Time has eroded many details of the hunt from my memory, though that’s not the reason for withholding my turkey hunting partner’s name. Teasing a hunting buddy is fine; public humiliation crosses the line. But there’s a lesson in his story, so that’s why I’ll relay it here … .
We’d hunted for two full days and into the third morning when we finally got a gobbler to respond. As is often the case in such endeavors, turkey hunting is filled with long segments of nothing followed by quick moments of action, and when this bird finally committed, he double-gobbled and sprinted to us, covering perhaps 300 yards of forest in 90 seconds.
Before I even spotted the gobbler I saw my nameless companion raise his shotgun, and I heard the snick as a gloved hand found the safety. Moments later I heard the boom of his tricked-out 12-gauge followed by the whoosh of giant wings taking flight, which were both followed by a string of cuss words that may still be reverberating through that hardwood hollow today. The whole situation was particularly funny to me because just hours earlier my buddy had bragged about his state-of-the-art, fully tweaked, super-duper long-range turkey slayer and how he figured he could drop one at 80 yards if he had to. Secretly I suspected he wanted to.
Remember, you’re essentially a rifleman when you shoot a super-tight pattern, so send it right—use a rest.
The morning’s hunt now definitively over, I pulled down my facemask and tried to act all serious as I said, “What the heck happened?” (To me it’s usually kind of funny when someone misses a turkey.)
“I don’t know,” he said, still in disbelief, or perhaps even in denial.
“Obviously you missed,” I jabbed. “But what I’m asking is … how? How do you miss a turkey at 15 steps with a shotgun?”
My red-faced buddy simply shook his head, looked up to the heavens as if to question his god then bowed his face in shame. My question, of course, was rhetorical. You see, there are several common reasons for missing turkeys, and by a series of deductions I had already determined the cause of his missing this one.
First, the gobbler was easily within range, so an error in judging distance certainly wasn’t it. Secondly, because I had watched him zero his shotgun’s new red-dot sight at my backyard range a few days prior, I knew the miss couldn’t be blamed on the optic. And because I’d seen the gun’s pattern, reaching the conclusion was rather academic.
Since his extra-full custom choke and specialized tungsten load with Federal’s FlightControl Flex wad combined to produce a pattern approximately the size of a cantaloupe at 40 yards, it didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that at 15 yards his pattern was likely no bigger than the size of the turkey’s head itself. I also knew that the pistol-gripped, Custom Shop Benelli had been modified in many ways, but the trigger wasn’t one of them. Moreover, I knew my buddy’s adrenaline was surging, because I could tell; and also the turkey wasn’t stone still, but rotating its head—maybe even bobbing a little—when he fired. Combine all of these things and it was easy to understand how he’d simply whiffed. I believe that if the pattern had been centered 3 inches closer to the bird or had it been 3 inches bigger in diameter, the gobbler would have been dwelling beak-down in my buddy’s game bag at that moment. But as it were, we walked back to the truck empty-handed, save for his $3,000 super-duper turkey slayin’ shotgun.
The point of this anecdote is, if you plan to modify your shotgun with a specialized “turkey” barrel, an ultra-full “turkey” choke and uber-premium “turkey” loads until its pattern is so tight that it effectively takes the scatter out of the scattergun, you should also be aware that it can be a liability at short range if you do not take care to shoot it precisely as if it were a rifle. What follows in this article is how to tweak your turkey gun to its maximum potential, and also some suggestions on a more ideal, all-around turkey gun that will help you avoid missing birds at short range and becoming the laughingstock of your friend group.
Tools of the Tweak
Frankly, I think my friend’s situation could have been avoided altogether had he simply made sure his turkey gun’s pattern was reasonably tight but not ridiculously tight. In doing so it probably means keeping your shots to around a 60-yard maximum distance, give or take 5 yards depending on how the setup actually patterns. I’ve personally killed 10 birds between 60 and 65 yards using a standard factory full choke tube and a high-quality load such as Federal Premium Copper Plated No. 6’s and Winchester Longbeard XR No. 5’s, proving for me that I don’t have to go all that specialized provided I pattern my setup beforehand to make sure it’s up to the task.
If you wish to consistently kill turkeys much farther than 60 yards, you should consider making the following tweaks.
Buy an extra-full choke tube from a reputable company such as Briley, Hastings, Carlson’s, Trulock, Patternmaster, Indian Creek or several others. Experiment with various high-tech, expensive turkey loads by patterning them on paper targets until you find a combination of gun, choke and load that throws ultra-dense and uniform patterns at long range. I’d suggest some of the amazing TSS (Tungsten Super Shot) loads from makers such as Federal, Boss, Fiocchi, Apex and Browning, whose pellets are denser and therefore weigh more compared to same-diameter lead pellets. “Uniform” in this case means the pattern should not contain holes or gaps in it that are bigger than the size of a turkey’s head.
After finding the best choke and load combination as judged on the patterning board, install an optic so your shotgun’s pattern can be zeroed at a given range, because shotgun patterns, like rifle bullets, begin dropping as soon as they leave the barrel. Red-dot sights are far superior to bead sights (that often cover the entire turkey’s head) for this task, but a low-magnification, high-quality telescope is even better for long-range shooting. Whatever optic you choose, test it rigorously before hunting to make sure it will stand up to the tremendous recoil forces of magnum turkey loads.
A raised and padded comb helps position your eye behind an optic.
Keep in mind, your shotgun isn’t ready for the big leagues just because you made these tweaks; rather, you should let the shotgun prove it’s capable by judging its pattern at ultra-long range. Do this by shooting five or 10 shots (the more the better) at a turkey-head target at increasing distances. If on each and every shot the target shows many pellets in the turkey’s head and neck, you’re good. If after any shot the pattern fails to put multiple pellets in the turkey’s head and neck, then you know you will be dependent upon an element of luck at that range. To me, hunters should never depend on luck, so I’d say your setup’s max range has been exceeded at this point. But the aforementioned words were a brief overview; now let’s drill down into some specifics.
Jason Hart is by far the most serious, dedicated turkey hunter I know. I’d go so far as to call him a gobbler geek. An employee of Mossy Oak camouflage, he’s completed 26 grand slams with six different shotgun gauges, muzzleloaders and bows—and he’s not even that old! He studies patterns, penetration, shot, wads, chokes and sights like a neurosurgeon studies brains. When shooting his .410-bore, the margins for error are so razor-thin due to the dramatically lower pellet counts that he feels he must build custom loads before testing them with various choke combinations until his patterns are what he considers perfect. Indeed, he does this with all his turkey guns, and it’s quite the undertaking.
So what does he consider a perfect pattern? I asked him, and he agreed there’s a big difference between the tightest pattern possible and the most ideal pattern for turkey hunting.
“The standard pellet-counting protocol I use is a target with a 10-inch circle drawn inside of a 20-inch circle, placed at 40 yards,” says Hart. “These days we can get 12-gauge guns to land 450 or more pellets in that 10-inch circle, but this means that not many will be in the 20-inch ring. So plenty of gurus consider a ‘good hunting pattern’ to have a near equal number of pellets in the 10-inch ring as in the 20-inch ring. This allows for a long maximum range but also grants a little margin for error at close range where the pattern is much smaller.”
Given a high pellet count, such a setup will mean that the shotgun will be good for both long range and intermediate range.
“The rule of thumb with TSS loads is that for every 10 yards after 40 yards, you’ll lose 30 percent of your pattern,” said Hart. “But you should always test it, and not assume, because every gun and load is a little different.
“I consider my gun’s max range to be the range at which the pellet count in the 10-inch circle dips below 100 pellets. With a 300-TSS pellet count inside the 10-inch ring at 40 yards, by doing the math I ‘should’ get 210 pellets at 50 yards, 147 at 60 yards and 103 at 70 yards, where each pellet still has enough energy to penetrate 1.5 inches in ballistic gel. So 70 would be my max range with this particular setup. But there’s a whole lot more at play here, including pattern drop, gun rest and even wind. So you must know your pattern inside and out along with the environmental conditions before even attempting such a shot, in my opinion,” he said.
Hart also said that back when he was obsessed with long-distance patterns, he used an ultra-tight .555-inch constriction choke tube in his 20-gauge. But just like my buddy at the start of this article, Hart ultimately decided it was so tight it was too easy to miss at very close range. So he settled on a .562-inch or a .570-inch choke using a 15/8-ounce load of TSS No.9’s. For your information, each No. 9 TSS pellet penetrates as much as a No. 5 lead pellet. But a TSS load allows many more pellets per load because each pellet is of smaller diameter.
Hart says a great 12-gauge setup is a .665-inch or .670-inch choke with a 2-ounce load of TSS No. 9’s. Patterns will be tight for great long-range performance, but not let-’em-out-one-at-a-time-tight so that misses at close range become much too common.
Another option is to set up a choke/load combination for a specialized over/under shotgun, such as Browning’s Cynergy Ultimate Turkey. This way the savvy, pattern-conscious hunter can install an extra-tight choke in one barrel for long range—say 40 yards and greater—and use the other barrel for shorter-range work, say 40 and in. Then an optic could be added, and with thought it could be optimized for both barrels.
For example, you could buy a scope with multiple crosshairs with which to zero for each barrel at given distances. Likewise, some red-dot sights have multiple dots; or you could utilize see-under scope mounts that would allow you to use the optic at long range and your shotgun’s bead sight at drumming distance. Be creative here.
Specifically in terms of magnified optics, I like the new wave of LPVOs (low-power variable optics) that typically have power ranges from 1-4X or 1-6X. Generally, the wider the magnification range, the more expensive they are. At long range, having the benefit of magnification is far superior to non-magnified optics. I prefer the scope to have an illuminated reticle that’s easy to see in any light, and that the reticle has multiple hold-over points located in the second focal plane. Why the second focal plane? Because it allows the shooter to manipulate the range values of all the crosshairs below the center crosshair by adjusting the magnification.
I particularly like Leupold’s VX-3HD 1.5-5x20mm FireDot Twilight Hunter, EOTech’s Vudu X 1-6x24mm, Trijicon’s AccuPoint 1-4x24mm and a host of LPVOs from the likes of Swarovski, Zeiss, Leica and others that cost twice as much as a good shotgun. The only downside to this riflescope-style of optics is that eye relief is much less than that of a red-dot sight or iron sights, so the shooter must be aware of the gun’s magnum recoil or else he or she could get cracked when shooting from awkward positions. While you might think this is obvious, what some people forget—especially as a gobbler is coming in—is that a 12-gauge firing a magnum turkey load can produce as much recoil as a .416 Rigby, a proverbial elephant gun. Eye relief on a turkey gun is a big deal, and for this reason a good red-dot optic is a great balance between long-range precision, huge field of view and ample eye relief.
TSS turkey loads should be guided by a low-power variable optic like an EOTech Vudu 1-6x24 FFP with the SR1 reticle or a Leupold VX-3HD 1.5-5x20 CDS-ZL; or a red-dot like a TruGlo Traditional; SightMark Mini Shot M-Spec M3 Solar; Burris FastFire E with an enclosed emitter; a Holosun AEMS; or a durable Trijicon RMR.
Although expensive, the Swedish company Aimpoint makes one of the finest red-dot sights in the world. What makes it different from cheaper stuff? It tends to hold up under intense abuse, and battery life is best in class. I like the ACRO P-2 or the Micro H-2. EOTech also makes a very solid holographic-style red-dot sight that’s proven. Though most are intended for carbines, it matters not the firearm. EOTech’s HWS Blackout model has multiple dots. Leupold’s Freedom RDS is reasonably priced and holds up to recoil. There are plenty of other good red-dot manufacturers that are less expensive such as Holosun that I suspect would do just fine.
I avoid the class of red-dot sights called “mini red-dots” like those found on handguns these days. They are more prone to light reflection (glare) and damage because the single-pane lenses typically aren’t as protected as the larger red-dot sights. Quite simply, they tend to be more fragile.
Other shotgun modifications could include a ported barrel and high-quality recoil pad to help with recoil mitigation, along with a removable, extendable bipod or tripod that offers a solid yet handy rest for long-range shooting. Such a rest also helps by freeing the hands so you can call and use a rangefinder (another vitally important piece of gear for long-range shots on birds). Although pricey, Spartan Precision’s Javelin system is wonderful, but lower-priced units from Bog and Primos also do the job.
Finally, if you intend to tweak your shotgun until its pattern is as tight as possible, you might also consider a custom trigger like one from Briley or Timney, or a trigger job performed by a gunsmith to minimize your shotgun trigger’s pull weight and reduce its creep. Shotgun triggers are woefully behind rifles in terms of quality because shotguns are generally meant to throw huge patterns at flying objects to increase the shooter’s margin of error. Therefore having a rifle-like trigger didn’t matter that much because the gun was moving anyway. The tighter the pattern and smaller the target, however, the more a good trigger—one that can be pulled without altering the sight picture—matters.
If you follow all this advice, you just may avoid becoming the butt of a joke. Then again, sometimes stuff happens, like the time a giant, double-bearded gobbler avoided my game bag because … well, because I forgot to load my gun.
