A long time ago I found hevi shot "hevi metal blend" turkey loads for $5 a box and bought all I could. They have been nothing short of fantastic, killed them extra dead and occasionally from extra far away when I couldn't close the gap. I am running low on my stock of those and have found several unopened boxes of old Remington loads with hevi number 4's for 15 bucks per 10. I am thinking I may run these as my new turkey loads, any thoughts? experience with them?

Here are a few of my pattern numbers from pattern work I did several years ago on some of the heavier-than-lead turkey loads. I did pattern the Remington Hevi-shot turkey #6 and #5 shot loads.

The 12-gauge 3-inch loads were shot through a Remington 870 Special Purpose shotgun and the 12-gauge 3 ½-inch loads were shot through a Remington 870 Super Magnum shotgun. A Remington Hevi-Shot Super Full Extended choke was used with all tungsten-based loads.

Pattern testing was accomplished by using 48-inch x 48-inch pattern paper with a turkey head-and-neck target placed in the center of each pattern sheet prior to the patterning shot; yardages were measure with a tape from muzzle to target; and pattern counts, pattern percentages and Skull/Cervical Vertebrae (S/CV) hits were the average from five patterns.

In-shell pellet count averages were the result of cutting open and counting the pellets from five shells out of the same box/lot as the pattern loads. These in-shell pellet counts allowed for true pattern percentage calculations.

40-YARD PATTERNS
Hevi-13 3" 1 5/8 oz #6 Hevi-Shot (305 pellets) / 30” pattern 258 (85%) / S/CV hits 5.2
Rem Hevi-Shot 3" 1 5/8 oz #6 Hevi-Shot (381 pellets) / 30” pattern 341 (90%) / S/CV hits 6.6
Rem Wingmaster 3” 1 5/8 oz #6 Hvy Density (346 pellets) / 30” pattern 306 (88%) / S/CV hits 5.6
Win Hi-Density 3" 1 ¾ oz #6 Hi-Density (388 pellets) / 30” pattern 358 (92%) / S/CV hits 7.8

Fed Hvy Weight 3" 1 5/8 oz #5 Heavyweight (194 pellets) / 30” pattern 184 (95%) / S/CV hits 4.6
Hevi-13 3" 1 5/8 oz #5 Hevi-Shot (186 pellets) / 30” pattern 168 (90%) / S/CV hits 3.2
Rem Hevi-Shot 3" 1 5/8 oz #5 Hevi-Shot (280 pellets) / 30” pattern 240 (86%) / S/CV hits 5.2
Win Hi-Density 3" 1 ¾ oz #5 Hi-Density (284 pellets) / 30” pattern 262 (92%) / S/CV hits 4.8
Win Hi-Density 3 ½" 2 oz #5 Hi-Density (317 pellets) / 30” pattern 291 (92%) / S/CV hits 7.6

50-YARD PATTERNS
Fed Hvy Weight 3” 1 5/8 oz #5 Heavyweight (194 pellets) / 30” pattern 164 (85%) / S/CV hits 2.8
Rem Hevi- Shot 3" 1 5/8 oz #5 Hevi-Shot (280 pellets) / 30” pattern 212 (76%) / S/CV hits 3.8
Win Hi-Density 3" 1 ¾ oz #5 Hi-Density (284 pellets) / 30” pattern 218 (77%) / S/CV hits 4.0
Win Hi-Density 3 ½" 2 oz #5 Hi-Density (317 pellets) / 30” pattern 211 (67%) / S/CV hits 3.2

Hope this helps, good luck!