It is worth pointing out that those who feel light loads and loose chokes work to forty yards and beyond are speaking from a narrow band of experience. If you want to get it done every time, in all conditions, approaching the exercise from such a direction is setting yourself up for heartache. If birds are easy to come by, that might be alright. I miss lots of doves and so what. Gobblers are different. It took me three seasons to get my public land Osceola on my terms. No way would I consider taking anything but a tuned up turkey gun on such a hunt.
I started with a factory choke and a not-so-heavy load of #5s. I never patterned it until I watched a bird run off that should have been an easy kill. Patterning that combination told me I had been running the ragged edge the whole time. It was only consistently useful to about thirty yards. I was killing up to forty and probably could have further if I were willing to gamble on a magic pellet. This is why some of the older birds I kill will have a few different types of pellets already in them. People shoot at these public land birds too far and with crap patterns all the time. They whang away and shrug their shoulders when the bird runs off. Those of us who regularly take our limit are apt to do differently.
Measure your distances accurately and test your set-ups on paper before shooting at birds. Don't just shoot at a small turkey target. That pattern needs to kill that bird all over the pattern, not just in the center. Test in conditions similar to when you will hunt. Test at the maximum distance you intend to shoot and don't shoot further. It is astounding to shoot a nice pattern at one distance and see it fall apart when tested just five yards further. Same thing in different weather.
Personally, I like a combo that will kill to fifty yards, so I know it will do to forty regardless of conditions. I like a combo that is not too tight, just tight enough. The Flite Control wads and Longbeard loads can be amazing, but are not entirely consistent. I'm using the FliteControl in my 20ga, but I bought a choke that pretty much defeats the wad to get it to act normally. It'll dump them lights out at forty. If they're in close, I either let them walk back out or just put the bead lower on the bird.
An example of a combination that would work in all conditions would be an 835 with factory extra-full and Winchester Supreme 3.5" 2oz #6s. I have seen several guns using that combo that were utterly reliable to forty in all conditions. A rig like that, you can be all twisted up with the bird at forty and still get him if your head is down on the stock and the bead is near the middle of his neck.
Good post. To the OP and others that are new to the sport. It is beyond important to make sure you pattern your shotguns, regardless of what loads and chokes you are using. Know your poi at 40 yards and the density of the pattern. Fine tune it with choke and load over time if you have to, but get it right. I've tried many things and found the Federals work the best in my shotgun with the choke I was running. My buddies have settled on the Winhcester super duper turkey loads and they work great. Remember, every shotgun is different and one may like one type of load over another.
