Published: June 20, 2008 12:46 am            

New turkey load tested

Most shotgunners buy the latest shotshells at the store, go afield, shoot their game and come home happy as larks with nary a thought or care about the technology within their shells. And they live happy, well adjusted lives. But a minority of us has to know how these shells are put together and with what and why and when we fire off a volley our inquisitive minds visualize all the components doing their job in concert to reach out and touch the game animal and do the deed.

I promised in an earlier column to report here the results of some informal testing I planned for the new 12 gauge turkey loads by Federal Premium Ammunition. Surprisingly to a lot of us the shells are loaded with size 7 shot. Yes, 7, not 7 1/2. They also make the new shells in number 5 and 6 but the 7s captured the eyes of us who believe in the smaller shot. The shot are the new Federal Heavyweight of course, the rough equivalent of other companies’ heavier-than-lead shot cooked up by chemists with oversize brains.

The intended purpose for the small shot is to help cure the perennial failing of shotshell patterns at long range. It takes no genius to realize that you must hit the turkey’s neck and/or head a pretty good lick to kill it. Doubters will wag their heads over the small shot until they learn that (according to reports) the shot are 25% heavier than the original Hevi-Shot which is the new shot material with which other super shot are often compared.

On May first I shot the neck and head of a gobbler with spurs long and curved enough to hang on a limb and one of the small number 7s broke one of the old bird’s neck bones. The range was 35 yards measured with a Bushnell range finder. The Federal factory shell was fired through a back bored O/U Beretta 30 inch full choke barrel. After the shot the turkey performed the wing flopping ritual but never lifted its head off the ground. I didn’t count the shot in the kill zone but obviously there were plenty.



The tests



Now for my testing. One will have to see my April 18th column to get the whole story on these new shells. You can get lost here if you don’t have the background in that column. It can be found on the Meridian Star website by going to meridianstar.com and typing in Want to Reach Out Farther with Your Turkey Gun in the search blank.

My analysis found that there was an apparent error in Layne Simpson’s article from which I obtained some of the original data. The article states that there are 457 of the new number 7 shot in the one and five eighths load. I counted 362 shot, the same number Simpson lists as is in a like weight of number 6 lead shot. (My measure held 226 number 6 lead shot in an ounce and five eighths). But the news is still quite good. My patterning tests found an average of 86% of the number 7 Federals landed in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards!

I was blown away at how tightly these little 7s stayed together, especially because I used no super full turkey choke. Instead the shells in the test were fired from a 28 inch barrel on a Model 9200 Mossberg autoloader with only its factory full choke screwed in.

“What about penetration?” you hasten to ask. Well, get that gotcha’ grin off your face and read on. I only have my very old penetration testing procedure to rely on here but the results of my method lets me sleep quite well after a round of testing.

I place outdoor magazines like Outdoor Life or Field and Stream in the center of my patterning paper. I simply count the pages penetrated by the shot and compare that number to the pages penetrated by other loads. To get an accurate count of pellets within the 30 inch circle, I of course count the pellets both inside and outside the magazine. My records show 80 to 100 pages penetrated back in the old days with number 6 heavy loads. (To avoid confusion I use page numbers which means the actual penetrated pages are half the recorded number). Imagine my shock when the entire back cover of a 148 page Field and Stream was blown to shreds by my first shot of Heavyweight 7s fired at the front cover.

Two magazines were taped together for the second shot and out of 73 shot hitting the cover, 13 went all the way through the second book, which was 80 pages. When I taped three magazines together and fired again, 7 shot went through all three! Do you know how tough slick newsprint is? A turkey whose neck gets in the way of this number 7 pattern at 40 yards and considerably beyond should have notified next of kin the night before.

Why the glowing performance here? There are more factors than just the heavier shot. Federal’s new “Flitecontrol” wad may have more to do with it than any other factor. This is a very, very thick and heavily constructed wad. Handloaders won’t believe how heavy and how strongly compressed the “wings” on the trailing edge are until they feel one.

Tough wad



Something has to harness the enormous powder charge to keep from blowing the patterns full of holes. The Flitecontrol does it in part by being one piece that surrounds not only the shot but the powder as well. There are no wings around the shot; instead the rear opening wings surround the powder. And when they open upon firing you can’t compress them again without mechanical help! Try one, you’ll see.

In former times if you souped up the powder your patterns would look like a map of the Pacific Islands and turkeys could hopscotch through them and dance happily on their way. Now these shells emit sonic booms when fired and first aid is needed on your shoulder, yet the patterns print as if from woodcock loadings. It has to be the wad. What an improvement!

It has been too long, I suppose since I did such testing. I never used to get even 65% patterns with the full choke barrels of my younger days. So excuse me if I get a bit giddy over these new shells and guns.

The reasons why the new Federal number 7s carry enough punch to kill a turkey beyond 40 yards are found in my first article. How much past 40 yards? Depends on your particular gun and choke and you have to do some test shooting to find out.

Turkey hunters who travel west to shoot the Merriams and Rio Grande sub-species birds may fail to see the need for an extra five or 10 yards of range for their smoke pole. If they only shoot birds at 35 yards, they can let the 45 yard birds walk, step over the hill and call in another one. I know, I have taken many western turkeys and calling in several a day is no great feat. But if the eastern you have worked on three years appears at 47 yards and won’t budge, it would be nice to save your sanity and tip him over onto his snood.

        

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