A Question About Turkey Ammo

This is a question that is asked more out of ignorance than anything else. I don’t want to be confused with the Old Schoolers that think you have to limit your kit to what your grandfather used. I also do not want to suggest there is an ethical issue here. As far as I am concerned, all I owe the gobbler is a quick death. Period. Mine is a question of practicality and economy more than anything. My question is about the loads we choose to use turkey hunting.

First off, my confession. When I started out, a 2 3/4″ 12 GA Trap gun was considered ideal for turkey hunting. You put a Dixie cup on a stick, walked back 20 yards and shot at the Dixie cup. If you had a pellet or two go through the cup, you were good to go. If you got better than a couple of pellets, you went back a few yards and repeated the procedure until there were only a couple of pellets going through the cup, and that was the working range of that gun and that load. Eight bucks would buy you a box of 25 premium high brass #4. That was extravagant. As I remember, if you worked at it, you get a lead #4 high brass load for a quarter a round. Ronald Regan was President. Life was good. In 1996 I found a Mossberg 500 that shot 3 inch shells and switched to Federal #4 lead, and have been happy with it ever since.

I would be the first to tell you it is overkill. In the intervening 30 years, I have possibly taken only one or two birds that would have been out of reach of my Dad’s Model 12 Trap and Remington Nitro Express Buffered Magnum #4. I still have some of my first box left. I keep threatening to go retro some year and hunt with the Model 12 but alas, I find myself gripped of the same delusions as everyone else.

Nothing in the intervening decades has changed, except the shotguns and the loads. The turkeys are still the same, and the terrain is the same. Calling is still the preferred method of bringing in a turkey. So why are we talking about $8/round 3.5inch loads? Why are we discussing shot alloys that require a Masters degree in Metallurgy to fully comprehend? Why are we worrying about how our round performs at 70 yards? Why are we submitting ourselves to the same recoil as an elephant gun to kill a 20 pound bird?

I have been asking these questions for over a decade. The answers I get are along the lines of:

1) I want to be ready for what comes.
2) I want the very best.
3) I get only a couple shots a year, I want to make it count.
4) I want the winning edge (whatever that is)

When I start hearing guys using a Lead Sled to pattern their guns, I have to take pause. The technology is exceeding the limits of the human body at this point. That tells me something is wrong.

I worked for a while as a Quality Assurance Manager. One of the first things they teach you is the definition of Quality: conforms to a specification. It does not mean the best money can buy. It does not mean the cheapest you can make. Both strategies end up with the company bankrupt. Quality means define a specification and attempt to meet it. If you meet the specification, that’s Quality. My supposition here is that over the decades, as turkey hunting has become more popular we tend to find reasons to make the specification for turkey loads higher and higher with very little increase in actual return.

My question is this: what has changed since the days of having a good trap gun meant you also had a quality turkey gun?

Another question: Back in the early 80’s, I can remember folks being worried about their turkey guns performing adequately. A lot of birds were missed at fairly close range due to open or faulty patterns and inadequate performance. Gobblers seemed a lot better armored back then just because a lot of inadequate hardware was being used. Are we secretly stuck fighting a battle that was won 30 years ago? That is, a good 2 3/4″ 12 GA load fired out of a reasonable gun took a bird at reasonable distances. Where does it end?

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