doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Turkey season is almost upon us.

Brent,
Some states have had minimum gauge and shot sizes on the books for decades all of which preceded development and use of heavier-than-lead shot in varying degrees of tungsten based alloys.
As for why do I carry a 3.5 lb. gun for turkeys? It's pretty much the same reason you carry a heavier gun which is no big deal if that's what you want to do. My choice was done by myself without permission or approval from anyone else. It's the same reason I carried a 12 3/4 lb. Mag 10, or a 11 lb. Ithaca 10 ga. NID Magnum, and 8 lb. Benelli SBE, etc.--because I can or could; I had or have one and it is what I wanted to do at the time I did it. And each and everyone of them all legally and ethically killed turkeys. Pretty much the same reason I carry, one at a time, a safe full of 16 gauge shotguns upland hunting behind my two Brittanys; I have them; I like using them; I don't need approval or understanding from anyone else and I want to use them, and some even have slings. And unlike jOe, I don't see gun choice or a heavier gun as some kind of badge of manhood. Why a .410? It's the tungsten shot that makes it useful to me. With 300 pellets in my 13/16 oz. load, and whether some here believe it or not, it has been well-proven to others, including me and Federal, that it kills a head and neck shot gobbler just as dead at 40 yards as a 2 oz. load of lead #4 shot from a more than two times the weight 12 ga. which has fewer shot than my load at 268 counted. ( Science suggests that it is impossible to kill a dead turkey beyond dead. ) Another factor as important as penetration is the lead #4's run out of pattern density before penetration. If the above is taken as true, and you can take it or leave it, other than for nostalgic or sentimental reasons, why would I want to carry a gun more than twice the weight? I have other choices of .410's--a Baikal MP18 and a Savage 220B all considerably heavier than the Yildiz, but the pattern of the lighter Yildiz is superior to them. With the tungsten 9's, it's the massive shock of numerous hits that do the job on a gobbler's CNS. Many who have used the TSS9's have had this observation: The birds more often than not go down like a sack of rocks when shot without a flop. There is a total CNS disconnect and the usual after death flop is absent. I've only hunted turkeys for 41 years and I do it a lot. Georgia has the longest season in the country. I've seen a lot of fads come and go (anyone here remember the silent dog whistle?), but I pretty much am a traditionalist when it comes to methods of hunting: calling not from a blind but with my back to a tree without decoys or team hunting; just me, my calls, my gun of choice, and hopefully, a gobbling bird. My technique is described as "running and gunning", but with me, it's often "stumbling and bumbling." Despite having the opportunities with doubles, automatics or pumps, only one time have I shot more than one bird coming in. I prefer to come back another day and try and fool him again. Tom Kelly, the author of the turkey cult bible, The Tenth Legion, said this about shotshell pellet size choice to avoid the inevitable argument from others who disagreed: "I shoot it because that's the only load they had at the hardware store." Over 40 years have passed since he wrote that. We are still having the same argument, but not from all with the good manners of yours, Brent. Gil

Anyone that shoots a turkey with a pellet as small as a #9 shouldn't allowed to even call himself a hunter...

Pellet is in your corner cOunseler...tell us how you exposed anything but your lack of common sense and your cheap azz?

jOe is God's Gift to Turkey Hunting and this Forum. The other choices were locusts and boils. I'm not so sure the right choice was made. You can spray for locusts and medicate boils.
jOe, how'd your discussion go with Chris at the Southern? You, know the one you discussed with him in a PM that you sent to his employer by email in the above link? The one that said if you met him at the Southern and said the same things you said in this forum to his face, you'd go home with a wired jaw? Were you hoping he'd lose his job? And all that got started because of your constant online bullying of Adam.
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=313622&page=1
Gil

Rich, the best turkey hunter I know had a season like your dad. Turns out his vision changed and he couldn't focus on his bead in low light. He cured that with a red dot. Were turkeys re-introduced into Ohio where you live or were they always there? Gil

Indeed it is. As it was for the guy with the Mountain Howitzer who went deer hunting (I believe he is on this forum by the way).

I just find it a bit ridiculous, among other things.

Which is not to say I agree with Joe - how continues to be an idiot.

jOe, I called you a coward because you attempt to bully people, not because of anything Gil said to me. Anyone who has been on this board for any length of time can see that. Bully�s are cowards, attempting to raise themselves up by denigrating those they think they can dominate. You are textbook.

I called you hypocritical and stupid because Gil reminded us of how you yourself had demonstrated those qualities so aptly by your own posts here.

Brent, To get the thread on track, what is your preferred turkey gun and load and when you killed your first turkey? Gil

Here's a few pages from another site showing TSS kills with .410 and 28 ga. over the years across many states. One interesting kill was by turkeybuster who killed a bird with a .410 and TSS9's that was previously shot with a nickel plated #5 that was in the bird's breast. Gil
https://www.gobblernation.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3120

I didn't realize I was off track. Still don't

I don't have a favorite but generally I use a load of 2.75" 6s in my grandfather's 97 Winchester, or a load of 5s or 6s over about 90 grns of Swiss 1.5 in a William Cashmore double hammer gun. both 12s