Can you shoot turkey 7.5 shots?

While everyone carries an autoloader afield in turkey season for fast follow-up shots, shooting an over/under shotgun all but eliminates the need for a second shot. By screwing in two different chokes and stuffing each barrel with a different shotshell, turkey hunters can switch barrels instantly and put the proper load on target at the proper range.

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The Essentials Gear Box.
What size shot should you use for turkey?
Can you 6 shot a turkey?
Can you use 2 3 4 shells for turkey?
Whats better for turkey 4 or 5 shot?

The most recent trend in turkey hunting is long-range shotshells that have the ability to reach out and touch turkeys that hang up past 40 yards. That’s all well and good, but the real goal should be fooling a turkey into committing those last few yards. It is hunting after all. Still, it is nice to be able to teach that wary tom a lesson if he does hang up.

CZ Reaper Magnum (Photo courtesy of CZ USA)

I think our fear of far-off gobblers has steered us too far off track. We are so worried about that out-of-range tom that we’ve all bought into the trendy new choke tubes and high-priced loads. These advancements help us feel beyond prepared on the range, they even give us something to gloat about on social media, but they skip over the common reality of up-close action.

That’s where a double-barrel shotgun comes into its own. Screw an extra-full turkey choke into one barrel and load it with the most modern tungsten shotshells. Now you’re covered for those long-range shots. In the second barrel, opt for a close-range set-up: maybe a modified choke and a load of deadly, heavy No. 7.5 shot. Now, you are just as equally prepared for an 8-yard shot as you are a 40-yard shot.

CZ Reaper Magnum (Photo courtesy of CZ USA)

In terms of double-barrel options, a great option for the price is the CZ USA Reaper Magnum. With dual 3-1/2-inch chambers, this over/under can handle any modern 12-gauge turkey load. CZ provides six different extended choke tubes with each Reaper Magnum shotgun, so you’ll have more than enough variation to customize your gun’s versatility right out of the box. With just a single flip of the switch, hunters can alternate which barrel will shoot first.

Weighing in at just 7 pounds, this shotgun is both light and maneuverable. This weapon is optimized to give you the best in long-range shooting and quick tracking with its 26-inch barrels. Twin ejectors make reloads quick and easy if a second round of follow-up shots are necessary.

The Reaper Magnum comes stock with a bead sight for that classic shotgun sight picture, but it also comes equipped with a removable Picatinny rail. This rail is specifically mounted directly to the gun’s vented rib, just over the monobloc, so that optics can be mounted low to the barrel.

CZ Reaper Magnum (Photo courtesy of CZ USA)

The synthetic stock is built with an exaggerated pistol grip to aid in stability and is dressed in Realtree APG camo. With a generous sized trigger guard, gloves won’t hold you back from pulling the trigger on toms near and far.

All in for just over $1,000, this double barrel may deliver just the versatility you’ve been looking for. Visit cz-usa.com to learn more, or watch their YouTube video on the CZ Reaper Magnum.

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Some friends and I are wondering about the effectiveness of 7 1/2's on turkey. We think we may get great patterns out to 20-25 yards and also think they may be deadly on 'Ole-Tom's' head and neck. Any field experiences? Maybe we are all missing something by not trying this size of shot on gobblers. :hmm:

Click to expand...

Everybody wrestles with this shot size vs. pattern density when starting out with MLs for turkeys...and MLs rarely send shot down range with the same velocity of powerful modern shotgun shells. Bottom line, penetration is the main question that must be answered and its easy to do.

While this test may not seem "scientific" its actually very effective. Get a few strong metal cans...not aluminum beverage cans...heavy cans like tuna cans, or cans that baked beans come in, etc. Use them to find out max distance at which the lighter 7.5s will still penetrate through the metal of these cans.

Set a can up at 20 yds, then work backwards or forwards in 1-2 yard increments until you nail it down...then you'll know...as long as they'll punch through those cans they'll punch through the skull and/or neck vertebrae of a turkey...if I recall my tests, that was 20-22 yards.

7.5s will give a very good dense pattern, but their energy bleeds off pretty quickly...if you can call them in to the 20 yard line you'll be good to go...but if one hangs up at 30yards you'll have to let him walk as the 7.5s won't get it done at that distance. And no hunter worth his salt needs a turkey so bad that he'll wound one to fly off and die in a thicket a quarter mile away.

I have not used 7.5 shot to kill a turkey; but here is another suggestion that you might consider trying to increase your pellet count and increase your penetration on turkeys. (I had thought about using a duplex load of #6 and #7 nickle plated shot myself, but have not tested it yet. ) Look on the Ballistics Products website, as they have nickle plated #7 shot available with 301 pellets to the ounce. the #7.5 pellets are also available with 340/ounce and the #6 pellets with 220 per ounce. I have used their #5.5 nickle plated shot(194/ ounce) for much of my pheasant/squirrel loads and their #8 nickle plated shot for doves and it is just super stuff; great knock down power and good pellet counts/patterns. The stuff is not cheap, but you will find it gives the best penetration, as it doesn't deform traveling down the bore nor will it flatten much with ML shotgun velocities when penetrating game. This size of pellet (#7 or #6/7 mix) may give you what you need if you are using a conventional open choked smoothbore at 25-30 yard ranges. The use of the paper shot cup may be of help also, as I am just begining to experiment with idea also. :wink: Good luck on the project and share the results of your experiment with us please! :thumbsup:

I will throw my 2c in.

I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference.

It is the same old argument = "Hit em hard or hit them often"

I figure the MAX range of my open bore smoothie .62 is 20 yds. In reality it is probably more like 25.

If you hit him in the head neck with 10 extra pellets by going to 7.5s that is a GOOD thing !

If you only pick up 4-5 pellets it is not.

The advantage to the bigger shot is for the pellets that hit him in the body - This is where penetration really counts and bigger is better.

Even though you are aiming at his neck the 20 or more pellets that hit em in the body sure help to drop em.

As far as moving back 1-2 yds at a time to find max range - Sounds good BUT way to much info.

I do a lot of 3D archery and have learned that RANGE ESTIMATION is at best + or - 3 yards.

So knowing your gun shoots better at 22yds than at 24 is a moot point.

When I set up a decoy, I set him at 18 steps from my shooting point - When the turkey is close enough to look at the decoy eyeball to eyeball I blast him.

When I set up without a decoy I pick out a LARGE bush or a tree and back up 25 yds.

When he gets between me and the bush -I blast him.

With all this being said. I use Nickle plated #5's
for turkeys,rabbit,squirrel,pheasants and such.

For quail and doves it is lead 6's.

I really dislike trying out different loads on turkeys cuz the only way you find out they don't work is by wounding them, instead of killing them.

I would stick with the basics (.62):

85gr FF or FFF

1 3/8 oz #5-6s

and play with wad combinations to tighten up your pattern.

IMHO

What size shot should you use for turkey?

Pick suitable shot sizes Shooters might use shot as small as #9 for very small birds like quail, or as large as #2 for large birds like geese and swans. For comparison, there are 585 #9 lead pellets in an ounce versus only 90 #2 pellets in an ounce. For turkey hunting, shot sizes 4, 5 and 6 will all work.

Can you 6 shot a turkey?

Many hunters favor size 6 shot. If your gun does not pattern tightly, using 6 makes sense out to 35, maybe 40 yards. I patterned both lead 6s and heavy-shot 6s to see what really was taking place. Out to 40 yards, the 6s really threw a great pattern, providing many vital head and neck hits.

Can you use 2 3 4 shells for turkey?

He flat out said that the best 12-gauge turkey load was a 2-3/4-inch shell loaded with 1-5/8 ounces of No. 5 shot (nowadays slightly reduced to 1-1/2 ounces). He said that exhaustive tests showed convincingly that this load had the ideal balance of power, speed, and pattern.

Whats better for turkey 4 or 5 shot?

4 shot, with more than enough energy at then-accepted turkey killing ranges of 40 yards or less can glance off bone. Bourjaily goes on to write, “as a rule of thumb, lead 6s are reliable to 35 yards, lead 5s to 45.