Harold and Jerry,

Thanks for the recap of your seasons. Harold, you have the "hay bale sneak" down to a science:bowdown:; not to mention the later morning strategy. And Jerry...there must be some voodoo in your gun selection. I'm clumsy enough that I have to carry guns with the same kind of safety or I'm lost at the moment of truth:crying:.

Like Dean, I've enjoyed everyone's accounts of their seasons. Here's hoping that the Fall season will find us in the field safe...and out of the woods with this darned pandemic.:bigbye:

Hi, what shells/loads are you folks using in the vintage doubles for turkey? I recently had a very unfortunate incident with a Model 21 3” gun using Winchester Long Beard ammo. Wanted some advice for dependable turkey ammo that is safe to use in a fine condition, steel barreled, older shotgun. Thx

Rick, I have never found it necessary to use anything heavier than 2 1/2” or 2 3/4” standard velocity 1 oz or 1 1/8 oz of #6 shot. Every turkey I have shot at, except 1, have gone down with 1 shot. That 1 that didn’t was apparently a clean miss.





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I agree with Dean. I loaded 1 1/8oz 7's to shoot my Grade 2 hammer gun turkey..
Yesterdays bird with the 870 was 1 1/4 oz 7 1/2's. I have had great success with smaller shot on turkeys, The dense pattern on those head shots is devastating--of course you have to watch your range.
With my 16 ga, I settled on RST 7 1/2 in the right barrel and 6's in the left--both 1 oz loads.
I remember a TV show with Wayne Fears, where he shot at a turkey with a 3 1/2" magnum--knocked him flat on his back,and he is a big guy--he swore he would never shoot another! More is not always better. In regards to your mishap, I am so surprised, those guns are built like tanks.

Yeah I guess I learned my lesson. This was a 3 inch magnum gun and I guess wrongly assumed it could shoot 3 inch magnum shells with modern ammo. Choke was .032. I just never considered RST for this particular gun. I use for all my other vintage guns, 2 1/2 lite.

Still, I would not have thought it would be a problem in that gun.

Rick,

I feel sure that gun could handle some of the original 3" 12 gauge loads in pure lead, like the 1 5/8 ounce loads that first came out. You should still be able to find them. But a best choice is the lead 2 3/4" 1 1/2 ounce loads that are regular or even copper or nickel plated lead shells that the gun could easily handle, in my opinion.

OK and thanks for the suggestion at first I feared a wad obstruction but after talking to three different gunsmiths all say that it was a load issue. I don’t have Any experience with blowups thankfully but evidently obstructions will cause the barrel to bulge way more than this one did and more in the center of the barrel. this was right at the choke.

I'm sure no expert, but I don't understand how the load could cause the failure at the point where pressure is substantially lower than near the breech.

My season is all but over. No turkey to show for it, but some good hunts and Harry missed one. They were much more active this season than the past few years and I hope that continues. Now, on to fishing