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Post by lshines on Sept 6, 2017 21:54:27 GMT -5
You'll be able to tell that I'm new here - been enjoying reading lots here and learning.
For many years I've hunted deer and turkey with just good ol' Howard Hill longbows. Mr. Prasac's books have me stoked on chasing meat with a revolver and I'm running with it. Of course, the pictures of those gorgeous Bisleys have inspired, and at least one is on the way to the LGS.
.44 for deer - I definitely understand that. But what am I going to use for Virginia turkeys? No - forget that shotgun stuff. I mean, what caliber REVOLVER would you use? .44 is overkill (sorry for that pun). Is .22 mag appropriate?
I am use to getting within 15 yards of anything I'm going to shoot (see longbow above), so it's not like I'm going to be shooting them at 100 yards.
Thanks in advance for the advice.
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Post by 2 Dogs on Sept 6, 2017 22:34:18 GMT -5
Well, I accidentally "discovered" a perfect Turkey load while working on my .257 Jackrabbit wildcat Single Six. A .257 Jackrabbit is basically a 25-20 shortened to 2/10"s to fit a Single Six cylinder window. My load with the .257 Jackrabbit was 9.3 grains of Lil Gun, Hornady #2510 60 grain flatpoint, and I lit the mix with a WW small pistol primer. Velocity was 1650 to 1700 fps. Unfortunately, I found the Hornady 60 grainer would not expand at sixgun velocity. Bad for Jackrabbits. Great for Turkey!!! If you care to read up on it here is the thread, the hunt is on page 6. There is an updated hunt later in the thread. You can thank photobucket for stealing all the pictures: singleactions.proboards.com/thread/15777/257-jackrabbit-ii-overdue-updateI might also mention the one and only John Wooters thought the 25-20 was the perfect medicine for Turkey... |
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Post by lshines on Sept 6, 2017 23:03:01 GMT -5
Well, 2Dogs - I replied earlier, but darn if I can find what happened to the reply? I like your .257 thread! It does sound as if it would be great for turkey!
Since I'm so new to this game, I will have to restrict myself to factory available guns/calibers - and factory ammo. For now. Your .257 sounds like something I should attempt in the future.
Mention was made in your thread of .327. That might be the idea for turkey. What do you think?
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Post by bigbrowndog on Sept 6, 2017 23:22:37 GMT -5
I have taken several turkey with a cast 44 bullet, and I does a great job,.....very little violent damage, just a good hole.
Trapr
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Post by 2 Dogs on Sept 6, 2017 23:51:05 GMT -5
Oh, Whatever the .257 JR brings to the table the 327 will bring even more. I would say one would need to tailor a load just for turkey that would be the opposite of those I was running in the thread on the 257 JR. When I first started shooting 32s, I started with 100 grain hard cast solids with a bit of a flat point. I loaded these fairly warm and found out right away they killed all out of proportion to thier size. If I was to start from scratch with a Turkey load, it would be hard, because I would almost be at a buffet. First and foremost, the 100, 115, and 135 640 Miha designs come to mind. You can cast these as solids at 105, 120, and 140 and they have enough of a flat point to give you plenty of small game slap on arrival. The accuracy of the design is well proven. If you want a little expansion, you might elect the small hollow point option as these are Cramer style molds and easily tailored to the task at hand. Another old favorite is the 120 grain LBT. I have shot this one both with a GC and without. Get this one running anywhere over 1200 and it will surprise you with how hard it lands. The Hornady XTP is an extremely accurate design. You can tailor your expansion by controlling the speed at which you run it. I have also shot the Ranier 100 grain plated bullet quite a bit. I have used it to dispatch trapped hogs and can tell you for a fact when loaded hot it is a ruthless killer and hard on meat. Last but not least, Todd Corder has a couple of flat point gas check designs that are extremely accurate, hit hard, and would be excellent for Turkey and almost anything else.
I would suggest you search Hoover, Sixshot and Fowler's threads. You will find a whole slew of small to medium game loads between those 3 and an even more diverse selection of loads and cast bullets.
One more thing, most of the factory ammunition I have seen for the 327 has been very very hot and built for violent expansion and probably make for a pretty messy Turkey....
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Post by sheriff on Sept 7, 2017 8:41:01 GMT -5
My favorite 'turkey handgun' is a .32-20, loaded with a Lyman 311008 over 5grs Unique and primed with a CCI 500. Not a 'rip snorter' by any means, but it'll put a turkey down with very little meat loss. You can run the same load in a .327 with the same results.
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Post by contender on Sept 7, 2017 9:45:18 GMT -5
You are getting a lot of excellent info.
My only addition to this is to make sure your state allows handgunning for turkey. NC does not.
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Post by taffin on Sept 7, 2017 12:51:03 GMT -5
You'll be able to tell that I'm new here - been enjoying reading lots here and learning. For many years I've hunted deer and turkey with just good ol' Howard Hill longbows. Mr. Prasac's books have me stoked on chasing meat with a revolver and I'm running with it. Of course, the pictures of those gorgeous Bisleys have inspired, and at least one is on the way to the LGS. .44 for deer - I definitely understand that. But what am I going to use for Virginia turkeys? No - forget that shotgun stuff. I mean, what caliber REVOLVER would you use? .44 is overkill (sorry for that pun). Is .22 mag appropriate? I am use to getting within 15 yards of anything I'm going to shoot (see longbow above), so it's not like I'm going to be shooting them at 100 yards. Thanks in advance for the advice. I'VE TAKEN SIX TURKEYS WITH HEAD SHOTS USING THE 7-1/2" FREEDOM ARMS SIXGUN WITH BLACK HILLS 125 JHPs. |
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Post by dougader on Sept 7, 2017 17:20:07 GMT -5
If you're at 15 yards, wouldn't a Single Six in .22LR work just fine for headshots?
We used to take pheasant that way during deer season... 22 LR, that is.
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Post by magnumwheelman on Sept 7, 2017 19:23:43 GMT -5
Don't think handgun is legal for Turkey in Minnesota...
I would think 25, 30, and 32 calibers would work great for most, and even 17's, 22's would be fine for those capable of headshots
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Post by lshines on Sept 7, 2017 21:59:07 GMT -5
Thanks everyone - good advice all! I've checked VA regs and I assume that any county that allows rifle for Fall deer/turkey, will allow handgun hunting for turkey. I'm going to query DGIF specifically. And, I'm going try with the 22mag to start - got a lot of practicing to do pretty quickly. I'll limit shots to short yardages, to build up to different calibers (for longer yardage) in the future. My Ruger SS Hunter should be fine for now, and I might put a ...dot30 on it.
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KRal
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,029
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Post by KRal on Sept 8, 2017 20:50:35 GMT -5
I've killed several Turkey with a handgun, but not a revolver (not legal in my State) (must use shotshells). I use a T/C contender 45/410 and a T/C Encore in 20ga. Doc Rogers has killed many turkey with a revolver - his favorite is a FA 454 Casull.
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Post by jfs on Sept 9, 2017 12:28:09 GMT -5
Took one with my 454 and that was enough for me.......Shot him at the base of the neck which was one of the hardest shots on game I ever made.. he was behind a log about 40 or so yards and all that was showing was his head and neck. Turned the Leupold up to 8x and squeezed... All I saw was some feathers in the air and all was quiet.... Found him dead as a door nail.... 
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Post by dougader on Sept 9, 2017 13:13:47 GMT -5
I'm reminded of a scene in True Grit where Glenn Campbell shoots a turkey and Kim Darby says how it's all shot up and John Wayne turns to her and says, "too much gun!"  |
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Sept 9, 2017 15:42:26 GMT -5
Took one with my 454 and that was enough for me.......Shot him at the base of the neck which was one of the hardest shots on game I ever made.. he was behind a log about 40 or so yards and all that was showing was his head and neck. Turned the Leupold up to 8x and squeezed... All I saw was some feathers in the air and all was quiet.... Found him dead as a door nail.... Now thats some shootin!! 😉👍 |
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