doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Turkey Load for a New NID

I picked up a new Ithaca NID a couple weeks ago and was considering taking it turkey hunting next week. Any suggestions for a good turkey load? Chokes are mod/full with 2 3/4" chambers. I have some 1 1/2 ounce #6 copper plated magnum loads. Is that too much for this gun? I'm used to using standard or trap loads in my older SxS's for grouse and pheasant but that won't due for these bigger birds.

Thanks.

I've used some 1 1/8 oz #5 handloads for turkeys at around 1200fps, out of my 12 ga SKB 280E and also a 12 ga Rem 1900. The turkeys never knew they were hit with only an 1 1/8 oz of shot!

The past few years it's been a variety of 16 ga's with either a handload of 1 or 1 1/8 oz load of #5's, again the birds were dead at the shot-velocity, again at around 1200pfs.

I really don't think you would hurt an NID at all with the load you want to use. maybe some of the experts will chime in with more info. HUNT HARD AND HUNT SAFE !

No more than you will shoot it with that load, the gun will be ok, but you won't. That load will knock the snot out of you, but some folks are more sensitive to recoil than others. One shot at a turkey probably won't bother you too bad, but the patterning session will be hell to pay.
JR

That big load should kill a lot. The turkey as well as a lot of tissue in your shoulder.

So what you are saying is: "You better hit it on your first shot because the bird will be long gone by the time you pick yourself up for a second shot!"

Thanks.

Tom,

I just used my Fox to take a bird a couple weeks ago. I used Federal 2 3/4" #4's and it did the trick.
Your pretty safe with an NID using just about any 2 3/4" load.

I like a 2-3/4" remington hull with 1-1/4oz load of #4 traveling 1330 fps. This load uses 28.5gr Longshot and produces 9300psi. This is from opening day last week.

You don't need a cannon to kill a turkey IF you call him up close (35 yds. or less), which is the whole point in turkey hunting-fooling the turkey. But you do need to know what your gun is doing by patterning it with several loads and shot sizes, especially to see where it centers the load. This is critical with any shotgun, but especially so with older sxs's.

A short mag.(1 1/2 oz.)is a pretty stout recoiling load in a 7 1/2 lb. sxs, probably in the neighborhood of 45-50 ft./lb. free recoil, but it isn't unmanageable when you're only going to shoot just one or thrice a season while hunting. Like I said before, the patterning session is where you start running from it.
JR

A head shot is the way to cleanly kill a turkey. The bones in the head and neck of even the biggest gobbler will break as easily as a clay target if your aim is true. I like a dense pattern of 1 1/8 oz. of #6 shot in a standard 2 3/4" load and haven't lost a turkey yet because I wasn't shooting a cannon. I won't take a shot over 40 yards without changing to 1 1/4 oz. loads of the same shot size just to maintain density.