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Gentlemen:

After a dr appointment this afternoon, swung by the house and grabbed the browning sissytori (full and light-full extended briley chokes) and the Savage Fox (mod/full, double triggers) some shells (see below) and the other gear (glasses, hat, earmuffs, stapler - you get the idea) and about 40 TURKEY head targets

http://www.remington.com/pdfs/turkeytarget.pdf

and headed to the range at Town and Country Gun Club (Maryville IL).

I am prepping for a trip to Russel KS for Rio turkeys April 11-14th.

Shells:
Remington Power Piston MAGNUM (GREEN shells) 1 1/4 ounce 2s
Peters High Velocity MAGNUM (BLUE shells) 1 1/4 ounce 4s
Remington Long Range (BLACK SHELLS) 4s (shot weight unknown)

Shot 2 targets with each choke and each shell type out of both the sissytori and the fox with the following results:

1 - WOW these are noisy and HIGH recoil (shame not 3/4 ounce low pressure)

2 - WOW these are DIRTY powders

3 - WOW - at 25 yards in the sissytori, if I hold still NO RIO will get away

4 - WOW - the best loading in the FOX was the BLUE Peters - NO WAD PETALS. Interesting - the chokes for this gun might be set up for fiber wads.

The final result - I will load the 2s in both barrels of the sissytori and let er rip at anything inside of 35 yards. In the turkey head out of the full and light full choke at 25 yards I had more than 20 pellets. Using the barrel selector I will shoot full at longer range and light-full anything inside of 20 yards.

I should mention I have shot a lot of turkeys, but never a Rio and never with a 16 gauge (some with 20 ga). This trip should be memorable (even if I don't tag a bird).

how long until the morning of April 12th Question

Good luck on the Rios. I'll be chasing them in the Big Bend area at month's end. Those guys like to gobble a little more than what I normally chase around here.

With discipline, there's no reason not to use your 16 if you pick your shots. After 30 years of chasing spring gobblers, I've given up trying to figure out the perfect turkey gun. I can miss turkeys with any gun or load made. I've shot a 10 gauge Ithaca NID (WITH ejectors--as if one is going to speed shoot this brute)and missed; an Ithaca Mag 10 and missed, Mossberg 835 with rifle sights and missed; Benelli Super Black Eagle with Aimpoint Red Dot sight and missed. The only gun I never missed with was a 2.75" Ithaca M37 12 gauge, plain barrel. I retired it from turkey hunting after one kill which preserved the streak of no misses.
For those who can't believe someone can miss a standing bird that big with a shotgun, hunt long enough and hard enough for spring gobblers and you will find out. Hint: They go from standstill to flat out in the half-blink of an eye. Wink

Gil

bick, bick...boom! Good luck, you guys. Or is it skill?