Where is your shotgun shooting?
By Larry Myhre, Journal editor | Posted: Monday, March 26, 2007
Patterning your shotgun on a turkey target is the only way to determine if your gun is shooting on the mark and the maximum distance you should allow to take a shot. (Staff photos by Larry Myhre)
If there's one tip I could give you that could make your spring turkey hunt a success, it would be this: pattern your gun.
It just doesn't make sense to go into the turkey woods with any reasonable expectation of success without finding out where your gun shoots.
Most shotguns, for instance, will place their patterns above your point of aim. Believe it or not, a change of choke tube, brand of shell, shot size, powder charge or shell length could very well change the impact point of your load.
The big difference between wing shooting and shooting turkeys is that in the former you simply point your gun and swing. When shooting a turkey standing 30 yards in front of you the shotgun is aimed, the same as using a rifle. Few hunters would take a new rifle out of the box and take it hunting without sighting it in. You should do the same with your shotgun if you are going to use it as rifle which is what we do when turkey hunting.
To make an effective kill, shot placement has to be in the head and neck area of a tom turkey. Their feathers are just too dense to allow penetration of pellets into the vital heart and lung area. In fact, to make a clean kill on a turkey several pellets have to strike the vital neck and head zone.
Every time I've changed chokes, loads or sights on my shotgun over more than 20 years of haunting the turkey woods, I've patterned the gun. I've also worked with hunting partners to determine how and where their shotgun is shooting. Here's are some things I've found.
Every gun will have a favorite load. Some guns pattern better with 2 3/4-inch shells than with three-inch. Some loads perform better in more open chokes than tighter chokes. If your gun shoots high and to the side or low, and many do, you have to take that into account when pulling the trigger or attach adjustable sights.
If you are using some form of heavy shot or alloys other than lead a more open choke is preferred, usually modified.
When patterning a gun, I usually begin shooting at 20 yards. I use a turkey head and neck target and shoot from a rest. The gun is aimed at the target and I hold the front bead on the base of the neck. Since your eye acts as the rear sight on a shotgun, you must place the stock on the same place on your cheek for every shot and that placement must be the same when you get into the woods. You will have to remember what that sight picture is and duplicate it for every shot.
Shoot three rounds on three different targets and, hopefully, the pattern should land in the same spot every time. If it does not, you are probably are not mounting the gun to the same place on your cheek each time.
If the shot placement is high or low, you can correct that by changing the mounting spot on your cheek. If the shot placement is to one side or another, you will either have to apply "Arkansas windage" when you shoot or obtain a set of detachable sights or perhaps mount a red dot or one power scope on the gun.
With a full choke at 20 yards, there should be more than enough pellets in the kill zone, most likely 15 or 20. Next, move the target out to 30 yards and count the "hits" there. Then move to 40 yards. Ideally there should be 10 pellets in the kill zone and 40 yards will very well be the farthest you can count on that happening.
With extra-full turkey chokes and 3 1/2-inch shells pushing 2-ounces of shot you might gain another 10 yards and I know hunters who swear they can make killing shots consistently farther than that. I'm not one of them.
The only way to determine your maximum range is to pattern your shotgun and find the load/choke combination that works best for you.
The first half dozen turkeys I bagged were taken with a 12 gauge Remington 870 with a modified choke shooting Federal 2 3/4-inch buffered, copper clad number 6 shot. All were taken within 30 yards and I simply didn't shoot until I could get them within that range. I had learned through patterning that gun that there was no point taking longer shots.
Today I use 3-inch buffered copper clad sixes in an extra tight turkey choke. Patterning that load has taught me that my sight picture needs to be perfect on close shots to avoid a miss because the pattern is so small, but that I can reach out another 10 yards with the tighter choke.
I like sixes because there is a greater number of shot in the load than there would be with fours or fives. That is a personal choice. A lot of hunters prefer heavier shot. Bottom line is that you only really have three choices when it comes to shot size and you should be loading up with one of them.
But what you don't really have a choice about is presuming your shotgun is shooting exactly where you are aiming it. The only way to know for sure is to pattern that gun and load.
Larry Myhre is editor of the Journal. Reach him at (712) 293-4201 or email at: larrymyhre@siouxcityjournal.com
It just doesn't make sense to go into the turkey woods with any reasonable expectation of success without finding out where your gun shoots.
Most shotguns, for instance, will place their patterns above your point of aim. Believe it or not, a change of choke tube, brand of shell, shot size, powder charge or shell length could very well change the impact point of your load.
The big difference between wing shooting and shooting turkeys is that in the former you simply point your gun and swing. When shooting a turkey standing 30 yards in front of you the shotgun is aimed, the same as using a rifle. Few hunters would take a new rifle out of the box and take it hunting without sighting it in. You should do the same with your shotgun if you are going to use it as rifle which is what we do when turkey hunting.
To make an effective kill, shot placement has to be in the head and neck area of a tom turkey. Their feathers are just too dense to allow penetration of pellets into the vital heart and lung area. In fact, to make a clean kill on a turkey several pellets have to strike the vital neck and head zone.
Every time I've changed chokes, loads or sights on my shotgun over more than 20 years of haunting the turkey woods, I've patterned the gun. I've also worked with hunting partners to determine how and where their shotgun is shooting. Here's are some things I've found.
Every gun will have a favorite load. Some guns pattern better with 2 3/4-inch shells than with three-inch. Some loads perform better in more open chokes than tighter chokes. If your gun shoots high and to the side or low, and many do, you have to take that into account when pulling the trigger or attach adjustable sights.
If you are using some form of heavy shot or alloys other than lead a more open choke is preferred, usually modified.
When patterning a gun, I usually begin shooting at 20 yards. I use a turkey head and neck target and shoot from a rest. The gun is aimed at the target and I hold the front bead on the base of the neck. Since your eye acts as the rear sight on a shotgun, you must place the stock on the same place on your cheek for every shot and that placement must be the same when you get into the woods. You will have to remember what that sight picture is and duplicate it for every shot.
Shoot three rounds on three different targets and, hopefully, the pattern should land in the same spot every time. If it does not, you are probably are not mounting the gun to the same place on your cheek each time.
If the shot placement is high or low, you can correct that by changing the mounting spot on your cheek. If the shot placement is to one side or another, you will either have to apply "Arkansas windage" when you shoot or obtain a set of detachable sights or perhaps mount a red dot or one power scope on the gun.
With a full choke at 20 yards, there should be more than enough pellets in the kill zone, most likely 15 or 20. Next, move the target out to 30 yards and count the "hits" there. Then move to 40 yards. Ideally there should be 10 pellets in the kill zone and 40 yards will very well be the farthest you can count on that happening.
With extra-full turkey chokes and 3 1/2-inch shells pushing 2-ounces of shot you might gain another 10 yards and I know hunters who swear they can make killing shots consistently farther than that. I'm not one of them.
The only way to determine your maximum range is to pattern your shotgun and find the load/choke combination that works best for you.
The first half dozen turkeys I bagged were taken with a 12 gauge Remington 870 with a modified choke shooting Federal 2 3/4-inch buffered, copper clad number 6 shot. All were taken within 30 yards and I simply didn't shoot until I could get them within that range. I had learned through patterning that gun that there was no point taking longer shots.
Today I use 3-inch buffered copper clad sixes in an extra tight turkey choke. Patterning that load has taught me that my sight picture needs to be perfect on close shots to avoid a miss because the pattern is so small, but that I can reach out another 10 yards with the tighter choke.
I like sixes because there is a greater number of shot in the load than there would be with fours or fives. That is a personal choice. A lot of hunters prefer heavier shot. Bottom line is that you only really have three choices when it comes to shot size and you should be loading up with one of them.
But what you don't really have a choice about is presuming your shotgun is shooting exactly where you are aiming it. The only way to know for sure is to pattern that gun and load.
Larry Myhre is editor of the Journal. Reach him at (712) 293-4201 or email at: larrymyhre@siouxcityjournal.com
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 0 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
