Patterning a shotgun tin can be as easy or as hard as y'all want information technology to be. There are then many options when it comes to shell size, pellet size, pellet limerick, chokes, shotgun make/model, gauge, and butt length that testing each and every single combination would be close to impossible. We all desire the densest patterns at the longest ranges, merely finding that combination of shell and choke that gives you the absolute all-time blueprint possible is far outside the ways of the average person. The following gives you an outline of how I arroyo patterning shotguns for turkey hunting, but the principles can be applied to any ballistic endeavor.

Commencement, determine what your constants will be. I wish I could buy a new gun for every single season and scenario I could imagine, but that'south not reasonable. Determine what shotgun y'all will use – a 12 guess is pretty standard and a 20 volition be fine. If you want to use a smaller bore, in that location will be more considerations and potential costs involved in getting the results you desire. In one case you have your shotgun picked out, decide what your goals are, so start into the variables.

Determine your goals. Again, if you desire the best pattern in the globe, you'll demand some deep pockets and a lot of fourth dimension. If your goal is to accept a consistent design at a reasonable range and minimize the likelihood that you wound or lose an brute you're hunting, then you're in luck.

Think about the area you will be hunting, how thick the terrain is, and what kind of
distance you lot will about probable be presented with a shot. If the terrain is super thick, and visibility is less than 30 yards from the ground, then almost any traditional lead turkey load will practise the play tricks. If you want to push your range a picayune further, consider a higher density shot such as tungsten, or TSS. The denser cloth allows the use of a smaller shot size, which translates to more shot per payload.

This season I wanted to find a shell and choke philharmonic for my Franchi Affinity that would requite me dense patterns out to 45 yards. I hunt a lot of large fields and the big toms tend to hang up right around the 40-yard marker. I picked upwardly a box of 12 gauge 3-inch Federal TSS No. 7. The density of the TSS is about 50 percent heavier than lead, which allows for use of smaller shot that yet carries the downrange free energy of larger lead shot. Smaller shot means increased blueprint density and a college likelihood of a make clean kill. I had a few boxes of shells from various makers and pellet size/material left over from the past few seasons, so I was able to compare how the new stuff stacked up against the shells I had used in the past.

Now, with the shotgun and beat out picked out, choice a choke. Some shotguns come with a manufactory full, extra full or turkey choke- if you lot already have one, and so get-go there. If yous want to purchase a choke, figure out your budget offset, then try to narrow them down from there. There are a lot of options, fortunately, most of them piece of work very well. Carlson, TruGlo, Kicks, Patternmaster, all make good products, although the results vary gun to gun, load to load. Many choke manufacturers brand chokes for specific turkey loads, these are usually a keen choice.

I purchased a Carlson TSS choke. It was reasonably priced and I've had a proficient experience with Carlson chokes in the past.

Now examination your combo. Gear up a big target (roughly xxx inches by 30 inches) at the range y'all want to pattern at and run into what happens. Aim for the eye of the newspaper and fire one round. Use a sharpie and note the range, shell and choke used. Pull the paper and draw a 10-inch circle around the densest part of the pattern, then count the number of shots inside that circumvolve. Repeat the process with new paper and different shells if y'all are testing multiples.

Mostly speaking, you lot want at least 100 pellets in that ten-inch circumvolve. The more the merrier. If your best design is giving you less than 100 in the 10-inch circle it'southward time to modify one variable at a time. Change either the choke or the trounce, just don't change both at the same time. Changing more than one variable will not allow you to determine whether the new shell or choke is an improvement. If you change the choke, run through the same shells at the same distances, if changing shells test them through the same asphyxiate. You will somewhen discover a combo that works with your gun and satisfies your goals.

I tested three different loads through the Franchi Affinity with the Carlson choke. The No. five lead load did not put over 100 pellets in a ten-incih ring at 45 yards. The densest pattern came from the trounce with the highest pellet count, which is no surprise. After counting 170-plus pellets in the x-inch ring at 45 yards, I was done patterning. Finding a dense pattern that would perform out to 45 yards was the goal, I found it quickly and felt no need to push the range whatsoever further. In total, I fired six rounds from iii different vanquish manufacturers through one asphyxiate. Both the high-terminate tungsten/TSS shells had a higher design density than their pb counterpart.

The dominion of diminishing returns applies here: it will cost a lot of coin and time to find that one pattern that gets you the terminal few percentages of performance. I've had a lot of experience with this in handloading, getting a load to yield sub MOA groups is non hard or fourth dimension-consuming, but trying to compress that group further takes a lot of resources. At the end of the day, a turkey will not know the difference between getting hit in the head with ten or 12 shot.

Maven's logo over a hunter with the sky behind him and a pair of binoculars to the right.

Become in with reasonable expectations, and yous will find them fairly quickly. I tin not stress this enough. We all obsess on how to exist better hunters, and the gear nosotros cull to use is one of the few variables we accept complete control over, but don't let it be the sole facet of your focus. Get the pattern y'all are happy with, at the range you are comfortable with, and spend your fourth dimension scouting and learning about the animate being you are going to pursue. Knowing where the birds are is going to benefit yous more than finding a pattern that will reach out to 60 yards. No pattern, however dense, is going to kill a turkey if there aren't any turkeys around.

Notes and tips

If y'all're using a smaller diameter shotgun, yous'll have fewer pellets in each shell, and so yous might take to decrease the range until you detect a pattern that you are happy with.

Bring some cheap target loads to see how your gun patterns before sending the turkey loads downrange. If you lot're using a red dot or scope, using the target loads volition assistance you become on the paper and go shut to goose egg without the high price tag and pain.

Take your time and don't underestimate the recoil from turkey loads. Heavy turkey loads will accept a toll on your shoulder and your power to aim. Use a rest, and take breaks – developing a flinch volition affect your shotgunning as much as it does when shooting a rifle.