Longbeard XR #6

[Happy]

Here is my experience with lead 6's. I hunted with federal copper plated 2 1/4 Oz loads for years. These were pre flight control wad loads. I killed a decent amount of birds with that load and had somewhere in the 140 range at 40 yards if memory serves me right. Twice I shot birds at 40 and 41 yards. These were ranged distances and not a guess. Both Tom's folded at the shot but got back up and staggered around like they had been hit by Mike tyson. I got them both but I lost confidence in the energy of those shells. Switched to hevi shot #5's or #6's and never looked back. I get a better pattern and I know what happens when I hit a Tom with those loads. I am not shooting any further but I have all the confidence in the world with those loads. Winchester may well be pushing those loads with a higher velocity and you may be fine. Both patterns and energy deteriorate rapidly past 40 yards and ours is a game of getting in close and personal. Shoot what you have confidence in and that can only be gained by experience. Never pull the trigger "hoping" your shell is capable. Pull the trigger knowing what will happen when it connects. Good luck

[davisd9]

#5s


Sent from the Strut Zone

[packmule]

Stick with the 5s.

[mwr]

#5s


Sent from the Strut Zone

HammerTime!!   

[owlhoot]

Let me rephrase my question:  if you shot 194 #5's at 40 in 10" would you still go to a #6?  I can only afford one box and I'm going to buy a box of either 5 or 6 and can't decided.  Thanks for comments!

Go with what you know works, the bigger shot , and 194 in the 10 is more than enough .
Cannot see any advantage to going with 6's other than to chase numbers,jmho.

[Gooserbat]

The sixes will do all you need at forty and more. 

[Wrangler95]

#5 shot for sure but I use the Longbeard #4 shot!

[Yoder409]

From what I have seen so far, the XR's are FAR less sensitive to being "over-choked" than shells with a standard grex buffer.

First I tried the 6's............................ FREAKIN UNREAL !!!   So I used them for a year and they dumped turkeys like sacks of potatoes.

Then I tried 5's and 4's on paper to some rather absurd turkey shooting distances and they turned in some AWFULLY wicked densities.  In my test set-up (SX3, Indian Creek tube, 3.5" XR's) there is NO reason to use anything other than 4's for any sane turkey shooting distance.  They pattern that densely. 

That being said........................... I generally have 5's or 6's in it to hunt............................ JUST so I am not tempted to do something dumb. 

[Tennessee Lead]

I've always used 5 shot in lead or Mag blends in Hevi shot.
Never felt comfortable about 6's till last year.
I switched to XR 6 shot and dropped to a 3" shell over 3.5.
I was impressed!
4 dead turkeys to show for it. I'm going to try hard to kill with 5's and 4's this year if possible in the XR's just for the heck of it. The 6's work plenty good enough.


Sent from the barrel of a model 70 at 3300 fps

[WNCTracker]

I've always used 5 shot in lead or Mag blends in Hevi shot.
Never felt comfortable about 6's till last year.
I switched to XR 6 shot and dropped to a 3" shell over 3.5.
I was impressed!
4 dead turkeys to show for it. I'm going to try hard to kill with 5's and 4's this year if possible in the XR's just for the heck of it. The 6's work plenty good enough.


Sent from the barrel of a model 70 at 3300 fps

why'd you drop from 3.5 to 3"?

[Tennessee Lead]

I've always used 5 shot in lead or Mag blends in Hevi shot.
Never felt comfortable about 6's till last year.
I switched to XR 6 shot and dropped to a 3" shell over 3.5.
I was impressed!
4 dead turkeys to show for it. I'm going to try hard to kill with 5's and 4's this year if possible in the XR's just for the heck of it. The 6's work plenty good enough.


Sent from the barrel of a model 70 at 3300 fps

why'd you drop from 3.5 to 3"?

Less recoil when patterning and less money per box.
I've always thought I had to use 3.5" to kill turkey's. I was wrong.
Don't know that I'll ever go back to 3.5"


Sent from the barrel of a model 70 at 3300 fps

[Gobble!]

I've always used 5 shot in lead or Mag blends in Hevi shot.
Never felt comfortable about 6's till last year.
I switched to XR 6 shot and dropped to a 3" shell over 3.5.
I was impressed!
4 dead turkeys to show for it. I'm going to try hard to kill with 5's and 4's this year if possible in the XR's just for the heck of it. The 6's work plenty good enough.


Sent from the barrel of a model 70 at 3300 fps

why'd you drop from 3.5 to 3"?

Probably the same reason some guys have dropped to a 20g over the 12g. You don't need a 3.5" shells or a 12g to kill turkeys. 20g and 3" shells in todays world are more than capable. I like to go big but theres no reason to beat the crap out of your shoulder or carry a heavy gun to roll birds at 40 yards.

[Scout24]

I too shot #5's for the first 12-14 years until I switched to Hevishot 6's maybe 5 years ago or so. The HS 6's hit as hard as 5 lead with a much denser pattern, and I've taken some birds further than I can discuss here and #6's did the job cleanly every time. Pattern them at 40,50 and maybe 60 and decide for yourself, there's not one perfect one size fits all and either will do the job well. Actually, I switched to Longbeard 6's last year from HS 6's and was getting 30-50 more hits in a 10" circle at 40 and 50 yards, they're pretty amazing at half the price. Bottom line, both 5's and 6's will kill your gobbler at 40 yards, but beware, Longbeards are super tight under 20 yards and would be easy to miss a bobbing, jerky head.

[HunterMc23]

I Like my #6 Shot have killed plenty at 45 to 50 yards with them.

[WNCTracker]

Here is the long beard #6. Gave me 228 at 40 measured yards. I was only able to get 170 #5's today in the 10". I was surprised how much lower they shot on the target than the 5's. Took me a while to sight it in. From this pattern the POI was about 2"high and 3/4 right because I over adjusted the MOA in my red dot. So now it's 170#5 vs 228 #6?