Goodbye Hevi 7's

[CAMONICK]

If you shot at 20 yards and had to wring his neck its cause you missed him with a majority of your pattern.. at 20 yards with my combo the bird is headless. Yall got to hit the patterning board and range more often

[Mtneer]

This year was my first attempt with 7s.  I loved the patterns but was still a bit concerned.  Anyway I killed two birds last week one @ 39 and the second I misjudged and shot at 52.  Neither bird even flopped!   I've never seen birds killed more humanely!  I'm a believer!

[longspur]

This is my first year with the h13 and tight chokes. clear missed at 20 yds. I know what I did, i have a clear mental image of it. front sight was not down in the rear sight. Just to make sure I didn't do it agan I put a scope on, and zeroed it in. One morning I was picking up my stuff off the ground and let my gun slide off my sholder. fell about 2 feet and landed on a log square on the end of the scope. I wanted to shoot it to be sure it was still on but I only had 3 shells left. Been waiting on a turkey, several people been trying to kill two years, to be without hens. It finally happened and I scratched leaves and listened to him gobble for two hours. When he stepped out in the small clearing to circle around me in the thicket I was ready. crosshairs on waddle BOOM, all I got was feathers. neck feathers. I stepped it off several times with normal steps. 56-57 walking down hill 54-55 walking uphill. Had to be the scope. must have knocked it off, should have shot it to see. stupid stupid stupid. Well maybe not, I stepped it off today and it measures 57 yds with a tape. Pull the trigger bullseye. 159 in 10" circle and 201 more in the 20". I don't know what happened. Maybe pulled a little. I think he's a lucky SOB,  if he's still alive. I'll still shoot the 7s. If I have to I'll shoot that far,only be more carefull.

[woodchip]

Shooting turkeys at 60yds with anything you are gonna run into problems..you were lucky to get those turkeys..

I killed two long beards in Kentucky this year with this years Hevishot 3.5\2.25\#7s it puts 218 in 10 at 40yds.  The first bird was at 30 yds and the second was at 40yds.  All I can say is STONE dead!!  You gotta pattern and know your limits!! Headed to Kansas in a few days 

[BowBendr]

I shoot that exact same set-up with the 835/StarDot/and the 7's.
I cannot attest as to what may have happened on your birds, but at the ranges you speak of my gun just shreds an ol turkeys head and neck violently.

But if you have lost faith in the 7's, you won't get an argument from me if you go to the 6's. Confidence is a big part of killing turkeys, and if you ain't got it, you ain't got it.

Get that gun patterned up well with the 6's, go kill some more birds and don't look back. It's what you are confident in that matters most to you, nobody else.

[stinkpickle]

You must've got your hands on a box of NEXT year's batch.   

[goblr77]

No problems here. Shot three birds this year with the 2.25 oz 7's at 12, 47, and 52 steps.

[SumToy]

This could be one of the things I was talking about in the past.   Some of you are shooting diffrent chokes and this is the deal with a long shot column or a ball of shot.   I cant prove it but with the choke he has will give a long shot column I think do to the parallel.  Also the bore is some guns will make a choke work diffrent then in others so this could be the deal in this case. 

Now I do not want to start a war about this.  With the speed the 7's have and if you get a long shot column you may not be putting all the shot on the bird that the paper will say you are.  Now the yards get more I think the shot column will come into play more.   Then the big bore in the 835 may play into it more.   I know that the local hunters do not like the 835 to shoot buck shot out of.   They say they will not hit as hard as the smaller bore guns.   

[Longshanks]

This thread is reflective of the fact that shooting turkeys at 50+ yards results in a allot of birds lost....let the turkeys come into a "for sure" kill distance and this wont happen nearly as much. In one of these threads the gentleman says he shot at 57 yards and lost the turkey but he "doesnt know what happened".  This is the response i hear quite often from folks who are taking long shots and losing turkeys. Shooting paper at 50+ yards is much different than shooting at a wild turkey in hunting conditions.  Im sure that i am getting ready to see a bunch of posts of turkeys killed at 50+ yards.  For every turkey that is killed at 50+ it would be disturbing to know how many are lost so i am not impressed by turkeys killed at long distances.  Let em come closer guys..its much better to let one walk away than to wound one...

[Hognutz]

You must've got your hands on a box of NEXT year's batch.   

I love ya, man.. Now that is stinkin' funny, right there..Mike 

[bbcoach]

I go back to my previous post, We need to get in our heads that we need to Shoot Today's Turkey Guns Like a RIFLE!  We can't think, this thing in my hands is a shotgun and if I'm in the general area of a Turkeys head and neck I'll kill him.  If you have patterned your gun at 10, 20, 30 and 40 yards, you understand (very small room for ERROR).  I don't care if you have a long shot column or a ball of shot or use open sights or scope, if your gun shoots POA = POI and you hold on a specific spot and not in the general area, you will Drop birds in their TRACKS.
We all get TURKEY FEVER when we have our EARDRUMS blown out, when OLE Three Toes GOBBLES at twenty yards, but Take Time and Settle the Bead on a SPECIFIC SPOT and SQUEEZE the Trigger.    

[jfair]

Or we need to quit trying to make a rifle out of a shotgun.  350 pellets in a 10' circle at 40 yards is great at the range, not so good when hunting.  Get a good combo of shell and choke that gives you near 200 at 40, and a solid 20" pattern to boot.  Spend some time learning to actually hunt, and get the bird inside 40 yards like so many good hunters have been doing for years.  If you have trouble shooting with just beads, get a good scope.  Have a little respect for the animal you hunt by making only ethical shots.  If you misjudge yardage as bad as some here claim they do, spend some time working on that.  When you can't tell the difference between 40 and 60 yards, you better spend more time in the woods with a range finder and practice estimating yardage. 

Longshanks, you are exactly right.  For every post here claiming a dead bird at 60 yards, I am sure there are many more wounded birds that won't be talked about.

[roostershooter]

Thanks for all the replies. Thats why i love this site, there is so much to be learned from everyone's combined experience. I have missed a few turkeys in my time and have no problem admitting it lol. Even though at times they are hard to swallow.

As for "its the pilot, not the plane." I agree and take the blame for the first two losses. But after installing the mueller, the head raising shouldn't be an issue, right? I had all the confidence in the world in 7's after that trip to the range. Honestly I cannot figure out the third loss though having shot the gun with the 7's and the red dot  the day before at the same yardage that the turkey was and getting such a great pattern. Obviously something didn't go right, no flop. Of course I don't blame the 7's as so many of you are droppin em left and right at distances past what I have tried the 7's. But I couldn't help but lose my confidence in the 7's out of my gun.

I am an avid shooter and do everything I can to keep from developing bad habits such as jerking the trigger in the off season. I have shot the gun enough to know it kicks somethin terrible but I'm not recoil sensitive to it, so I can't see myself flinching before the shot. I actually laugh when I have to take an off balanced shot and the gun knocks me off my feet. lol

I did say in  the original post that "I put the circle around the head". Thats how I patterned the gun with the red dot though. The pellets were all below the top circle with the majority being toward the lower half. Seemed like a killer pattern to me utilizing the majority of the shot to the head and neck region.

I swapped to the 6's for this morning and dropped one in his tracks at right under 50 yards around 6:20, barely even flopped. I like the pellet count of the 7's but just couldn't seem to make things work in the field. The 6's did the job and then some. I don't know that I did anything differently this morning than I did yesterday other than changing the shell. The shot was a few yards further and this bird had a clue I was there so I didn't even have the element of surprise. So for me and my gun, the 6's are it. Plenty of confidence in my setup, no hesitation to pull the trigger.

I think we can all agree that its our duty as hunters to make sure that our equipment can perform as ethically and humanely as possible, as well as being to perform ourselves. No one wants to lose birds or have to chase em or ring necks after the shot. That being said, I just couldn't justify wounding or losing any more birds with the 7's. Just doesn't seem fair to the animal. In no way am I bashing the 7's or trying to get others to question em, just thought I would share my experience with em this year. I love em, I really do, but it just isn't gonna work lol. I agree that you have to be confident in your equipment and if the 7's have proven themselves for you, then I'm jealous. lol If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Thanks again for all the replies and advice.

[Belo83]

i've always been taught to aim at the waddles.. if you're aiming at the head, perhaps that's why?

[HogBiologist]

Thanks for all the replies. Thats why i love this site, there is so much to be learned from everyone's combined experience. I have missed a few turkeys in my time and have no problem admitting it lol. Even though at times they are hard to swallow.

As for "its the pilot, not the plane." I agree and take the blame for the first two losses. But after installing the mueller, the head raising shouldn't be an issue, right? I had all the confidence in the world in 7's after that trip to the range. Honestly I cannot figure out the third loss though having shot the gun with the 7's and the red dot  the day before at the same yardage that the turkey was and getting such a great pattern. Obviously something didn't go right, no flop. Of course I don't blame the 7's as so many of you are droppin em left and right at distances past what I have tried the 7's. But I couldn't help but lose my confidence in the 7's out of my gun.

I am an avid shooter and do everything I can to keep from developing bad habits such as jerking the trigger in the off season. I have shot the gun enough to know it kicks somethin terrible but I'm not recoil sensitive to it, so I can't see myself flinching before the shot. I actually laugh when I have to take an off balanced shot and the gun knocks me off my feet. lol

I did say in  the original post that "I put the circle around the head". Thats how I patterned the gun with the red dot though. The pellets were all below the top circle with the majority being toward the lower half. Seemed like a killer pattern to me utilizing the majority of the shot to the head and neck region.

I swapped to the 6's for this morning and dropped one in his tracks at right under 50 yards around 6:20, barely even flopped. I like the pellet count of the 7's but just couldn't seem to make things work in the field. The 6's did the job and then some. I don't know that I did anything differently this morning than I did yesterday other than changing the shell. The shot was a few yards further and this bird had a clue I was there so I didn't even have the element of surprise. So for me and my gun, the 6's are it. Plenty of confidence in my setup, no hesitation to pull the trigger.

I think we can all agree that its our duty as hunters to make sure that our equipment can perform as ethically and humanely as possible, as well as being to perform ourselves. No one wants to lose birds or have to chase em or ring necks after the shot. That being said, I just couldn't justify wounding or losing any more birds with the 7's. Just doesn't seem fair to the animal. In no way am I bashing the 7's or trying to get others to question em, just thought I would share my experience with em this year. I love em, I really do, but it just isn't gonna work lol. I agree that you have to be confident in your equipment and if the 7's have proven themselves for you, then I'm jealous. lol If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Thanks again for all the replies and advice.

I respect you rationale about this topic.  You used the #7 after patterning and even went to a scope to try to fix an apparent problem.  You were not above the possibility that you could have been the problem (Pilot vs Plane).  You gave them a chance and they did not carry your confidence.  You went to the #6 and got back your confidence.  That is all anyone can ask for in a review.  I saw no where that you were bashing the product.  I say keep using the #6's if that works for you.

Thank you for the honest review.

Lab