I patterned one of my short tens at 40yards multiple times- 91/92 percent with lead 4s in both barrels

not that i would shoot at that range - but replicating Charlie's dr. pepper can 70yard test- 5 pellets in the can

this one is not a brush gun

for my 10 ga turkey loads, i shoot 1 1/2 oz lead 6's, 38 grs bluedot, sp 10 wad, and roll crimp

I tried that load. It made my W&C Scott hammerless double. Your are almost at my 8ga light load. 1 3/4 oz no 4s and 38gr blue dot.

I have a little 7625 powder. Are you using a roll crimp and will a win 209 primer work with this load Pete.

Yes I roll crimped it with the Win 209 primer. The Sherman Bell load for 1 1/4 was a folded crimp, since I was upping the shot weight which would increase pressure I opted to offset some of the increase with a roll crimp. You could probably back off the powder a grain or two but I don't think you have to. Understand though you venturing into unpublished reloading recipe territory with this loading.

One thing about 7625, no matter the loading it has a very loud boom.

Thank you Pete. I will give it a try. A friend of mine tried the Blue dot load I put together in his 10ga auto loader and his jaw dropped. I like the wood on my guns that's why I am searching for something else. What about wad pressure. My Mec press is still set were it was when it came from the factory or dose it make any difference.

Frank, what do you and your friends consider to be "fine shot"?

4's are the "max allowed", meaning the largest shot size allowed? Wouldn't that have been a wise decision, considering 4's and smaller would allow for a denser pattern than 2's and larger?.... keeping in mind not every turkey hunter uses a gun choked 'extra full' or tighter.

That is one heck of a load! I can testify by the longbeard I killed dead at about forty yards in 2013. Scott sent me some to try and I still have several left over.

Wad pressure was a factor in the era or use of nitro cards and fiber wads, with plastic shot cups it's not much of factor. You don't see wad pressure mentioned in more modern reloading data. Like you my MEC was set at the factory and has never been adjusted.

Dean, some good questions ..... I consider fine shot for turkeys to be 6's and smaller diameter. Surely, fine shot will create a denser pattern and is very effective for turkeys at moderate range, but as the yardage stretches, the velocity and thus energy/penetration of fine shot drops off much more quickly than 4's or better yet 2's. There's just no substitute for body cavity penetration at longish ranges. The largest diameter allowed in PA is size 4 lead. And if it were legal today for turkeys I'd be shooting hard lead 2's in my 3-inch 12's and short 10's - both with heavy, high velocity loads. As I do for called predators in the winter. Again, all this is my opinion only but it's based on years of fox hunting with trailing hounds when I was a kid, and having hunted turkeys even when we had to drive to the deep mountains to find the few that were around then. My hunting mentor "Goldie" used 2's, period, he killed hundreds of foxes for bounty, and a fox is a whole lot smaller than a turkey. How I wish I might once again hear the baying of his hounds as they got closer, the adrenaline got to pumping, and I knew that '97 was loaded with Peters 2's. It's just too easy to misjudge range when in the woods, and see wounded heavier game run off or fly away.