Took me a while to get all the scanning done but the results of patterning my turkey gun were well worth all the effort and expense.
I bought a Mossberg 535 turkey combo at Dick's a couple weeks back and finally made it out to the range to work it out a bit.
I grabbed some shells at the nearby Gander Mountain that is moving so they are clearancing everything out which provided a sort of grab bag of different opportunites at 40% off the sticker price. I also had two boxes of the new Federal turkey loads that utilize the new Flitecontrol™ Wad that I picked up while waiting to see if the Remington Hevi-shot would go on sale (still hasn't ).
Well, the results were astounding. The Flitecontrol wad makes a colossal difference as you'll see below.
The only frustrating thing was 3½" shells out of a synthetic pump gun will rock your world. It is the hardest kicking thing I have ever shot. I seriously thought I broke my nose after the first shot as the recoil smacked my right thumb into the bridge of my nose and tossed my shooting glasses into the mud. Needless to say I soon adapted my grip. I utilized a Past pad, but still slightly bruised my shoulder. The gun also jumped out of the rest to an almost 60 degree angle to the bench and the pump would catch on the rest and rack itself and eject the spent shell.
The frustrating part was my first two shots out of the gun really told me all I needed to know about which load to use. But I spent quite a bit more time abusing myself just to make sure.
These shots were all taken at 40 yards. I couldn't fire all the loads through all the chokes because the XXFull was rated for lead shot only. And I didn't bother shooting the Winchester loads through the modified choke because they were lead loads and performed so poorly in comparison to the Federals in the tighter chokes it seemed a waste of my shoulder and shoot n see targets. I did shoot the other loads through the modified choke because I had read that Hevi-shot and the other heavier than lead loads like a more open choke.
Using XXFull Extended Choke
Using Extended Full Choke
Using Modified Choke
Using XXFull Extended Choke
Using Extended Full Choke
Using Modified Choke
Using XXFull Extended Choke
Using Extended Full Choke
Using XXFull Extended Choke
Using Extended Full Choke
Using XXFull Extended Choke
Using Extended Full Choke
Using Modified Choke
Using Extended Full Choke
Using Modified Choke
At this point I was almost all shot out and had used up all my shoot n see turkey heads. But, my diligent gun guru suggested I move up to 25 yards with the stool and try a couple "real world" shots. The 3½" shells were a little less brutal when sitting by being able to allow my upper body to absorb more of the recoil, but I could barely keep my feet on the ground.
25 yards Modified Choke
25 yards XXFull Extended Choke
25 yards XXFull Extended Choke
For those of you that haven't seen the new Flitecontrol wad, here's one that I picked up off the ground. The fins are on the back of the wad, and the shot comes out of the other end (the top in this picture). I'm pretty sure I was bouncing the wads off the paper even at 40 yards. The effectiveness of this technology sure is remarkable.
