Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Some 2 3/4" and 3" patterns

I took 3 guns out today to pattern them. I forgot my rest and shot these off hand at 40 yards.

First up, my new old New Haven 600AT (Mossberg 500) with C-Lect choke. This is the same make and model ghun I used when I first started turkey hunting in the 80s. Back then, I used whatever shell I had on hand. Usually a high brass #4 or #6 shell. Back then there really wasn't any specialized turkey load. Back then, I patterned my gun on a piece of cardboard stuck in an old tire at 40 paces. So I decided to pattern this gun with shells similar to what I used back then.

The gun:



The choke:


40 yards with 2 3/4" Winchester Super X #4 1 1/4oz 1220fps


40 yard with 2 3/4" Federal Hi Bird #6 1 1/4oz 1330fps


Not great at 40 yards. But a hit can kill and it does hit.

And with 3" Winchester Long Beard XR #5 1 3/4oz 1200fps



Back in the early 80s, this was pretty average.

The a more modern gun with a special turkey choke. My new Browning BPS 12 gauge with a Patternmaster Code Black .665.

The gun:


The choke:


3" Winchester Long Beard XR #5 1 3/4oz 1200fps


3" Winchester Long Beard XR #6 1 3/4oz 1200fps

I tried my Browning Citori White Lightning 12 gauge. With a Browning Full choke in the top barrel and an XFull in the bottom barrel.

The gun:


The chokes:



3" Winchester Long Beard #6:



I wasn't terribly happy with this. I was shooting offhand, no rest, and pulled a tad to the left. It's a killing pattern but nowhere near as tight as the BPS.

Also, I shot the gun at at 10, 20, and 30 yards to see where each barrel hits in relation to each other. With chokes this tight, you can see the how they coinverge at 40 yards. The overall regulation is very good. The top barrel hits at point of aim. The bottom barrel a little higher the closer the target is. So if I were to use the gun for turkey hunting, I'd use the XF in the top barrel, and the slightly more forgiving full choke in the bottom barrel.

Thanks for sharing your results there. Very interesting to see. I'm glad to see hear the regulation is good on the Citori but isn't surprising. As someone from the younger generation, it's really eye opening seeing patterns from those old lead shells that were the big thing back pre-2000s. I never hunted with those type of shells or done any patterning with them. I started right out with Hevi-13 and then went to tss. So it's just interesting to see and makes you appreciate advances in shotshell technology.

Your 12 gauge White Lightning is the big, big brother to my 28 gauge White Lightning. Did you try the 600AT with any "modern" shells? Figured you'd post if you did, just curious...

Picture # 6 is a Longbeard XR shell pattern thru the 600AT.

Nice Browning. That thing is a sledge hammer. I'd be using that one.

Now that you point it out, I see it! Lol!

Agree with using the BPS as it is in the pics.

Neat comparisons !!!!

BPS for the win, all the way !!! But, most likely they'd ALL git r done if you were careful.

BPS for sure,
Back in the day when I shot 12 ga and lead, the best I ever found was Active shells.
Back then, we did not shoot paper targets, we set a soup can on a post and if you could knock it off, you were good to go....Now I cringe thinking about patterning a gun that way.

I'm not terribly staisfied with the Citori patterns. I'm confident I could have done better. I want to take it out again with the XFull in the top and the Full in the bottom and shoot it off a rest to take my wobble out of the picture. I pulled a bit left off hand. I think given the nature of barrel regulation, the more open, more forgiving choke needs to be on bottom.

Amazing the patterns we hunted in the 80s and 90s. Would be disgusted with them today

Maybe we'd be disgusted with the patterns... but we killed birds with them! That being said, is ignorance truly bliss?! Lol!

I still shoot a lot of the same patterns other than in my 24" barreled Gold that has to be choked to get a pattern worth a hoot.

Actually last year I hunted with a load that is old school and while it's not a numbers load it is a very even, forgiving pattern.


41 measured yards. Last year my hunting spot was an area where a 30 yard shot is going ro be long due to extra thick brush. If my gun would shoot a pattern worth a dang with a regular full that's the choke I would use. This combo is as near a full choke as I can get. Any other shell is too tight or any other load is terrible so this is my "shorter" range combo.

Why not screw that Patternmaster tube in your Citori and have a go ??

Invector Plus vs Invector?

A newer Citori White Lightning should have Inv+ as well.

Maybe your patterns, but I always used the ammo that the gun liked. Generally Federal turkey ammo with flight control wads worked exceptionally well. We even used some heavy 4 and 6 shot loads, but the patterns were not nearly as good. Always used extra full turkey chokes that were ported and that made a difference. I guess it all depends on what you had access to at the time, but I never limited myself with a poor azz shooting gun. I think the old Fox Sterlingworth (made in 1910) would also surprise a lot of you guys complaining about what you didn't have back in the 90's..

Maybe not the BPS...

I could do that. The Citori is Invector Plus, too. The pattern densities I think are fine. I pulled left on one shot. I want to restack the chokes and fire a few more rounds off a rest. And I want to try LB #5 as well.

But it's a killing pattern at 40 yards.