Question for roundball

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Roundball;
You did some penetration testing for your turkey loads a while back using a tuna can, if I am not mistaken. Could you give some more details on how you did what you did, and do you think that you could extrapolate that to include waterfowl loads?
Thanks in advance.........

[roundball]

First, lets establish that I am not an authority on anything.


A fellow shooter, DaveK, gave me tuna can tip for bird shot penetration testing as it was a thick, strong can, and I agree that it is...not real scientific but very effective...and borne out by actual shots on game...turkey & squirrel.

I further liked the small tuna can idea because it presents only a 3.5" face to the shooter, which is getting on down towards the size of a turkey head.
[ I now wash & save every tuna can we use ]

Once I settled on a load that gave me the best, most consistent pattern density at distance that I could get, I then used the can to determine the maximum range I'd get penetration through the can. The assumption being if shot penetrated the can at distance X, the shot would have enough energy to penetrate a turkey head & neck vertebrae at that distance...in my case it was 40yds with magnum #6s...and interestingly enough that was also the maximum distance I could count on having a dense enough pattern to take a gobbler with a head shot every time.

The only extrapolation I could make about waterfowl would be my experience with EcoTungsten as it is a direct lead replacement, and substituting E/T for lead should give the same results at 40yds.

However, you do not need that dense of a turkey head pattern for wingshooting ducks...but do need deeper penetration (unless pellets happened to hit the head) to get through a ducks feathers and deep into the body to the vitals.

So if it was me I'd use #5 EcoTungsten...or a 50/50 mix of #4 + #5 E.T...that would still pattern very well for a big bird like a duck on the wing and the heavier weight shot would bore straight ahead further through the wind, and give deeper penetration when it arrived on target.

Hope that helps

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Hope that helps

Yes it does....thank you very much!