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Posted: 4/18/2003 8:37:59 AM EDT
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This past Sunday I spent some quality time shooting informal clays and patterning turkey loads with my brother, his 12 year old son, my 14 year old son and my 16 year old nephew. My son shoots skeet but like's to kick back and shoot hand thrown and spring machine birds from time to time. Much easier and more relaxed. The kids enjoy the time together. We were preparing for turkey hunting so no target shotguns were allowed, only hunting guns, all were pumps except my brothers Mossberg 9200. We shot 12 gauge , 20 gauge and of course my favorite .410 bore. I shoot turkeys with a 12 gauge Remington 870 Express 3" chamber, the 16 year old had a 12 gauge Remington Super Magnum Express 3 1/2" chamber, My brothers Mossberg 9200 is also a 12 gauge 3" chamber, and we had three Mossberg 500 youth guns in 20 gauge 3" chambers, (one belongs to my 16 year old son who could not make it), all were patterned for turkey hunting. Just for fun we had my 870 Express in .410 bore and my son had his Mossberg 500 youth gun in .410 bore. The three 20 gauge Mossbergs were patterned with both #4 and #6 lead 3" turkey loads at thirty yards using Mossberg X-full turkey chokes. The #4's were Federal and the #6's were Remington. Two of the guns shot the #6's much better getting 20+ pellets in the kill zone. Both guns only put 6-8 pellets of the #4's in the kill zone. One gun, my older son's, shot the 6's OK 15-20 pellets in the kill zone but loved the #4's putting 27-30 pellets in the kill zone. We also shot Remington 20 gauge 3" hevi-shot #4's. As per Mossberg's recommendation we used the standard Modified and full choke. The modified worked better in all three guns and put 20-30 pellets in the kill zone every time. Plus the hevi-shot hit much harder sending the target flying every time. Two of the guns were the standard 20 gauge youth guns with twin beads and one was the turkey special youth gun with tru-glo sights and full camo. The turkey gun did not shoot any better with the sights than with the regular twin beads. I shot my 12 gauge 870 Express, 28" vent rib barrel, single bead sight, 3" chamber, using the Remington Extra-Full turkey choke with lead shot and the new Remington Hevi-Shot choke tube with hevi-Shot. My gun patterned #4,5,6, lead in standard velocity and #4's in high velocity fantastically. I had 30-35 pellets in the kill zone at thirty yards and 20-30 pellets in the kill zone at 50 yards. And if that did not piss my brother off enough I shot #4 high velocity Hevi-Shot and #5 standard velocity Hevi-Shot with better results 30-40 pellets in the kill zone every time. They shot so tight I have to worry about missing! Needless to say my brother's gun shot like shit. He bought the H.S. Strut Undertaker Hevi-Shot choke and a set of Tru-Glo sights. The Hevi-shot tube shot like shit. Under 10 pellets in the kill zone with #5 standard velocity Hevi-Shot and #4 high velocity Hevi-Shot. The standard Mossberg Modified tube worked better, 15-20 pellets on target. He changed to the Mossberg X-full turkey choke for lead shot and settled on a load of #5 lead standard velocity, 27 pellets in the zone. The 16 year old's father sent him with a box of Remington lead #4's 3" standard velocity, took one shot, thirty pellets on target, he is set for the season. Had a great day, love to watch kids shoot, shot clays with the .410, lots of fun. Learned once again that you have to pattern your shotgun and find the right loads except if you own my 870 Express!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MIKE. |
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