - 56

None of those were really what I would even call a pattern, and none of them are anyhting I would even consider firing at a turkey at that range.


30 Yard Results:

Winchester Super X - 35

Remington Express Power Piston - 44

American Eagle - 61

Federal Hi-Power - 67

Federal Premium - 68

Hevi Duck - 81

Remington Express Long Range - 101


With the patterns laying on the ground beside each other, it was pretty easy to see what was the best. The Remington Express 6's beat everything pretty handily at 30 yards. That pattern was nice and even, and most of it was within a 20 inch circle at 30 yards. Even though the hevi duck patterned O.K. and was even, it didn't have the density of the express load. So, I plan on taking the Express to the woods this spring. Then I got to thinking. Would it be worth trying the Express loads in 7.5 shot, since my max shot will be 30 yards? At that distance the pellets will still have plenty of energy to get the job done, and the pattern should be even more dense. Yes? No? other suggestions?

[WildTigerTrout]

Since the range will be limited to 25-30 yards I would try 7.5's. If they pattern well then I would consider using them.