Want to reach out farther with your turkey gun?

By Otha Barham

April 18, 2008 12:55 am

— Federal Premium Ammunition has made yet another improvement in shotgun shells for wild turkey hunting. Just when you thought the heavier-than-lead shot, specially designed wads and super screw-in chokes were the total package of shell improvement, along came a new shot size that further extends the killing range of turkey loads. Read on if adding another five yards or so of range to your shotgun interests you.
The very slow modern day shotshell revolution began with the introduction of the paper shell casing that was disposable. Paper replaced the old brass shells back when everyone reloaded of necessity. I reloaded the paper cases, sometimes using black powder to save a few cents. About the time I reached the age of 30, plastic replaced paper and higher velocities resulted, especially after plastic cup wads followed and ignition was better managed within the shell as the powder burned.
There was not a lot of change with shotshell design for the next 30 years or so even though more good propellants became available. Copper coated shot and shot buffering brought somewhat better patterns and I and others cooked up 12 gauge three inch magnum handloads that rolled turkeys over at better than 40 yards. And then it happened.

Heavier than lead?

Someone tinkering with molecules came up with a metal heavier than lead. Before we could catch our collective breaths, shotshell wad designers improved things and someone else decided to make special screw-in chokes to tighten patterns. Suddenly the industry experts were tripping all over each other to see who could make the best shotshell.
Better wadding, it was learned, could allow the heavier shot pushed by bigger powder charges to be “choked” much tighter and not blow holes in our patterns as had always been the case when we pushed the old lead shot too fast. Unheard of pattern percentages (percent of a shotshell’s charge in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards) shocked us old handloaders and before we could say “bruised shoulder” 80 and even 90 percent patterns were being recorded all over the place.
Still, no matter how fast you push lead, its ability to penetrate to a turkey’s neck bone fades out there at about 40 yards or a bit better for number 6 shot. “Good reason to shoot number 4s,” I can hear you cry. Hold on; better penetration and therefore longer range, yes, but what about pattern density? Too many holes in the pattern, at the very long ranges, that a turkey’s head and neck will fit into. Because you have to hit the turkey’s brain or neck bone to kill it, and because I have patterned hundreds of loads, I long ago joined the ranks of those who swear by number 6 shot for long range turkey harvesting with my guns.
Outdoor writer Layne Simpson was turning such matters over in his mind last spring while trying out some of Federal’s new Heavyweight shotshells. This shot is 25 percent heavier than the original Hevi-Shot and 50 percent heavier than lead. A couple of Federal’s guys were along on the hunt and Layne suggested to them that they offer Heavyweight shot in size 7 1/2. He was thinking of making a long range 20 gauge load.
Within months the company began marketing 12 gauge loads in size 7, not quite what Simpson suggested but nevertheless a very interesting move and one that deserves attention.
Let’s take a look at this number seven Heavyweight shot. The pellet count in the 1 5/8 ounce 12 gauge load is approximately 457. That compares to 362 number 6 shot of the same charge weight. And here is the kicker. At a muzzle velocity of 1300 feet per second for each, a number 7 Heavyweight pellet delivers 2.48 ft/lbs of energy at 40 yards compared with 2.07 ft/lbs for number 6 lead pellets.

Little is better

This simply means that the smaller pellet of the new shot will out perform the larger lead pellet. And the higher number of pellets per load means more shot in the pattern at significantly longer ranges. Also, a smaller shot that is heavier should penetrate better than the lighter, larger shot.
To those of you who break out in hives at the thought of shooting at a gobbler with any shot size smaller than 5’s, do the math and then pattern the new 7s. With a lot more shot in the pattern and each one carrying a bigger punch, how could you not increase the killing range of your gun?
Federal was kind enough to send me some of their new Heavyweight 7’s and I will be patterning them as soon as I can bag a gobbler, thus getting time for patterning. With just two weeks remaining in our season, I am running behind on collecting spurs and smoking meat. In addition to patterning I plan to do some penetration tests comparing the Heavyweights to lead shot loaded similarly. I will report my results on this page.
The time to test your loads with your gun and choke is before you put things away until next season. I will be looking for the new 7s to stretch my range and provide me the best turkey load available.

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