Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Turkey Shotgun Shell Pricing

I have not been turkey hunting in years, but was asked by my brother in law out in Alabama to drive over and hunt with him at his lease. I was looking at Turkey loads, and discovered that pricing has left the realm of reality. Hevi 18 tungsten shells are running near $20 EACH?

As I'm sure you know - Hevi 18 Tungsten shells aren't required to kill a bird tho either.

Scheel's ships and has good prices often

Turkey and coyote shotgun shells have gone insane.

Funny how we killed turkey back in the day with a full choke and hot loaded duck and pheasant loads...

Bidenomics

Just shoot some high brass lead 6's . Long time turkey hunter- but actually not much of a killer, just hunt a lot. But those old lead 6's work well when I get one in range. I also shoot them out of a high gloss walnut stocked 870.... Joe

Um.... I just bought some high speed 12g in 4 shot lead for sub $20 per box of 25... not sure why you would want to use a mandatory type of expensive round for waterfowl for hunting turkey when you can use lead... but with that said, those prices for the waterfowl loads are plain stupid

Take the above advice, and exert a little downward market force on the outrageous.

I called the BIL and asked what he was using. He said just regular stuff kills Alabama turkeys just fine. Those TSS shells are either #7 or #9 shot?

Shot federal 3 inch copper plated 6s in 12. Dead every last time out to 55 yards assuming you have a pattern. Plated shot was important. If I could have found nickel plated I would have used that.

OTOH if the heavy shot patterns well, lets say you use 100 dollars, IE 5 shots to confirm pattern. Then one shot per bird. What maybe 4 birds. 200 bucks overall on a turkey hunt really isn't that much money.

I bet the copper plated lead isn't cheap though either these days if they still make it. I bought quite a bit of it before I decided I'd had enough of killing turkeys and moved on.

Any turkey now gets shot with a rifle as a byproduct of another hunt. They were predictable enough via spring calling it wasn't really much of a challenge to get them it was just time spent in the process I'd prefer to use other ways.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2900545926?pid=829383

Winchester Super-X Turkey Ammunition 12 Gauge 2-3/4" 1-1/2 oz #4 Copper Plated Shot Box of 10

$1.30 per round.

Really not that hard to get a turkey in range to kill with these.

Buddies son has killed multiple gobblers with a .410 and BOSS [bleep] shells! It ain’t magic!

Magic not required, lead still works. None have survived my efforts or I'd provide witness testimony.

I've got about 12 boxes of those except in #5 shot that I bought on clearance at Wal-Mart a few years ago for 3.97 a box. They've been killing turkeys just fine and I've got enough to last me the rest of my life.

Winchester Longbeards are what I consider to be a top of the line turkey shell, and they only cost a couple bucks a piece. I'll probably pizz somebody off here, but if you think that you have to buy a shotgun shell costing $12 dollars or more just to kill a turkey, then you're very uneducated about turkey hunting.

Agreed, the cost of all those super turkey loads is an indicator of some sort of mental deficiency on the part of those who buy them. If they were to properly pattern and zero the gun, they’d have a few hundred bucks downrange in no time. Only ones who can afford them must be gunwriters and industry shills who promote them on the internet.

I have a dedicated turkey gun, a 24” rifle-sighted barrel for my Encore, that does just fine at a pretty good distance with 3” 12 gauge lead. Also I have killed some at close to 50 yards with my 3 1/2” Beretta duck gun and copper plated 4’s.

All that said, I have probably killed as many turkeys with my 16 gauge Merkel, IC/M, with the Fiocchi Golden Pheasant load of 1 1/8 ounce nickel plated 5’s as with anything, targets of opportunity.

My brother has killed a small truckload of turkeys with an old 16 gauge Ithaca double. If you asked him how the barrels are choked he’d have no idea. If you asked him what loads he uses he’d tell you, “16 gauge, of course.”

Must be some kind of miracle, that we somehow kill turkeys with just an all-around shotgun and a box call…

Fortunately, I stocked up on 12 ga. Turkey shells back around 1999 - 2002, and still have somewhere around 50 rounds left. Haven't turkey hunted in about 5 years but may give it a try again one of these years. Just looked through all those turkey loads and one box still has a price sticker on it. $8.29 for a box of 10 Winchester 2&3/4" Magnum copper plated lead #5 shot turkey loads, and back then I recall thinking they were expensive. But I also figured that I may as well stock up now because next year they will just cost more. How often do ammo prices go down from one year to the next?

I've got a 25rd box of 2¾ inch Fiocchi Golden Pheasant 5s that are hell on turkeys

Using a Primos turkey choke

Never felt the need for "turkey" bullets

my wife killed her first one last year, with a skeet load of #8s . Range 25 yards , dead right there

RE the 410 use... gal we used to hunt on her place. Only thing she used was her voice and a model 12 in 12 ga with Win dove and quail 7.5s. Close enough it doesn't take much at all. I've killed plenty with a bow. Plenty with rifle and shotgun. A few with handguns.

Gee Wilickers!! First I've heard of this! I remember when we could buy single turkey loads from the Fergler's Hardware - $.15 a piece!!!