the Midget is ready

[jimh]

;D during my adventures of checking out the various gun shops in salem mo the otherday i did find a hastings choke for my 20ga win 1400 that my son will use this spring. it is a hastings .574" choke. not too tight but i'm hoping enough to give that 20 ga a litle extra punch. i hope to shoot it real soon with the shels we have so if it don't pattern worth a hoot (blotchy pattern and such) we can try something else. i figure with the 20 ga 35 yds would realy be stretching it. he'll be shooting 2 3/4" loads of #4. i'm thinking under 30 yds will be the situation we look for. i'll let the patterning board tell us what we really have.

[Bill]

Jim, why do you limit yourself to 35 yds because its a 20 gauge.

If your going to limit yourself do it by pattern not yardage or gauge. If your starting volocity for both a 12 gauge and a 20 gauge is the same then your pellet energy at all yardages is going to be the same. The only thing that limits it is the pattern and thats the number of hits on the turkeys head

Only thing I might do differant is try some 2 3/4" 2 shot in both heavy shot and lead. Hastings chokes can handle both. ;D Boy I wish I was there with a video camera when that kid rolls his first turkey. Bet the grin would break the camera.

[jimh]

bill, in missouri we are limited to shot no larger than 4 so the 2's are out. second the #4's i have are a buffered load of copper plated magnum loads. they are not a true turkey load as far as advertised as such. what i was able to find (just pulled the box out in front of me)is Winchester Super Pheasant #5 1,300 fps 1oz loads. and you are right in regards to the 12 & 20 being the same. i didn't think these loads where as hot as my turkey loads, but 1300 is getting up there. i will let the patterning board and my sons actual abilaty dictate his shooting distance. i plan on me pattering it with the magnum loads and i'll let him shoot a few with some field loads. if he gets a shot off on a turkey he wont know (i'm hoping) he was bitch slapped when he pulled the trigger. i don't have a video camera but i will have my digital camera. don't know who will be more nerveous, him or dad.

[Purebred Redneck]

Yeah missouri is 4-6 shot.
There are a lot people (in my opinion) that use steel loads (2's-t's) as well as #4 buck shot in missouri. You can shoot a bird a long freaking ways with a 3 1/2 buckshot load in the chamber.


I was thinking that 35 yards is probably too far as well for a 20ga 2 3/4. Perhaps a 3 inch will go that far but I don't know if you have that chambering for it.

Personally, I'd go with 6's. I hunt squirrels with 1 oz 2 3/4 loads and I think you're going to have some serouis pattern issues at 35 yards with 4's.

[jimh]

yea red, it is a win. 1400 and they ONLY come with a 2 3/4" chamber so we're stuck there. also if you re-read my second post you'll see my memory aint too good as it turns out the ammo i bought last fall is #5's not the #4's i thought. which is fine by me as i prefer the #5's in the first place. i find them to be the perfect turkey load, more pellet count than the 4's with better retained energy down range than the 6's. plus they happen to shoot realy well in my shotgun, hope they shoot well in the 20 ga. too.

[Bill]

With that load being a buffered load of plated shot it should shoot pretty darn tight with the choke your using. ;D I would prefer it to be just a bit slower though. Somewhere around 1200 FPS as it would shoot even tighter but it will work.
Biggest problem I see is everyone keeps trying to get their loads faster and faster and we get worse and worser patterns. Buffering and very hard shot help. But if you do any studying of ballastics you will quickly find that at 35-40 yds even though the faster shot started out a lot faster it is going about the same speed at the 1200 fps load is even though it started out slower.

[jimh]

Bill, i have found that the faster loads will do better at a bit more open choke, when we try to costrict this larger shot size it needs more time to re-arange/alighn up. you have two choices either slow it down as you sugested or open the choke a tad. the smaller shot 7's and smaller get much more fluid like in thier behavior going through the choke. but those larger shot sizes really want to bugger up that choke when you try to squirt them through it. at least that's what i have found during my years of shooting with the Hillbillies for sides of beef.
they offered a couple more constrictions for that 20 ga so i'm hoping it will do alright with the shot size and muzzle velosity listed. time will tell.

[donnie]

I'm ready! all I gotta do is call him in and kill him! Jim, wouldn't worry too much those 5s will be fine as long as pattern density is good. I've had success with 4s, 5s, 6s, as well as 7.5s I cannot see a reason to shoot a larger pellet than that. Only possible safety issues and crippled and possibly lost turkeys with large pellets. It's not real hard to kill a turkey if you're putting pellets in his head. Hope the hunt goes well and you guys have a great time in the field. Post lots of pics!

[Bill]

Part of the reason for bad patterns is soft shot or shot slaming too hard into the choke from too much volocity. What happens is that the shot deforms making it fly off like a frizby and bumping other shot off the target also. For the best patterns get the hardest shot you can get and buffer it. This is also the reason that steel shot shoots so tight. Size makes a differance in some chokes also. Some like it larger and some like it smaller. It all gets down to the patterning board. Also like Donnie said. Its the number of hits in the head no matter what size shot it is.

[jimh]

yea bill, also when it comes to the larger shot size it's not just the constriction but how you got it there. if you realy want to try to squezze it down, you can with the larger shot to an extent but you have to do it over a longer transition. when we shot the pull downs at 68' you could screw it down tight real fast and hit the living snot out of it. (#9's though) when i say tight i'm talking .630" or less (.625") now take the same gun, choke and shell & shot size and shoot boards for sides of beef at 90' and you probably have to change chokes. that same tight choke that shot so well at the lessor distance just plains blows up on ya at 90'. on the short distance even though we where deforming some of the shot during constriction, the distance was so short that the pattern didn't have enough time to blow. but man put a few more feet onto that range and it was like two differant worlds. so yea bill i hear ya with shot type, constriction size and the length you do it over within the choke.