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Many of you know I've been handloading my turkey loads. I've went way overboard on call collecting and the whole thing. I'm a 20 gauge toting fool and outside of buying Nitros, there just was not a lot of great shells for the 20. Hevi-13 (when they decided they wanted to win all the competitions) built a great Hevi-13 #6 load. If you are lucky enough to find some of the Old shells, they shoot wonderfully. The newer shells were so inconsistent, you didn't know if you were going to get a great pattern at 40 yards or a terrible one. It didn't really make you feel warm and fuzzy to go out in the woods with them and shoot at a bird.
Well with todays technology and superior shot, you can start thinking outside the box that 6's are too large. I went to straight 9's with the tungsten shot I was shooting. Of course those 9's are equivalent to a lead #4.
Well last Spring Federal came out with their new Heavyweight shells. Using the right choke, these things are putting up some impressive patterns. I switched one of my guns over to this this fall and I was super impressed. I successfully harvest that bird beyond 40 yards with #7s. Federal loads Tungsten shot and the two birds I've shot with Tungsten have just been pile driven into the ground!
Well several of the handloaders have been working with Hevi-13 to convince them to speed up their shells and offer a straight #7 load. Well Hevi-13 listened and this spring, their offerings will be impressive! They are bumping the speed from 1090 to 1200 fps and they'll have the straight 7 load! Reports are they are knocking on the door of Nitros performance and probably at a fraction of the cost! They'll also be a lot less hot than the Nitros are.
I'm sure this will cause me to give up my handloading desire and just buy these shells. They will also offer a 5x6x7 for the 12 gauge. Another item several hunters have asked of them.
I'm sure this will cause me to give up my handloading desire and just buy these shells, it's nice to see them listen and go back to their roots. They have decided to start building their wads back in house to control the accuracy of their shells. There are not a lot of companies out there that would not care that much what a small percentage of their sales really think, but they listened to a lot of us and I know I'll be supporting them this Spring!
Well with todays technology and superior shot, you can start thinking outside the box that 6's are too large. I went to straight 9's with the tungsten shot I was shooting. Of course those 9's are equivalent to a lead #4.
Well last Spring Federal came out with their new Heavyweight shells. Using the right choke, these things are putting up some impressive patterns. I switched one of my guns over to this this fall and I was super impressed. I successfully harvest that bird beyond 40 yards with #7s. Federal loads Tungsten shot and the two birds I've shot with Tungsten have just been pile driven into the ground!
Well several of the handloaders have been working with Hevi-13 to convince them to speed up their shells and offer a straight #7 load. Well Hevi-13 listened and this spring, their offerings will be impressive! They are bumping the speed from 1090 to 1200 fps and they'll have the straight 7 load! Reports are they are knocking on the door of Nitros performance and probably at a fraction of the cost! They'll also be a lot less hot than the Nitros are.
I'm sure this will cause me to give up my handloading desire and just buy these shells. They will also offer a 5x6x7 for the 12 gauge. Another item several hunters have asked of them.
I'm sure this will cause me to give up my handloading desire and just buy these shells, it's nice to see them listen and go back to their roots. They have decided to start building their wads back in house to control the accuracy of their shells. There are not a lot of companies out there that would not care that much what a small percentage of their sales really think, but they listened to a lot of us and I know I'll be supporting them this Spring!
