Why heavy? What am I missing?

[VanHelden Game Calls]

I was thinking of trying the new heavy loads on the market.  I have some free time and was about to give it a try until I got to the store

Why?  Over my entire turkey hunting career I have only gone 1 year without a bird. I now the limits of my gun and feel 35 and under is a dead bird walking.

I can be persuaded so give it your best shot. 

But for $5 a shot for a bird? WOW

[archery1]

i shoot a mossberg 835.. shot 2 types of winchester shells, 2 kinds of federal , remington nitro and  other shells.all in 5  or 6 shot . the winchester shot very good out to 25 yards . but fell apart( really bad) at 40 . it was not even close to half the pellets in a 10 or 20" circle at 40. i forget the numbers i had at 25 yards  but it would kill for sure.. i was just amazed after 25  yards how terrible the shells were. now for the hevi shells. they shot good at 25 ,30 35,and 40 ,was absolutely amazing compared to the other shells. i think i can push it further but i won't!!!! . i shot the ssx , indian creek an another choke when i tested the patterns last year. i went with a sumtoy choke   cause the choke threw a better pattern than the others. oh i only shot 3" shells think my numbers were 179 or so in a 10" circle at 40

[tiggere]

More pellets per ounce...
Denser than lead...
Tighter patterns...
More hits in 10" & 20"...
Non-toxic...
And for those moments where you grossly misjudge the distance you still have a dead turkey...

Comparing HTL to lead is kinda like comparing a $40 call to a $8 call...they will both get the job done...one just does it better...

[WW]

This post has been modified by admin.

Nothing Over 40 Means Nothing Over 40.

[mikejd]

All I can say is your rght. I still hunt with lead #'4s but am going to play around with the new stuff this year. So I have a box of rounds at my house right now worth better than 200$ and in the end ill probably be back with winchester HV's. I am not looking to jinx myself as my season begins today but I have only missed one bird and that was because of a major mis judge. I rarely get a shot at 40 yds but when I do its lights out and that's with my lead so back to your question I don't know why.

[Skeeterbait]

So you feel 35 yards is your max?  Will you take that 35 yard shot?  If so, then can you judge distance perfectly every time in all light conditions, up hill, down hill, over obstructions, and know every time that that turkey is at or inside your 35 yard limit?  If not, then what happens when you believe a bird is at 35 and it happens to be 40 or a bit more?  What if you can shoot a shell that will give you that extra safety margin?  That is the ethical reason for shooting HTL shot, not stretching reasonable shooting distances.  That margin for error is comforting.  Yes they are expensive, but most of us don't shoot boxes of turkey shells per year.  You pay for that margin for error.

[mikejd]

After reading Skeeterbaits simply put reasoning I have to say that that is a good enough answer for me. So after I play around with some new chokes and shells I may not go back to lead. After your gun is figuered out. 20 bucks a box is cheap in comparison to all the other goodies I buy on a year to Chase these birds.

[VanHelden Game Calls]

I feel I do yardage estimation very well.  Many years of bowhunting has MADE me learn proper yardage estimation.  35 I am very confident and will take it every time if needed.  I also have the self control  to let out of range birds pass, this again taught by my years of bowhunting.

A dense pattern does not kill anymore effectively at 35 yrds.  Dead is dead correct?

If I switch it would be to create a better pattern at longer distance. And if thats the goal yes I will use the added distance or I really am throwing money out the barrel.  

Now is it unanimous that the value added for distance is worth the $?

And no the $40 call does not do the job better, just prettier

[VanHelden Game Calls]

Maybe thats my problem.  $20 a box, where?  For a 50% increase I would have no issues trying it.  But everything I found is about 150% increase in cost.

Lead $13 for 10
Heavy whatever brand $40 for 10.

Maybe I just need shopping advice?

[dirt road ninja]

If your looking to squeeze all the performance you can out of your gun, your going to have to shoot HTL. I started using the HTL a couple years ago just to chase numbers. I still kill the exact same amount of birds as I did with lead. This year I started hunting with a 20 gauge and with the Hevi 7's it's a better performer than my 12 with lead.
The advantages are denser patterns and better penetration than lead of the same size.

If I had to choose between a 12 with lead and a 20 with HTL, I'd choose the 20.

I still pass on the shots that I'd pass on with lead, but I do feel better when my backs agianst the tree with HTL.

[stinkpickle]

Is it worth it to you to pay 400% more money to kill maybe 0.04% more birds?   

[TauntoHawk]

If you're a "dead is dead" guy.. use lead

if you're a "you can never have TOO dead" using Hevi is the way to go

The first two birds I killed with Hevi I just stood over instead of stood on.. those birds were shot at 33 and 29 yds which is lead all day range but the destruction sure wasn't. the shots were both tough shots through some brush and small trees with enough light vegetation to make the window pretty small. Instead of getting a few pellets through the window and knocking the bird down long enough to get to his neck they looked like I had shot them at 10yds and finished them with a 16oz hammer.

I actually thought I might have missed both times because the bird just disappeared at the shot instead of flopping and flapping.


My dad said I was crazy for paying what I did til he was patterning his standard lead at 30yds and I handed him a mag blend and he tripled his nuimbers inside 10".

[frank1969]

many years ago the shot com loded shells called duplex 4  5  6 and tes they put holes in papper to your mag blends just use 7 shot not the 4 shot i have personaly killed over 100 birds never lost one all with LEAD so if your thing is keepen up with the joneses that your call Like the decoy thing  zink dsd y pay that much just to say i got one im still usen feather flex and yes the toms come to them just like they do to the high end ones and yes dead is dead. I have never been a me to person didnt grow up with a computer i did it all on my own im 43 and i can tell u all you dont need the htl it is a great marketing gimic they want your money and they get it

[WW]

Hevi shot ranges from $20 to $ 29  per 5 round box, depending where you shop....With the $5 rebate they're offering, mine cost me $15 per box and I have 5 dead turkeys in my freezer. Like skeeter said....you don't shoot turkeys but a few days a year and 1 or 2 boxes of shells should be all you need. I would  pay $35 more for the Hevi since I don't need but 1 box per year.....It's worth every penny when you kill the gobbler at a range that lead may not.

[goblr77]

When I go hunting my main objective is to kill turkeys. Paying an extra $3 per turkey for the added efficiency HTL shot gives me isn't even an afterthought.