What is average 3" 40yd 10" pellet count?

[Swamp Hunter]

For those of us that don't have the time, money or motivation to explore every choke and ammo combination, I would like some opinions about good average 10" pellet count from 3" #6 Hevi Shot. I would also like to know if the average will vary by brand of gun. My goal is to determine at what pellet count I say "that is about as good as I can expect".  My gun is a Benelli M1 90 with a 26" barrel but the question also applies to any brand gun if there is a difference.

Thanks,
Greg

[3" 870 Shell Shucker]

3" #6 H13?

200 is fantastic
180 is very good indeed
160 is straight up good
150 is decent
Anything Below 150 and you need to deep clean your barrel, and try different chokes.

[Deputy 14]

PM allaboutshooting. He's a wizard with the hevi 6s. I think he's shot them through about everything made.

[SumToy]

Older shells 180 to 200.  Had a few go over 200.  Now as I have always said some guns are lined up and perfect.  Them will put the big numbers.

Now that said I have a 870 that I test with that has gone around 200 with a 660 and 670.  Now with the shells from late last year that gun would stay in the 160 range.  Alot of folks had that problem with the HV13 last year. 

The wad changed so we changed the choke and pick up some shot but I have only seen one gun hit 200 with this new shell.  I think the new shell going to be the new hot topic. 

[TauntoHawk]

I get 170ish on a 21" barrel 870... sumtoy choke

[Sand Man]

Deep clean the barrel and put an Indian Creek .665 on the end.  I've yet to see on that didn't throw a good to great pattern.  IIRC, I got 300+ in 10" with H13 7's.....2oz 3" from a 26" barrel SBE.

[captin_hook]

I get 180 out of my 870 with that shell.

[allaboutshooting]

For those of us that don't have the time, money or motivation to explore every choke and ammo combination, I would like some opinions about good average 10" pellet count from 3" #6 Hevi Shot. I would also like to know if the average will vary by brand of gun. My goal is to determine at what pellet count I say "that is about as good as I can expect".  My gun is a Benelli M1 90 with a 26" barrel but the question also applies to any brand gun if there is a difference.

Thanks,
Greg

With your 26" barrel in your M1 you should be able to get some very high numbers but more importantly, very good even patterns. I just did a lot of work with that gun with a 24" barrel and the patterns were excellent. I'd expect to see even better numbers with yours.

I think you'll find that the numbers are influenced greatly by the temperature. I shot those recently when temperatures were in the high 30s and low 40s, much like many of us experience in the spring and fall hunting seasons. That tells us what the gun/choke/shell really does when we need it.

I like to see good even 10" core patterns with 12" - 14" fringe patterns, just in case we move or he does.

Thanks,
Clark

[decoykrvr]

The last 5 years I've hunted almost exclusively with an Ithaca (Kings Ferry) Mod. 37 and an Indian Creek .660.  I hunted w/ the Hevi-13 #6's until the release of the Hevi-13 #7's, and now have a load of 7's in the chamber w/ 6's in the magazine.  With a clean barrel the gun will consistently put 205/#6's in 10" w/a nice shot dispersal out to 15" and 245/#7s w/ a similar even pattern.  In my experience, the 7's and 6's both will cleanly kill large turkeys out to the distance that pattern #'s fall into the 125 pellets in 10".  Since the 7's were released, I have had one instance where a gobbler took off running just as I touched off the load which resulted in a hit too far back which knocked him down and shattered his left wing, but didn't kill him.  The follow-up shot on a running bird at @ 50 yards w/ the Hevi-13 #6's broke both of his legs and put several pellets in the head and neck which incapacitated the bird.  I've got a substantial stock of the early production runs of H-13, 5's, 6's and 7's and haven't evaluated the shells produced in the last 3 years.

[BandedSpur]

The last 5 years I've hunted almost exclusively with an Ithaca (Kings Ferry) Mod. 37 and an Indian Creek .660.  I hunted w/ the Hevi-13 #6's until the release of the Hevi-13 #7's, and now have a load of 7's in the chamber w/ 6's in the magazine.  With a clean barrel the gun will consistently put 205/#6's in 10" w/a nice shot dispersal out to 15" and 245/#7s w/ a similar even pattern.  In my experience, the 7's and 6's both will cleanly kill large turkeys out to the distance that pattern #'s fall into the 125 pellets in 10".  Since the 7's were released, I have had one instance where a gobbler took off running just as I touched off the load which resulted in a hit too far back which knocked him down and shattered his left wing, but didn't kill him.  The follow-up shot on a running bird at @ 50 yards w/ the Hevi-13 #6's broke both of his legs and put several pellets in the head and neck which incapacitated the bird.  I've got a substantial stock of the early production runs of H-13, 5's, 6's and 7's and haven't evaluated the shells produced in the last 3 years.

OH NO! He didn't just mention a shot at a turkey over 40 yds did he?

[outdoors]

    No  a Typo .......

[Swamp Hunter]

The last 5 years I've hunted almost exclusively with an Ithaca (Kings Ferry) Mod. 37 and an Indian Creek .660.  I hunted w/ the Hevi-13 #6's until the release of the Hevi-13 #7's, and now have a load of 7's in the chamber w/ 6's in the magazine.  With a clean barrel the gun will consistently put 205/#6's in 10" w/a nice shot dispersal out to 15" and 245/#7s w/ a similar even pattern.  In my experience, the 7's and 6's both will cleanly kill large turkeys out to the distance that pattern #'s fall into the 125 pellets in 10".  Since the 7's were released, I have had one instance where a gobbler took off running just as I touched off the load which resulted in a hit too far back which knocked him down and shattered his left wing, but didn't kill him.  The follow-up shot on a running bird at @ 50 yards w/ the Hevi-13 #6's broke both of his legs and put several pellets in the head and neck which incapacitated the bird.  I've got a substantial stock of the early production runs of H-13, 5's, 6's and 7's and haven't evaluated the shells produced in the last 3 years.

OH NO! He didn't just mention a shot at a turkey over 40 yds did he?

It looks like decoykrvr did what we would all do if we wound a bird. He set out to finish the job. A required fifty yard shot on a wounded bird that will clearly not survive is OK in my book, considering the alternative. It is also good to know his gun was capable of making a necessary final kill shot at that range. I don't think he intended to be a proponent of shots in excess of forty yards.  At least I did not take it that way.

Thanks for your response decoykrvr and thanks to everyone else that has responded so far too. I appreciate the input.

[Thomas6689]

I agree with swamp hunter if you know you have wounded a bird thats not going to live why would you not empty the gun trying to finish the job.   

[cahaba]

I get 223 hits average at 40yds. 10" circle shooting hevi13 #6s. MagBlends get 253 hits average. This is out of a SX3 Winchester. I have only tried 3" shells.

[captin_hook]

Cahaba, those numbers sound great. I'd like to see a pic of that pattern!