Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting 2 3/4 Turkey loads

you all have a favorite 2 3/4 inch turkey load/

Federal Premium or Winchester Super X Double X magnums in 4 shot. Both were buffered and used high antimony plated shot. Had a bunch of them left over from waterfowling and they worked great. I reload an ounce and a quarter load very similar to the above loads. Its taken a few turkeys too.

If you're talking 12 gauge 2 3/4" you won't find a better performing lead shotshell than the Winchester Longbeard XR. I know it comes in #5 shot. Not sure about other sizes. But the limited payload you are dealing with in a 2 3/4" shell begs for finer shot. #5's as the biggest............. #6's even better.

To wring the absolute MOST performance out of a 2 3/4" shell, TSS shot is it. It'll also wring the most money outta your wallet. But it IS the schizz. Not sure who all loads TSS in a 2 3/4" 12 gauge. Apex does........ Federal (as of now) doesn't.

Is your gun threaded for interchangeable choke tubes ???

Here is where I would start.

https://www.federalpremium.com/shotshell/premium-turkey/grand-slam/11-PFCX156F+5.html

Hevi-shot still making 2-3/4" loads? I had a bunch of them, 2-3/4" 12ga with #6's back when, I remember them being a pretty good shell.

I've been using 20 year old Winchester Super X magnum #6's for years. Kills them now just like when my Dad bought them. I'd try TSS but have never seen them in a 2 3/4", and don't feel they are really necessary.

I can agree with this, but it still boils down to the fact that you have to shoot your gun and see what it likes. I have seen and experienced the fact that with a given shell, it may not shoot well with a certain size shot, just changing shot size will make it look like a whole different gun. Shell/choke/shot size all play a factor.
I would suggest that when you find the combo, you buy all of the same lot number of ammo that you think you can afford or need. Shell companies will stop making a shell or change components at the drop of a hat, and then you are back to square one.

Back when I fall turkey hunted with vintage shotguns I tried most all common pellet sizes 4, 5 & 6 shot. Older English guns were usually not choked as tight as modern guns. If you do a pellet counts a #5 & #6 will edge out a #4 in pellet count. With the lighter pay load of a 2&3/4" shell I found it best to just look at the pattern and let your common sense show you what shell/shot size looks the best out of your gun.

The gun in the picture was an 1925 W.C. Scott live pigeon gun with original 2&3/4 chambers and .729 bores and .035 choke in each barrel. It shot the best looking patterns with 2&3/4", 1&5/8oz #4 Silver box Winchester Turkey load cost then was about 10 dollars a box for 10.

Winchester now makes a newer shell called a "Rooster" available in 2&3/4" with the shot lock buffering I'd give them a try.....they come 15 shells to box and are not real expensive.

Thanks everyone .LFC that's a beautiful picture

This is an interesting photo, LFC. One that begs several questions, not the least of which is were 5 turkeys really legal? When you originally posted this photo, you said the following:


Tennessee's 2009 fall turkey regulations are still online.

https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/pub/proclamations/06-06-09.pdf

2009 Tennessee Fal Turkey Regulations:

Section V. 2009 Fall Turkey Hunting (Shotgun/Archery)
The following counties are open for archery only fall turkey hunting during fall archery only deer
seasons. Bag limit for this season is one turkey either-sex. These same counties are open for one
quota gun fall turkey hunt on Dec 7-18,2009 with a bag limit of one turkey either-sex per permit
with the exception that those counties indicated by an asterisk (*) have a bag limit of three (3)
either-sex turkeys per permit.

Dickson has an asterick so the fall bag limit was three. So, at most, according to this 2009 regulation, you could have taken one fall turkey by bow during the fall deer archery season, and three by gun in Dickson County with a quota hunt permit. That's 4 total. But you have 5, all by gun, all on the same day, and claim nearly to have had 6.

What gives? Were you over your limit?

Hmmmmm........... 🤔

Luuuuuuutherrrrrr !!!!! Choo got some 'splaining to doooooo !!!!!

😁😁😁😁

Well maybe 5 is the new 3.....

😂😂😂😂😂

6 if you're into crippling turkeys.

3.......... 5......... 6.......... I'm still trying to figure out what would drive one person (legal or not) to want to tap the resource that hard ??

Disrespect for the birds ?? Ego ?? Greed ??

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Hum a na
Hum a na
Hum a na

Limit.....

Hum a na
Hum a na
Hum a na

Means and Methods....



🤣🤣🤣

He claims to have shot over 30 in one year on the small game forum. Quite a feat.

Game pig... talk and bragging among his peezo,s.....

Probably throwing out cracked corn and black oil sunflower seed baiting the fuuuk outta birds.

Paul Harvey rest of the story schit behind the "success".

Bet he baits the schit outta deer also.
Shoot house corn pile type of schit on private land.

Plenty of TN hunters dont know anything else....
It's a family tradition here.....

Woods saavy and Woods skills failure to launch types.
Have seen it all over 3 decades being here in Tn.
Not all, but a large % of "hunters" here are merely bait shooters....

And the Wardens here are total POS,s as a whole also.
They don't do schit except look for excuses to not do their job.
And try to blame you thru innuendo for reporting schit to them.
An inconvenience to them is the general feel you get for them having to do their job....
Then throw in they dont wanna be seen as bad guys among the good ole boys doing all the schit in the counties they are assigned too, which I have heard directly from Wardens here many times FTF when interacting with them on fuuuked up schit calls to them or encounters out in the field.
It's pointless to even deal with them on anything...


And your average bait bubba in Tn knows all of this also..
And their chances of ever being caught let alone charged with anything is soooo remote they exploit it to the max.

All in a "no bait state" where corn sales skyrocket across the state this time of year....

Actually, me too. I happened to be in Wal-Mart years ago when they had them on clearance for I think 2.97 a box. Bought all they had and been using them ever since.

No explaining necessary…what was posted above regarding the regulations is not quite how it worked…. Below is how it really worked. In places like Dickson County it wasn’t difficult to get the max of 5 permits. It was also very close to Ft. Campbell which had a fairly liberal fall bag limit and if memory serves me correctly there wasn’t a bag limit for what they called the winter season. Whether you agree or disagree, you could kill a pile of them back then. With a dog as good as Buster was he sure as hell didn’t need corn.

SPECIAL SEASONS LEFTOVER PERMIT INFORMATION:
1. Beginning Sept. 16, 2009, at 8 a.m., CDT, any quotas lefts unfilled will be considered leftover permits.
2. Individuals may obtain up to five (5) permits for deer and five (5) permits for turkey per person. Individuals may obtain more than one (1) permit for the same hunt and in any combination of deer and turkey choices. Leftover permits will be available until Dec. 27, 2009, and can be purchased at any TWRA license agent, at any TWRA regional office, or online at www.tnwildlife.org as described above.

Okay. But 5 turkeys in one day is overkill. And "more than 30" in one year is downright abusive, if that occrred at all.
.

If you can post a link to the information you posted on behalf of LFC, that would appreciated.