Why 10" @ 40 yds?

[gwa]

Just wondering where these numbers were derived from.....
Pattern to tight?
Can't get the bird the extra 10 yds?
What makes this the goal per say?

Thanks!
Denny

[Deputy 14]

The way I understand it is that your max shot should be 40 yards, and the 100 min assures a clean kill.

[Skeeterbait]

Well I think it derived because hunters needed a standard to evaluate their patterns and give meaningful comparison.  40 yards has been considered by many turkey hunters for some time as an ethical maximum.  It was derived by the characteristics of lead shot.  Lead #6 runs out of energy much past 40 yards and the pellet numbers in loads of #4 cause patterns to become sparce much past 40 yards.  Today with HTL and modern chokes that distance has been stretched a bit, but many believe it is still a good ethical maximum due to the possibility of distance estimation errors.  So 40 yards continues to be considered by many as a valid goal to call a bird into.  Many times I have heard people say, if you haven't called him inside of 40 yards then... you haven't called him.  As to 10 inches that just seems to be a diameter that many have settled on.  I still hear people talk about 12 inch circles and 20 inch circles and competitive shooting uses smaller circles, probably to reduce counting time.  But a 10 inch circle just works.  It encloses the densest part of our tight patterns and gives a reference for 5 inches of sighting error up down left or right and still have the densest part of the pattern on tom's head.  It just seems to be the size many have just adopted for these reasons.

[guesswho]

It's because that's the distance elite athletes are timed .  The forty yard dash.  You shoot and run to the target.  Count the holes and run back.  Should be an Olympic event.  As far as the 10" goes, well you don't want me explaining that one.

Actually I have no idea. 

[cphill]

It's because that's the distance elite athletes are timed .  The forty yard dash.  You shoot and run to the target.  Count the holes and run back.  Should be an Olympic event.  As far as the 10" goes, well you don't want me explaining that one.

Actually I have no idea.

Lmao

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[Xcal1ber]

Well I think it derived because hunters needed a standard to evaluate their patterns and give meaningful comparison.  40 yards has been considered by many turkey hunters for some time as an ethical maximum.  It was derived by the characteristics of lead shot.  Lead #6 runs out of energy much past 40 yards and the pellet numbers in loads of #4 cause patterns to become sparce much past 40 yards.  Today with HTL and modern chokes that distance has been stretched a bit, but many believe it is still a good ethical maximum due to the possibility of distance estimation errors.  So 40 yards continues to be considered by many as a valid goal to call a bird into.  Many times I have heard people say, if you haven't called him inside of 40 yards then... you haven't called him.  As to 10 inches that just seems to be a diameter that many have settled on.  I still hear people talk about 12 inch circles and 20 inch circles and competitive shooting uses smaller circles, probably to reduce counting time.  But a 10 inch circle just works.  It encloses the densest part of our tight patterns and gives a reference for 5 inches of sighting error up down left or right and still have the densest part of the pattern on tom's head.  It just seems to be the size many have just adopted for these reasons.

Nail meet hammer. That ^^ ends this thread. Lock er' up.

[Old Gobbler]

Nitro ammunition could possibly be credited with the 10 inch circle , they had it up on their website and were talking about long before it became the standard , I noticed it on their site around 1998 or so , not sure if anyone plugged the term before , but that's when it caught my eye

40 yards was the standard maximum range anyone could even dream about killing a turkey in the 1970's and 80s - no screw in chokes and the biggest debate is was " you like 4's or 6's ..."

I'm not alone thinking that 40 yards is still a long shot , granted that shotgun performance has improved quite a bit , if you don't pattern your gun and shoot sub par equipment you will be lucky to kill a gobbler at 30 yards on a good day - shoot good equipment , and dial it in and you will have a comfortable fudge factor way past printable , but that's no secret is it - if you've read Gene Nunneys old pro turkey hunter book , he will state that in the 1930's 30 yards was the max back then - things have changed

I'm going to tell you something I predicted about 5 years ago , and this was from monitoring archery websites , and the same thing that seems to be tainting bow hunting will eventually try and rear it's ugly head with turkey hunting and that is people trying to turn the sport and activity into a more of a SHOOTING sport and less of a hunting sport or activity - there is nothing wrong with owning a good turkey gun , but when people in their minds think that their turkey gun is their most important piece of equipment , and that sole piece of equipment can make you a successful turkey hunter , watch out cause this mind frame can undermine the sport of turkey hunting -

I see where two well known people are bragging on tv about the ability to kill a gobbler at 60 or even 80 yards with lead ,  it's a business and they make money to say things -- just cause you sell shoes don't make you a pediatrist .... the ammo is some good stuff by the way .....very good .... There has been some " suggestive" marketing in the past with every ammo company in existence -- it's what they do , and it was under the radar , but nothing compared to this last ad campaign

a gobblers skull is a lot thicker than paper , and I am sure many will find that out come this spring

[Longshanks]

Well I think it derived because hunters needed a standard to evaluate their patterns and give meaningful comparison.  40 yards has been considered by many turkey hunters for some time as an ethical maximum.  It was derived by the characteristics of lead shot.  Lead #6 runs out of energy much past 40 yards and the pellet numbers in loads of #4 cause patterns to become sparce much past 40 yards.  Today with HTL and modern chokes that distance has been stretched a bit, but many believe it is still a good ethical maximum due to the possibility of distance estimation errors.  So 40 yards continues to be considered by many as a valid goal to call a bird into.  Many times I have heard people say, if you haven't called him inside of 40 yards then... you haven't called him.  As to 10 inches that just seems to be a diameter that many have settled on.  I still hear people talk about 12 inch circles and 20 inch circles and competitive shooting uses smaller circles, probably to reduce counting time.  But a 10 inch circle just works.  It encloses the densest part of our tight patterns and gives a reference for 5 inches of sighting error up down left or right and still have the densest part of the pattern on tom's head.  It just seems to be the size many have just adopted for these reasons.

That..would be the answer..well done. The only thing I would add is patterns deteriorate big time from 30-40yds. A large majority of turkey gun/choke/shell combos will shoot fantastic patterns at 30yds. Not the case at 40yds. 40yds is a better test to see if the pattern holds up down range for the ethical kills that skeeterbait was talking about. The folks on Old Gobbler know what they are talking about. Wealth of knowledge on here.

[CASH]

[/quote]

That..would be the answer..well done. The only thing I would add is patterns deteriorate big time from 30-40yds. A large majority of turkey gun/choke/shell combos will shoot fantastic patterns at 30yds. Not the case at 40yds.
[/quote]

Completely agree. I have a bunch of old school Federal 3 1/2 2 oz #6's and some 3 1/2" 2 oz #6 Turkey Thugs that I was shooting yesterday. The 30 yard patterns were great. The 40 yard patterns were horrifying.

[owlhoot]

40 yards 10" circle is good for the comparison of loads.
whether to shoot 4,5 or 6  in what brand? 
Which choke tube to use?
If the load and choke you have will not do the 100 in the ten, keep shooting to find one?
If you cant get a 100 in the ten at 40, go back to 35 and get 100 in the ten, that is your max range then.
Pretty easy to do now , has not always been so.

[DirtNap647]

kind of like asking why race cars were timed in the quarter mile, why only 100 yards for football fields, etc......