New gun patterning (long post w/ photos)

[turkeygirl]

Ok, so I'll try not to make this too long, but I have a couple questions.

So I took my new Mossberg 500 20 ga Super Bantam turkey killer(lol) out to shoot it for the first time. I had a new box of Federal #6 and a few Winchester Supreme's from last year. First shot with a Win was a little high, shot a Fed and that hit about same height. I didn't know of the rear sight was up or down, so I tightened the screw down on it. Found it that makes the rear sight go up which made my shot even higher So I unscrew tghe little screw until it's all the way out, shoot again, still at 20, and shot still hit a little high, same height as first shot.

Let me say I shot two different chokes, the factory x-full that camewith the gun, and the H.S. Undertaker I had.....hard to tell, but I'd say the both hit about the same...they were throwing tight patterns, and maybe the H.S. had a slight advantage, but I'd say they were about the same. I figure since I have a short barrel at 22", I'll stick with the undertaker and that'll give me a slightly longer length, if it's any advantage.

So I go out to 30 yards, just shooting the undertaker, and I'm getting tight patterns, but they are hitting the exact same height as at 20 yards, a couple inches too high, and I have my rear sight as low as possible.

I'm getting a little frustrated then I start thining "on my old Mossberg, I just had a simple bead sight, and it sat alot lower/flush on the barrel rib...compared to this sight, which is pictured:

(now, to me, the front sight is higher off the rib than I am use to, my old gun, the bead sits right on top of it, and the shot didn't hit high)



So I go up to the house, get a couple more Fed shots and come back down, I shot some small game shot also through the gun, which threw them nice and tight, just high

So I have one shell left and I go out to about 32 yards, which seems really far,lol I start to think "youk now, they say aim at the base of the neck at the waddles, don't aim right at the head" and then I think "they said if you just shoot at the head, you'll shoot over the top of em", then I think"does that mean your shot flies a little also?" So I aim a little bit lower on the target, not out of the circle, but lower in the circle, and this is what I got at about 32 yards (it's about a 7 inch circle)Here's a photo, is this good at 32 yards or bad or what? I think it's decent, and that would bea dead bird


Here's a photo also of my shooting position...I had wondered if I was doing something wrong, if the stock was short and I needed to put the spacer in... but each shot was the same, and got better when I aimed a little lower, so I figured maybe not position(yes, that's my bedroom, and the biggest turkey I've ever gotten, the only gobbler that wasn't a jake,lol):



So am I correct in that I need to aim a little lower with the type of sight of I have? Is they why you're suppose to aim at the base of the neck and not the head? (I was aiming at the head on the big gobbler last spring and I think that's the reason I missed)

Any tidbits of advice/recommendations? Am I doing anything wrong?

I don't know why they have elevation adjustment on the sight...when I don't even need it because my shots all hit high.

By the way, it's a sweet gun, lightweight, which I think is why it kicks a little more with those 3" shells, but with 2 3/4" shells, it's a charmer

[Mathews XT Man]

Yup you'd be good to go from what I see. Hold at the base of the neck when you shoot. Now when you lined up your bead..whwere was your front bead in relation to the beads on the back site? Did it look like this..OoO or OOO or OPO(take the leg of the p off) what Im saying here is it matters where you hold that front site..you could shoot low or high. take a pic down the barrel of the sites and post it. then we can see what you see.

wouldnt hurt to get a turkey target they do make them life size. Id still say you got a pretty good pattern. is the gun a 3" or 3 and 1/2"..go with the biggest it will take= more shot pelletts.. your form look ok to me.

[turkeygirl]

My bead, in relation to the rear sight, I was usually seeing OOO...and I'm thinking that's whay I should see? I'll take a photo and post it.

When I raised the rear sight up, I saw more of a oOo which was when my shot hit way higher.

It's chambered for 2 3/4" and 3" shells, I'll be shooting 3" for sure for turkey.

[Mathews XT Man]

Ok I got ya..yes keep it level OOO and aim low on the neck, you'll do ok. How were you left to right?? you look a tad right to me

[turkeygirl]

I'd say I was pretty good left and right overall...it seemed the pattern stayed consistently grouped together.
It was a little difficult on a snowy day with the sun out for the first time in what seemed like ages,lol.

[Leo]

You really need to shoot a target that's big enough to see your ENTIRE pattern at 30 yds.

From what I see, I don't think the sweet spot of your pattern is even on the paper. IE. you may have to aim even lower than you think.

Until you catch the WHOLE pattern on a target you will not know for sure.

[Adjam5]

Your shooting form looks fine.
Those factory sights give the user little to work with. Tape a few pizza box's together to give yourself a 3X larger background than the target. That should help give a better show of the overall pattern as Leo said.
Also, it could just be how the gun shoots. This is why you are doing what you are doing. To find how the gun patterns.

[Rhino]

First...the reason for aiming at the center of the neck (the waddles) is to allow your shot pattern to cover the head and neck area. If you aim at the head the upper half of your shot pattern will pass over the turkey's head. Now aiming at the head on birds 20 yards and in is not much of a concern but put them out there around the 30 to 35 yard line and your cutting down on the number of pellets that have a chance to be in the kill zone by aiming at the head.

I'm with Leo on shooting a target big enough for your entire shot pattern to show up on paper. What I use for this is get a role of freezer wrapping paper, pull out enough to catch the entire pattern and then stack pieces overlapping them to make a big square. That will leave you a big white area to see your entire shot pattern. Seeing your entire shot pattern will show you which turkey loads your shotgun likes best. JMHO but I use my 11"x17" turkey targets for fine tuning and counting pellets that hit the kill zone after I'm pretty much zeroed in.

[turkeygirl]

Thanks guys...by the way, the the target picture I show is not upright, the right side is the "top" of it....otherwise you might think my shot looks like it's hitting right a bit.

I'll have to get some more turkey shot...just have 5 federal #6 left...but I'll use a bigger target next time.

So is it normal with these sights to have to aim slightly lower...or is the gun just shoots high?

[Horton4life]

hmm id say it just needs an 870 overhaul

[LifeNRA]

aim low on the neck, you'll do ok.

With my 835 I need to put the front bead right where the neck meets the body at 40 yards. So I have to aim lower too. Not no big deal, because I know there will be a cloud of shot taking out the head!

[turkeygirl]

hmm id say it just needs an 870 overhaul

I don't think so,lol!

[wtnhunt]

Ruth you can go to the remington site and print turkey targets from there.

[oldreloader]

When I pattern a shotgun I use a big piece of cardboard for backing and put a big newspaper page on it.Then I center the target on that.The newspaper is a cheap way to get the full effect of the pattern on each shot.

[Hoyt03]

def get a big sheet to see the whole pattern. Just shot my 835 last week and had around 125 hits in the head and neck at 25 yards with a comp-n-choke. Didn't get to try any farther yet. My pattern is slightly high so it works best to aim at the base of the neck. You can also slide that front bead back toward you some and play around with it. Mine shot best when my front bead was about an inch and a quarter back from the tip of the barrel. Eventually may upgrade to slightly better sights but it seems to work fine for now. You may want to also look into a comp-n-choke when you get a few extra buck laying around. It outshot the factory and undertakers out of my mossberg by ALOT and gave me more distance.