effective range of #6 Shot

[eddie234]

I'm shooting a Winchester 1300 with a comp-n-choke .655. It patterns very well with winchester HV 3" 1 3/4 oz. #6 lead shot. I'm worried if I misjudge my yardage by 5 or 10 yards that the #6 shot won't be effective? should I worry? 

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

Well If you judge him to be at 30 yards and he is 35 or 40 I would say a dead turkey as long as you've done your part. Past 40 yards the energy of lead 6's falls off fairly quickly and I would say you mite be pushing your luck.

[shaman]

One thing I would suggest is to plan for more shots inside 30 and just be done with it. Generally speaking a hunter has more to worry about missing because of too tight of a choke at close range than anything else. I generally go the whole season not having to take a shot beyond 20.

If you want to test your load for penetration, get some thin sheetrock and cut it into 1-2 foot squares.  Start out with your known load and see what it does at 20 yards, 30 yards, 40 yards, etc.  Assume that a pellet that goes through 3/8" sheetrock will go through a turkey.  Now try another load and see what it does. You will find that #4 lead will have better penetration than #6 starting out past 25-30 yards, depending on your load.

At the  range you normally kill a gobbler 4,5,or 6 lead won't make much of a difference.  Most guys pattern at 40 or beyond, but really their gobblers are mostly taken inside 25.

[allaboutshooting]

Hey Ed,

Good post and good question. The energy transferred to the turkey by your shot is a combination not only of the size and velocity of the shot that hits him but also by the number of pellets.

One reason that it's so important to have a dense and even pattern is, as has already been stated, the loss of energy of those pellets at longer ranges. If your pattern is dense at 40 yards and you happen to misjudge the distance by a yard or so, a larger number of hits can still transfer enough energy to kill the turkey.

If however you do misjudge the distance by 10 yards, thinking the turkey is at 40 yards, when he's at 50 yards, there may not be enough pattern left to deliver enough pellets to cleanly kill the turkey.

It's always a good exercise to pattern a choke/load at different ranges. You may want to see what happens to your pattern beyond 40 yards.

Thanks,
Clark

[mark hay]

there was a time when i shot the 3 inch , 2 oz. # 6 's . killed a few birds at 40 yrds , give or take a step or two . all one shot kills . i may be mistaken , but i think the 2 oz. loads are a tad slower than the 1 3/4 oz .  slower = less energy,,,,true?
i believe you have yourself a turkey gun for sure .
 good hunting

[Beards n Spurs]

Try some #5's in the High Velocity 1 3/4 oz load......

[Magnumdood]

I've given this a lot of thought.  I've read the penetration tests of various types of shot and the number of hits inside a 10 inch circle different people have gotten at different yardages.  I think #5s are the way to go.  I think #6s (or 7.5s and smaller) don't offer enough down-range energy if you miss-guestimate the distance, and that bird is really at 55 and not 40 yards.  You can't get enough #4s in the shell to give a dense pattern past 45 ~ 50 yards; split the difference and go with #5s.

Of course, my argument is based on using heavier-than-lead shot.

[Fan Club]

ORIGINAL: Magnumdood

I've given this a lot of thought.  I've read the penetration tests of various types of shot and the number of hits inside a 10 inch circle different people have gotten at different yardages.  I think #5s are the way to go.  I think #6s (or 7.5s and smaller) don't offer enough down-range energy if you miss-guestimate the distance, and that bird is really at 55 and not 40 yards.  You can't get enough #4s in the shell to give a dense pattern past 45 ~ 50 yards; split the difference and go with #5s.

Of course, my argument is based on using heavier-than-lead shot.

 
For regular copper plated lead shot, # 5s are a good all around choice that split the difference between pattern density and downrange energy. For the first 8 years I hunted turkeys mainly in wooded areas. I used 5s and they performed flawlessly. In 2000, we acquired the Missouri Farm lease with a lot of wide open pastureland and I began to encounter stubborn "field" turkeys that refused to get within 30 yards of the available cover. I switched to # 4s for the downrange energy as my average shot was often closer to 40 yards than 25. I've never looked back. In that respect, it's all relative to your hunting conditions.

[Turkeybuster]

Personally I wouldn't shoot anything lighter than no. 5# in a three inch gun especially with lead shot.
If the range would be 30 to 35 yds use no. 4# shot. This has worked well for me in the past.

[Fan Club]

Turkeybuster-
 
I talked with my Dad yesterday. He said his Model 12 does take 3 inch shells and that was quite rare in those days as you are probably aware. At 75, his memory isn't what it was though. He's got a boatload of guns and can't remember which ones he shot Heavyshot through. I'll go over there and see what I can find out for you.
 
JB