Pellet penetration

[Oconeeguy]

Shot a Win SuperX 3"-17/8-#6 at 40 yds through a Ventilator choke out of a 12ga. 11-87 Today. The target paper was against a loblolly pine. When I retrieved the target paper,  I noticed about 1/2 dozen pellets were imbedded in the pine bark but were still visible. In other words those pellets had barely penetrated into the bark!  This lack of penetration was disturbing. Maybe lead #5 would have penetrated deeper, at the expense of  number of holes in the paper.

Anyone else notice this kind of thing?

[Gobble!]

What about other pellets? Just bounced off?

[Oconeeguy]

Nope. They penetrated to an unknown depth. The fact that some were just below the surface was surprising though.

[Bigspurs68]

Lead is lead.

[alloutdoors]

I'll keep this in mind the next time I'm choosing a load for loblolly pine season...

Jokes aside, I wouldn't be concerned. Heck, the pellets you saw may have even been stacked up on top of other pellets that penetrated first.

[Gooserbat]

Lead is just lead, however it sure has killed a lot of turkeys.  I personally like tungsten over lead but in a normal hunting situation at practical ranges lead will always work.

[Bigspurs68]

Yes, I agree with the posts above. No turkey, standing between your target and the tree would live to complain about the pellets that only marred the tree.

[silvestris]

Makes the "arbitrary" 40 yard "rule" begin to make sense.

[Bama turkey hunter]

Yes it does if your shooting lead!!!

[surehuntsalot]

a turkey's skull and neck is not near as hard as a pine tree

[zelmo1]

  Do your part and be responsible, no turkey ever had pellets bounce off his noggin under 40 yards, any shot. Put 20+ pellets in the neck/head and go get your bird. Al Baker

[Oconeeguy]

Good comments. I realize that I might seem to sensitive to the penetration issue, but it's partially due to experience last year.

I Coerced a reluctant old gobbler into range after playing a subtle game of footsie for several hours. I shot him at about 25 yards with #6 Heavishot. When I cleaned him, I found a large copper plated lead shot, maybe #4 size, just under the skin on his lower neck. Even though I don't know the circumstances of how it got there for certain, it got me thinking more about not just how many pellets hit, but how the pellets perform when they hit.  But I agree #6 lead will kill turkey's all day. I just don't think they allow as much 'wiggle room' as HTL or larger lead pellets.

[RutnNStrutn]

a turkey's skull and neck is not near as hard as a pine tree

Exactly!!!

Even though I don't know the circumstances of how it got there for certain

Also exactly. I wouldn't worry about it, since you have no idea if some idiot shot him from 70 or 80 yards out, and put a pellet or 3 under his skin, and educated him.
I'm not familiar with the loads you are talking about, but I shoot 3-1/2" Winchester Hi-Velocity #4's through a Ventilator choke, and have had no problems. My longest kill shot was 54 yards. So they might not take down a loblolly pine, but they work just fine on gobblers.

[K9Doc]

Lead is lead.

Lead is for squirrels and such....LOL!!!
Why I shoot TSS and/or. HTL.

[Marc]

The surface tension of a tree is much greater than that of a turkey...  At 40 yards, those pellets you saw at the surface of a tree, would have gone right through the skull or neck of a turkey.

My advice would be "don't shoot any wooden turkeys."