16 guage turkey loads?

[T.O.]

I am getting a 16 guage fowler built to use for turkey this spring.  It will have a 44 inch Colerain that has been jug choked full by Lowell Tennyson ( I got his info reading from this forum, thanks) I have some #6 shot to use, but would be open to using #5.  I really have no idea about what size wad, card, how much shot, powder to use. 

I will also be shooting it this fall for deer and black bear. if anyone has had luck with this barrel, that will be my next adventure. I am open to ideas as well.

By the way, I learned everything I know about shooting my 45 flinter from the great comments and ideas on this site.

[camerl2009]

well goex has it at 1oz lead shot and 61-76gr of ffg

as for wads 1 16ga nitro card ,1 16ga 1/2" fiber wad, the the shot and a thin card

[RwBeV]

For turkey in my double 16ga. flint gun I use 3 drams FFg and a heavy .125 Circle Fly wad 1 1/8oz. of #6 in the right barrel and #5 in the left then 1 Circle Fly over shot wad on top of that.  The barrels in my gun are shorter and more open choked so I have to limit my shots to 25 yds or so.  I use the same load in my 69cal. Harper's Ferry with great luck.  Give it a try it should work.

Bob

[Greg S Day]

I have the same barrel.  Mine is jugged to modified.

I use 80 grains of FF and a matching measure of 6 shot plus over powder card, cushion wad and over shot card.

actually it's     FF - o.p. card - cushion wad - shot - o.s. card.

Patterns well at 30 to  35 yards.  Worked well last spring.

Greg

[Daryl]

I'm using 75gr.2F  which is 2 3/4 drams, along with the same measure of shot which is 1 1/16th oz. in my 16 bore, 1/2 choke (Mod) left barrel, cylinder straight rifled rifle which shoots imp cyl. This is a ctg. gun.  I use 14 bore over powder card, 14 bore - 1/2" fibre, then 14 bore  "B" then shot, then overshot 14 bore "B".

Since your gun is choked, I'd take advantage of the choke's ability to retard the wads and use a full cushion wad, or even 2 cushion wads, rather than 1/2 a wad which is normal in non-choked guns.  The patterning board and a day of testing will show you what works in your gun - they are ALL different in load preference.

1 1/4oz is a normal max. for ctg. 16 bores today. 

[northmn]

A 16 bore is a great bore in modern or BP.  To get tight patterns, the first rule is to get a very hard plated shot.  For turkeys I woud bite the bullet and buy either some #5 nickel plated shot or some Nice shot.  After load development, whcih can be accomplished somewhat with cheaper shot, you will find that 5 lbs of nickel plated will last some time if used only on turkeys.  Get a turkey head target and pattern.  BP does not do so much as modern but most shotgun patterns have a very dense center that gets less dense as the shot spreads.  Nickel plated shot does this more than others.  This is where a sight on a turkey gun would be nice as you want to center that densest part of the pattern on the head.  You may find that that works better than throwing a hatfull of shot down range.  1 1/4 may be enough with the right load.  Also consider use of a paper shot sleeve.

DP

[Greg S Day]

T.O.

I didn't mention the paper shot cup as I didn't want to confude the issue, but I got my best patterns with a paper shot cup.

I'm using plain old chilled lead shot in a #6 size. 

The pattern is deadly at 30 yds with 10 or 12 killing (brain/spine) hits.  Drops down to 4 or 5 hits at 35.

I consider 30 yds as my max for turkeys.

Greg

[T.O.]

thanks for all the replies.  Here come some more ?'s   
Do you make paper shot cups or can you buy them?

I think I read about adding corn meal mix to the shot somewhere, does anyone regularly do that here?

Also I am going to have a rear sight. This is a hunting gun.  Should I try to sight it in at 50 yds with roundball first.  Say inch or 2 high at 50yds and then see where it puts shot at 30 yds? I hate to start filing on the sights until I see where it puts a round ball. 

[Daryl]

Shotgun sighting is usually taken with the face over the breech, seeing the rib full length. Much will depend on your fornt sight height, loads and where the gun actually prints.

A 16 bore ball - or rather a .648" ball or close to what is normally used in one, is just over 400gr. weight. A 16 gauge ball is, well, 16 to the pound - 7,000 grains divided by 16 = 437.5gr. to be exact.  I've always thought of 16 to the poiunt being .662", like the Lyman mould, however my chart says 16:1 are .663" in diameter - close enough 1/2 thou per side.

You make the paper cups. Plastic merely adheres to the barrel walls after the black powder flame melts it on the way out and sprays it on the inside of the tube - you don't want that.  Post-it notes work well and are easy since one side has a glue line.  Formed arund a dowel, you can snip off the correct length after folding a base over the end and tapping that to seal it. Anyway, that's how I'd make them.  Glue sticks also are handy.

[northmn]

Some have made the "cups by gluing a paper sleeve around a smaller gauge over powder wad. One thing to consider on a shot protector is tht the base of the shot load takes more protection than the top.  Called "set back"  Look at a modern plastic sleeve sometime and you will see how much more it indents in the bottom.  A shot sleeve made with two parts where the bottom is 1/2 the height of the top may help.  Buffering a shot load can help, as with corn meal, but buffering takes a bit of technique.  Some do so with an electric shaver as a vibrator to get an even buffer.  It can also raise pressures in a modern shell of the charts.  For a one shot turkey load it has potential but special buffer is sold that might work better than corn meal.  If chilled lead is deadly at 30 yards, the plated shot will be deadly at 35.  Hard shot is a given. 
A shotgun pattern typically has a "thickening" characteristic.  In the 30 inch circle used as a standard it is very common to see a ratio of 1.7-1 for thickening using the Berlin Wanaske (probably spelled wrong) system of patterning where the center 15" is compared to the outer 15". There are 1.7 times as many pellets in the center as the outer.  You use sights on a shot gun pattern to sight in the center or densest part of the pattern for turkey.  May not have much to do with a round ball.

DP