What is the difference between game loads and turkey loads?

In the spring, I will be going turkey hunting. I recently purchased game loads to shoot some rabbits and pheasants. I purchased Winchesters number 6 game loads. I was wondering what was the difference between game loads and turkey loads are? If there is no difference, can I use these same loads for turkey hunting?|||Usually, turkey loads represent the maximum load you can shoot in a particular shotgun Gauge, while a "game" or "field" load is more of a medium-powered load. For example Federal loads a 3 1/2 inch 12 gauge turkey load with 2 ounces of shot (4,5 or 6), and 4.57 dram equivalent of powder at 1300 feet per second.


One of their "game" loads is 2 3/4 inch, 1 1/14 ounces of shot (4,5,6,7 1/2,8), 3 1/4 dram equivalent at 1220 feet per second.


You can use game loads for turkey hunting (6's are ok) but they will not have as great an effective range as a magnum turkey load.|||i dont think so|||People have already mentioned the power difference so I'll skip that. One other thing that is very important is a turkey load usually has copper plated pellets and it's a buffered load. That just means there's media in with the shot to help keep it from deforming and along with the copper plating it keeps the pellets rounder which helps keep a tighter pattern which is necessary when turkey hunting. Use a full choke or extra full choke and try a few different loads to see which one patterns best in your gun. The Winchester 3" turkey load with 2oz. of 6 shot shoots great in my gun. You need to put some pellets in the head and neck of the turkey for a clean kill. A bird shot in the body might eventually die but you probably won't recover it. Try the gun at different ranges so you know how long a shot you can take and still be effective. Good luck with your turkey hunting.|||You must have seen that heat pump ad on TV? "It's hard to stop a turkey"?





You can shoot a rabbit with turkey load, but you'll blow it all to pieces!|||I really don't have anything to add other than,





There were some great answers here to this question, a lot of knowledgeable people with full understanding of shotguns and its ammo. My hat's off to you.|||The difference in these two loads has been thoroughly explained. do yourself a favor, spend the $8-9 and get the 3" turkey loads. Gobblers are hard to bring down even when you're just shooting at a head and you need the extra pellets and firepower. Remember-----take your time and shoot them in the head; a body shot will usually only give you a wounded bird that gets away.|||I'm not sure of the difference but check the shot and powder loads. Turkey shot may have a larger powder load because they have extremely tough skin.|||I think they typically use a heavier load for turkey.|||I’ve hunted turkeys for numerous years. Do not claim, or even infer to be an expert of the “best” shot shells. However I have always had excellent results with the stopping power of #4’s. In both 2-3/4 and 3’. Modified choke is good. Full is of course better.





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