'Turkey' loads for 12 gauge.

[JeffinNZ]

Team.

Our club runs a Christmas shoot and one of the events, now poorly attended, is the 'turket shoot'. A board is placed at a given distance with a picture of a gobbler on it. Centered in the middle is a hole behind which is placed a card. Most holes in the card wins the event. The object is the most dense pattern you see.

Soooooo, I have a side by side with fixed chokes. 1/4 and 3/4 I think. Can anyone give me some pointers on working up a tight load for the situation at hand? I was thinking a heavy(ish) pellet (8's) load on black powder at a modest velocity.

[quack1]

Back when we were allowed to use lead shot for duck hunting, shot buffer, plastic shot wrappers and "cupped" fiber or felt wads would give 100% patterns at 40 yards, out of my full choke Rem 870. That was with bigger shot, no idea how buffer would work with 8's or 9's.

[Ohio Rusty]

Are you shooting a blackpowder shotgun ?? A dime wrapper like you wrap dimes in is 12 gauge. I often will glue one end shut, pour in the shot, trim and glue the other end. When time to load, I lightly grease the outside of the paper dime wrapper and push it down onto the wad without mashing the wrapper/shot load. This way, you don't need an overshot card over the shot and no chance of the card causing a doughnut or flyers. The wrapepr holds the shot column together a bit longer. Don't use a heavy charge. 60 grains of 2F is adquate for a one ounce load. 70 grains of 2F is the normal load. 1F will work also.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[runfiverun]

that should be improved cylinder and modified.
modifying your wad [or using unslit wads] using a wrap and buffer with a low pressure load should tighten up your patterns the most.
also a heavy shot weight will up your chances.
don't use anything on top of the shot.
but a felt under the shot inside the cup should help.

or you could just modify the payload with wax and make a suedo slug.
you'll either make one 729 sized hole or miss completely.
anyway don't be afraid to use the 1/4 side of the gun with the modified loads.

[JeffinNZ]

It's a cartridge gun and I have a heap of Activ hulls that hold a great deal more shot/wad/powder than the AA's. I will do some playing. Thanks.

[pipehand]

Jeff, turkey shoots are a popular way for Volunteer Fire departments, VFW Posts, and other organizations here to raise funds. Every one I've ever gone to, you got a 12 gauge shell with your entry fee. That way everyone was using the same ammo- usually a cheap promo load.