.62 smoothie turkey load

[DanL]

Folks...A buddy has a 32" Percussion .62 smooth bore barrel which has been jug choked to extra full choke equivalent. My comments are for your information and quality discussion only. I am not up for argument as the following is the result of much testing and observation yielding consistant repeatable results.

Saturday, after expending many hours and much powder and shot, we settled on a load of:

70 grains FFG powder

one 1/8" nitro card lubed on edge with bore
butter or crisco

one 1/2" pre-lubed fiber wad

1 5/8 oz #6 magnum shot

one over shot card

At 35 yards, we achieved an approximately ( I say approx. because there were ocasionally a few shot outside the circle)24" circular pattern filled with shot. We began at 25 yards until we had a great pattern. Then we moved the target paper back 5 yards at the time to 35 yards.

We tested with good results (at 25 yards) less shot like 1 oz, 1 1/8 oz, 1 1/4 oz, 1 1/2 oz, etc. We also tested more shot like 1 3/4 oz, 1 7/8 oz. The lighter shot loads patterned size wise nicely but left gaps/holes in the pattern. The heavier (>1 5/8 oz) shot loads yielded better coverage within the pattern than the 1 5/8 oz load.

We settled on the 1 5/8 oz as optimal without wasting expensive shot. This load gave consistantly great coverage within the 24" circle at 35 yards. 35 yards was my buddy's chosen maximum comfort limit for shooting a turkey.

Different powder loads were also tested but again the 70 grains FFG was optimal for this gun and load.

This is a long shot column but it workd for him. This is for Turkey and may be problematic for wing shooting or clays. Only experimentation will tell.

My buddy is ready and confident with his gun for turkey season to begin this Sat.

Good luck,
DanL

 

[Tony Logan]

Sounds like a good plan, thanks for posting the results and recipe. I am waiting on my 16 guage jug choked fowler to arrive any day now. I can't wait to experiment with it and kill a long beard this spring. Good luck.

 

[16gauge]

I have a .62 smooth bore (not jug choked) that I am starting to work loads up for....probably won't use it this turkey season unless I stumble on something right out of the gate.
I have a couple of questions: 1.) do you know what the velocity is of your buddy's load and 2.) did you or he do any penetration tests with this load? Seems like an awful lot of shot for the amount of powder.....would hate to have it pattern great but bounce off bone once it got there!
Thanks for the info...........

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you are concerned about penetration, use larger shot. The larger pellet carries more energy further down range. I am talking about #5 and #4 shot, instead of #6, or #7 1/2 shot sizes. With a MLer, you can load more shot in front of the powder to help fill the pattern better at the longer yardages.

Most people don't chronograph their shot loads, depending on what they read instead of what actually is happening in their particular smooth bore gun. That is a shame. The main concern is not to hit any part of the chronograph or screen and destroy an expensive machine.

If you make a "cartridge out of heavy paper, sealing both ends around a given load of shot, and shoot that over your screens, you will get the MV similar to what you might have shooting the shot load over the same screens at the same distances, without the paper cartridge. I found that if I bought 3M post-it note, and cut my paper to let me wrap that paper three times around my forming "mandrel", using the adhesive strip already provided by the company on each "Note", to seal the edge of the tube, I could use tape to close both ends, one at a time, putting the load of shot inside before closing the last end. I put an OP wad down on top of the powder to seal the bore, then range the "cartridge" down onto the OP wad. Prime and fire.

I did test out my "cartridge" without the screen in place, to make sure it did hold together. My first "cartridge" had a single wrap of paper, and it became confetti as soon as it hit the air! :shocked2: :nono: The "3-wrap" cartridge became a slug- as the paper did not tear open in the flight, putting a big hole in my 25 yard target, and an even bigger hole in the stand holding up my 50 yard target behind it!

That's part of the fun, and the cost, of learning by trial and error. :idunno: :grin: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I would definitely recommend penetration testing of that load. I use my steel Goex cans and would not trust a shot load which won't penetrate both sides.