Adjustable chokes and Remington Hevi-shot...

[mongo]

Greetings all, I have a Ted Williams Sears 12 ga. shotgun with an adjustable choke. I'm fairly certain it is a Winchester, but do not know the model number. It is a pump gun.
My dilemma is that I need to pattern this gun for turkey loads. I purchased a box of Remington Hevi-shot 3" no. 4. I just read that one should exercise caution with this load through "extra-full" chokes in that there may be an excessive build-up of pressure resulting in "catastrophic" problems, i.e. barrells exploding.
Can I shoot this load through my adjustable choked gun? My alternative choice is a Belgian made Browning auto with a 30" full choked barrell. Can I safely use this in either gun?
What would happen to the shooter if the barrell had a "catastrophic" event like this?
What would your choice be for a safe and effective load for turkey with these guns?
thank you in advance for your answers,
Mongo

 

[454c]

Rem. recomends a .675 choke for the Hevi-shot.Unless your choke gets tighter than that,it should be O.K.

 

[454c]

By the way,welcome to the high road.

 

[Dave McCracken]

First, welcome!

Next,Remington can give you a better answer than I can. 800-243-9700.

Re twister chokes....

The Polychokes and Clect chokes of yesteryear are decent chokes, IMO, when used in the middle positions. Really tight positions spray more shot than I like.

And, there's reliable info from those times that a tight setting plus the old round "Punkin" balls equalled busted "Petals".

At the same time, I've a hunch that an acceptable pattern can be found through patterning at less than "Screwed down white knuckle tight". If you can get, say, 10 pellets or so into a turkey head and neck target at your chosen distance, you're all set.

Hevi-shot patterns tight. The supertight .675" choke may be overkill. And, as always with shotguns, YMMV.

Finally, the twist chokes are marked IC, Mod, Full etc. These correspond to the actual patterns only by coincidence. Pattern, pattern,pattern...

HTH....

 

[Guyon]

You see a lot of chokes that are advertised especially as Hevi-Shot chokes. I recently bought an H.S. Strut Hevi-Shot choke for my turkey gun. Cabela's has a model out, as does Briley.

Now my assumption is that these chokes offer steel that is hardened to allow for extra pressures. Can anybody help me out on this one?

 

[Dave McCracken]

Hevi-Shot is harder than so called steel shot, which is more iron than steel. Even in the best wads,H/S can score the barrel metal, especially in the choke area.

Carlson's doesn't advocate H/S use in their standard tubes if it's more than Full choke, which is about 30 POC. I used a Carlson's steel safe Full tube on that goose hunt, between the goose and patterning I fired about 6 shots through it. No scoring or other damage.

 

[45crittergitter]

I bet that thang ain't rated for hard shot....

 

[mongo]

Thanks for all your replies and the warm welcome. I have decided to return the Hevi-shot today and seek out a different turkey load. I will eventually purchase a dedicated turkey shotgun in the future, but I gotta get through some financial difficulties first, and see how this whole turkey hunting stuff goes second. I can't see how I won't like it though! I've actually already had a turkey dream, and I haven't even gone on my first hunt!
Well, you can be sure that when it is time for me to get a turkey gun, I will be picking all of your brains. (yep, looking forward to the Ford vs. Chevy type discussions there!)
Thanks all,
Mongo

 

[Dave McCracken]

Turkey guns deserve a thread or six on their own. Maybe it's time for a discussion....