are nitros worth it?

[Five O]

For me Mag Blends put 30 more pellets in the 10 than the Nitros

[beagler]

I've been shooting Nitro's for the last seven years now with great patterns/success. This past season I tried the Hevishot Mag Blends. They worked/patterned ALMOST as good as the Nitro's.

[runngun]

Why would some assume just because you shoot NITRO'S or Hevi that you would shoot a turkey a turkey passed 40? And cannot CALL.

[Longshanks]

Paying twice as much as Hevi for the Nitros wasn't worth it to me when I turned better patterns with Hevi 7's. I agree that the cost of shells is a minimal cost with respect to overall cost of turkey hunting..but throwing money away is not real smart.

[southernfly]

Paying twice as much as Hevi for the Nitros wasn't worth it to me when I turned better patterns with Hevi 7's. I agree that the cost of shells is a minimal cost with respect to overall cost of turkey hunting..but throwing money away is not real smart.
I must be missing something. I keep hearing Hevy 13 are 1/2 as much. Im paying $7-8 each for Nitros. I was at Dick's and saw Hevy 13 magblend 3.5 were $29 for a box of 5.  Checked cheaperthandirt and they were $27.97. Where are you buying them for 1/2 cost of Nitros? Thanks

[coyotetrpr]

Cabelas. $21.99 for 5 that is $4.40 a shell. Almost 1/2 of Mega weight nitro at $8.10 per shell or h517 at $7.90 per shell.

[southernfly]

 Hevy Magblends at Cabelas....... 20 ga is $21.99..... 3 1/2 12 ga is $29.99

[01Foreman400]

I also don't like playing the lot lotto with the Hevi-13's.  

[Longshanks]

Paying twice as much as Hevi for the Nitros wasn't worth it to me when I turned better patterns with Hevi 7's. I agree that the cost of shells is a minimal cost with respect to overall cost of turkey hunting..but throwing money away is not real smart.
I must be missing something. I keep hearing Hevy 13 are 1/2 as much. Im paying $7-8 each for Nitros. I was at Dick's and saw Hevy 13 magblend 3.5 were $29 for a box of 5.  Checked cheaperthandirt and they were $27.97. Where are you buying them for 1/2 cost of Nitros? Thanks

I've been paying 19.99 for Hevi at academy and basspro..I've seen nitro from 8.50 to 10.00 a shot. That's ridiculous. Both of the turkeys I killed this year I could have killed lead 6's of any kind so 8.00+ makes no sense for one shell.

[WiLL B]

I burned a $8.70 Nitro shell on a 21 yard longbeard this morning could have used a dove load but didn't mind a bit. Hope I do it again tomorrow! Shells are cheap compared to gas!! Nitros are great shells too.

[WiLL B]

I burned a $8.70 Nitro shell on a 21 yard longbeard this morning could have used a dove load but didn't mind a bit. Hope I do it again tomorrow! Shells are cheap compared to gas!! Nitros are great shells too.

I guess if you are trying to see how much money you can spend..per turkey..you win. 

Sometimes I shoot em a little further and I want the best shells I can get although the price is getting a little extreme. I killed way over a hundred with lead before I even heard of Heavy Shot or Nitros. Gas wasn't $4 a gallon then either though.

[J-Shaped]

I burned a $8.70 Nitro shell on a 21 yard longbeard this morning could have used a dove load but didn't mind a bit. Hope I do it again tomorrow! Shells are cheap compared to gas!! Nitros are great shells too.

Been there, done that and will continue to do that. All good points.  

So a few years ago, nobody wanted to spend $7 a shell. Now the argument is an extra $3-$4 over the other HTL loads on the market. I'm not rich, but that's pocket change compared to the rest of my equipment, especially one of the most critical links to putting the final nail in a gobbler's coffin.

I tell guys all the time, you can spend a ton of money and range time trying different chokes and loads, or you can start with what Nitro recommends for your setup and MOST of the time wind up with a winner. I tried to stock up on the Hevi 13's last year after watching the 2010 patterns posted on here. I ended up with several boxes of the same lot number as I hoped, but only to find out the recipe had apparently changed from the previous year, and they shot numbers comparable to my wife's 20ga. This was a for a gun that usually shoots 300+ in the 10" circle @ 40 yards with my Nitro combo. I had messed around and not re-ordered my usual Nitro loads and only had a few on hand. After they were used up I shot 3 more birds with the Hevi's and they did fine, no complaints. But after nearly 10 years of shooting the Nitros, I didn't play around and restocked my supply this season for my primary gun.

Are they needed? Of course not. But is confidence and consistency important to me in my hunting? Absolutely. I like them and until I started loading my own, I'll keep shooting them.

[J-Shaped]

I think if a company came out with a shell and marketed the right way for 25.00 a shell. Some folks would buy them claiming they have more confidence in them. Shooting a turkey with a shotgun is pretty easy. The rest of the hunt, scouting, setup, calling, moving on the turkey, etc. that's the tough part. You either have confidence in your ability to get the turkey in close or you try to make up for in other ways..like 8-10 shells.

I'd have to respectfully disagree in my case. The shells absolutely do NOT make up for the rest of the equation (setting up, getting close, etc.). I'm sure there are folks out there that buy them for those reasons, but not for me.

I handload my own rifle ammo for the same reasons - consistency and confidence, and will eventually do the same with my turkey loads if for nothing other than knowing they are the same from year to year. In my case, I'm paying somebody else for the consistent performance that I haven't gotten over the years with typical factory loads.

I probably don't NEED to shoot Barnes bullets at whitetails either, but I do.   At least we all have one thing in common, a passion hunting the wild turkey. Carry on.

[WyoHunter]

The Hevi-13's do just fine for me. They're expensive enough!

[gaswamp]

Shells are the cheapest expense for me by far.  Can't see skimping on shells when I've spent so much trying to get into gun range of a turkey.  My days afield are too few and far between.  But I can get much better performance than Nitros for less money, with no worries about over pressure shells.  So, I no longer use them.

I would think shells would be one of your most expensive gear as much as you test, pattern, ect.