P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F W H I T E TA I L P R O P E R T I E S

L O N G B E A R D™ X R™

LONG BEARD

XR:L O K ’ D A N D L E T H A L ™

Winchester has achieved the pinnacle of lead turkey load performance. by Jay Skoglund

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I strategically placed two decoys—a breeder hen and an aggressive jake—in an idle food plot, 35 yards from my carefully concealed setup on a hardwood edge. It was an ideal strut zone. I had a vest full of turkey tricks, hoping to tease a tom’s testosterone and draw him into the field for battle.

Just minutes after settling into position, subtle rustling in the dry leaves caught my attention. Suddenly, a triple threat of angry gobblers marched out of the woods, directly toward my decoys, in a fit of rage. The bold birds talked trash with arrogant purrs and began spurring the fake jake into submission. Then, just when they thought the fair-weather fight was finished, a hail-storm erupted from the chamber of my 12 gauge and the tom with the longest beard collapsed in the dirt.

The following evening, two of my turkey hunting brethren sat patiently in

the comfort of a ground blind, waiting for a long-spurred strutter to arrive. Just as the scouting camera had promised, the bird showed up like clockwork. The wise ol’ gobbler resisted the se-ductive yelps of an invisible lady and kept his distance. It wasn’t far enough. With no need for deliberation, the triggerman took action and set fire to a payload of No. 5s. The bird dropped with hardly a quiver at 65 yards.

The final chapter for these two great gobblers was just the beginning of a larger story that’s developing in the turkey world, and it’s being written by Winchester.

Innovative InjectionDecoy setups at 35 yards? Ethical shots at 65 yards? You heard right, and that’s mere-ly scratching the surface of Winchester’s

he sizzling Kentucky sun didn’t have a cloud to fight as its afternoon rays

ripped through a picture- perfect spring sky.

new turkey taker. It’s called Long Beard™ XR™—a bold cartridge that redefines the killing power of a scattergun.

From Winchester’s research and development facility in East Alton, Ill., Product Manager Brad Criner sat down at a shooting bench and dissected the heart of this new load.

“We’ve designed the most efficient lead turkey hunting cartridge in history,” he said, thumping his fist on the table with elated conviction. “Our proprietary Shot-Lok resin has virtually eliminated the

effects of set-back forces, and that’s the key to Long Beard™ XR™.” Criner shouldered his pump gun and tore a remarkable pat-tern into a turkey target at 50 yards. With smoke still drifting from the hot muzzle, he went on to reveal the secrets behind this revolutionary round.

The most important ingredient in Long Beard™ XR™ rounds is a proprietary honey-like substance that’s being coined as “Shot-Lok.” When these cartridges roll down the assembly line, their wads are injected with Shot-Lok resin before getting

P H OTO BY R YA N K I R BY

TWinchester’s new Long BeardTM XRTM

is redefining the long accepted 40-yard limit of a lead turkey load’s lethal range with technology that can reliably stretch the distance another 20 to 25 yards.

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filled with copper-plated lead pellets. The Shot-Lok hardens and effectively fills all the tiny gaps between the pellets, preserv-ing them in a protected solid mass. That’s where things get interesting.

When you load a shotshell into the chamber of your turkey gun and squeeze the trigger, a lightning-fast series of organized chaos occurs. A firing pin strikes a primer, which detonates and immediately ignites a larger charge of gunpowder. Almost instantly a column of pellets is forced out of the business end of your shotgun. During the initial milliseconds of this beautiful explosion, those pellets undergo set-back forces. Put simply, the pellets are forced backwards like a person on a high-speed rollercoaster. Trouble is, the pellets sitting at the rear end of this ride become smashed and deformed—and that’s where the infamous “flyers” come into play. Flyers are the pellets that lose their aerodynamic round shape and cause all sorts of trouble in downrange patterns. Shot-Lok prevents pellet deformation by

locking the pellets in place during the critical moments when set-back forces are trying to wreak havoc on your pattern. By the time these pristine pellets leave the barrel, the Shot-Lok has already fractured

into a micro-buffer. The result of this deadly

recipe is Long Beard™ XR™—the most advanced lead turkey load on the planet.

Professional Perspectives Step outside the official walls of Win-chester for a moment and into the boots of the Drury brothers—two gentlemen who have made a legendary mark in the turkey hunting community. The Drurys have been chasing America’s grandest game bird for more than three decades, documenting their adventures every step of the way to share with loyal followers of Drury Outdoors. And throughout their hardcore hunting careers, the Drury's have tried most of the bird-busting tools on the market. Terry Drury’s face lit up with giddy excitement as he discussed Winchester’s new load.

“It takes a lot to bump the needle for us when it comes to turkey ammo, but Long Beard™ XR™ ammunition is truly a game changer,” he said. “Without question, this load can increase a turkey hunter’s effec-tive range 20 to 30 yards. That’s a huge leap forward from existing shotshells.”

But coupled with such a dramatic long-range improvement, Mark Drury noted that hunters are best served by taking a fresh look at their complete shotgunning setup.

“Winchester is shifting the paradigm of the turkey ammo market,” he explained. “Hunters need to realize this is advanced ammunition, so it’s very important to spend time at the shooting range to reeval-uate your current shotgun/choke tube/sighting system in combination with these loads. Long Beard™ XR™ will improve just about any shotgun’s performance, but with some experimentation, careful tweaks and most importantly practice, you could legit-imately end up expanding your effective range by more than 20 yards. At the end of the day, this cartridge will provide more ethical, clean kills, and that’s the best part.”

Reflecting on their personal time spent with Long Beard™ XR™ in the spring turkey woods, Mark shared some thrilling sto-ries—one of which involved a trio of savvy

P H OTO CO U R T E S Y D R U R Y O U T D O O R S , I L LU S T R AT I O N BY R YA N K I R BY

L O N G B E A R D™ X R™

Even with standard Grex buffer, air pockets between pellets remain in the shot column. Set-back forces created during ignition cause shot to deform until the air spaces are filled up.

Set-back forces have a greater effect at the rear of the shot column versus the front. The result is a portion of the shot exits the barrel deformed, which opens up the pattern and creates flyers.

Why do I have flyers inmy pattern?

Deformed pellets increase the probability of inconsistent patterns.

STANDARD LEAD SHOT AT 40 YDS

GAS FORCE SET-BACK FORCE

DEFORMED SEMI-ROUND ROUND

ROUND

SEMI-ROUND

DEFORMED

"LONG BEARD XR IS TRULY A GAME CHANGER. WITHOUT QUESTION, THIS LOAD CAN INCREASE A TURKEY HUNTER’S EFFECTIVE RANGE 20 TO 30 YARDS. THAT’S A HUGE LEAP FORWARD FROM EXISTING SHOTSHELLS."

Mark & Terry Drury

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toms that were treated with Winchester’s new medicine.

“We worked these birds early in the season, but they hung up at about 100 yards, gobbling their heads off, and they wouldn’t come a step closer,” he recalled with a sense of frustration only a turkey hunter could understand. “A month later, we were hunting in the same area and encountered the same three gobblers. I thought I’d fool ’em by setting up with a caller way behind me, but they locked up again, strutting at 70 yards. Eventually, they closed the distance to 50 yards and started to lose interest. Before they could walk away, I focused on the lead long-beard and shot without a second thought. He was lifted up and set back down with 12 pellets in his head and neck. That is what these new loads do to turkeys.”

The Drury brothers are united on their opinion of Long Beard™ XR™: It offers unmatched, devastating performance.

• Devastating terminal on-target performances• Shot launches from barrel near perfectly round for extremely tight long-range patterns • Twice the number of pellets in a 10-inch circle out to 60 yards• 10 percent greater penetration over standard lead beyond 50 yards

INTRODUCING SHOT-LOK™ TECHNOLOGYShot-Lok™ fills all of the space between pellets to protect shot during in-bore acceleration, resulting in consistently tighter patterns at longer distances.

Shot-Lok™ Technology prevents pellets from deforming due to the effects of load

acceleration, keeping all pellets round and allowing them to remain on a tight,

consistent path toward the target.

SHOT-LOK™ SHOT AT 40 YDS

ROUND

Shell Length: 3" Shot Weight: 13⁄4 oz.Shot Size: 5Range: 40 yards Choke: .665"Firearm: Winchester SX3®

Winchester recommends patterning your shotgun at various yardages with the load, shot size and choke prior to turkey season. The decision on maximum effec-tive range is ultimately the turkey hunter’s responsibility.

Standard Lead Shot Hi-Dense Shot

Best Lead Load For Your Buck

The most potent turkey cartridges on the market typically come with a pain-fully high price tag. That’s not the case with Long Beard™ XR™. Winchester developed this groundbreaking lead load to offer top-shelf performance with the consumer’s pocketbook in mind. You can pick up a box of Long Beard™ XR™ shotshells for a fraction of what you’ll pay for “high-density” turkey loads, and you’ll still get the same or better downrange patterns and knockdown power.

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action-packed auctions, games and raffles, millions of dollars are raised to benefit wild turkey conservation efforts and hunter support measures.

For 2014, Winchester is providing 80,000 rounds of Long Beard™ XR™ ammunition to 800 Hunting Heritage Banquets. Attendees will be given the opportunity to bid on boxes of the ammo at each event for the chance to win. At the end of the year, winners will be entered into a premium grand-prize drawing to take place at the 2015 NWTF Convention and Sport Show. Four winners will be drawn, and each will be sent on an all-inclusive turkey hunt for one of the primary subspecies of wild turkeys—Osceola, Eastern, Rio Grande and Merriam’s.

Moving forward, the NWTF will spend the majority of its budget for a promising new initiative: “Save the Habi-tat, Save the Hunt.” The goal is to conserve and enhance 4 million acres of turkey habitat and recruit 1.5 million fresh faces into the hunting community through strategic outreach. Winchester will work with the NWTF to ensure this mission is accomplished.

If you want to see Winchester’s latest development in turkey ammo from an-other angle, one might look to Dr. Grant Woods. He views the turkey woods through the lens of a video camera and under the magnifying glass of a scientist. As a noted land manager, wildlife biolo-gist and host of GrowingDeer.TV, when Dr. Woods isn’t helping folks shape their properties to produce prime deer and tur-key habitat, he’s pursuing spring strutters to fulfill his own turkey hunting hunger.

Dr. Woods was also among the first hunters enlisted by Winchester to test Long Beard™ XR™ at the range and in the field. After successfully tagging a few toms of

his own, the results he saw on paper were confirmed in the flesh.

“I enjoy calling in birds and watching them up close before I pull the trigger,” Dr. Woods said. “Even with a load that’s designed to reach out and drop birds at a

Winchester Remains Committed To Wild Turkey Conservation By Jay Skoglund

Every time you’re shaken by a thundering gobble in the spring woods, tip your hat to the National Wild Turkey Federation. The NWTF has fought tirelessly

since 1973 to restore and sustain wild turkey populations nationwide, and Winchester has proudly aided this great organization every step of the way.

Among Winchester’s major contributions to the Fed-eration, it was the first company to step up as a Lifetime Million Dollar Sponsor. Winchester was also the primary investor in the construction of the NWTF’s aptly named Winchester Museum—a top-notch educational facility dedicated to the triumphant history of wild turkey man-agement. Because of such staunch support, the NWTF has conserved 17 million acres of habitat and more than 7 million wild turkeys are making tracks across North America.

One of the most critical fundraising components for the NWTF is its Hunting Heri-tage Banquet program. Each year, 2,000-plus NWTF chapters organize these booming banquets across the country with upwards of 100,000 individuals in attendance. Through

The NWTF has conserved 17 million acres of habitat and more than 7 million wild turkeys, and Winchester has proudly aided this great organization every step of the way.

The author’s friend collected this long-range Kentucky limbhanger with help from Long Beard™ XR™.

Look for Winchester's Long Beard™ XR™ Grand Slam Giveaway at NWTF

banquets across North America in 2014.

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IT’S SIMPLE: PLACE YOUR SHOT IN THE KILL

ZONE AND THE BIRD DROPS IMMEDIATELY—

STONE DEAD.

Upland hunters rely on long-range lethality when it comes to flushing ringnecks. Winchester introduces its most innovative pheasant load, Rooster XR™, featuring the same Shot-Lok technology as found in Winchester Long Beard™ XR™, which delivers tighter, more consistent patterns at longer ranges, deeper penetration and extreme knockdown power. Rooster XR™ is ideal for upland hunters who experience challenging shots in tough conditions.

distance, I still expect to shoot most of my birds within 30 yards. What really excites me about Long Beard™ XR™ brand is its knockdown power. It’s simple: Place your shot in the kill zone and the bird drops immediately—stone dead.”

However, even as a self-proclaimed “traditionalist” turkey hunter, Woods didn’t discount the long-range capabilities of Long Beard™ XR™.

“There’s an insurance package built into this cartridge,” Dr. Woods noted. “You can make clean kills every single time up to 40 yards, but you know this cartridge is proven to provide dependable patterns at much farther distances.”

A Sweet Start From South Carolina to Nebraska, Wis-consin and Kentucky, I trucked through my final day of spring turkey season trying to collect one more set of spurs in Maine. Sweat coated my camo and the blazing 84-degree air left me panting and parched. Only a couple hundred yards stood between me and a public land park-

ing lot where I’d pitch my unfilled tag into a trashcan. I had hunted hard, but the birds would claim this victory. Or maybe not.

I rounded a corner and instantly recog-nized two red heads bobbing clumsily along a power line clear-cut. This was my last chance. I slinked through the edge of the forest and across a creek—its roaring cur-rent masked my nervous steps. I reached the end of my diagonal path, hoping it had put me within range of the birds. I steadied my boots in the dirt, double-checked the illumination of my red-dot sight and popped out of the dense cover. There they were. A foolishly curious pair of jakes extended their rubber necks and paused at 60 yards to study my shadowy figure. I centered a single jellyhead in my reticle, controlled my breathing and unleashed a load of Long Beard™ XR™. The bird tipped over without taking another step.

As I took a knee to admire my beautiful feathered bounty, I rolled an empty black shotgun shell in my hands. I held it to my nose and all I could smell was the sweet aroma of Winchester success.

BRAND RDS/BX SYMBOL GAUGE LENGTH VELOCITY SHOT WT SHOT SIZE

ROOSTER XR 15 SRXR1234 12 3 1300 11⁄2 4

ROOSTER XR 15 SRXR1235 12 3 1300 11⁄2 5

ROOSTER XR 15 SRXR1236 12 3 1300 11⁄2 6

ROOSTER XR 15 SRXR124 12 23⁄4 1300 11⁄4 4

ROOSTER XR 15 SRXR125 12 23⁄4 1300 11⁄4 5

ROOSTER XR 15 SRXR126 12 23⁄4 1300 11⁄4 6

BRAND RDS/BX SYMBOL GAUGE LENGTH VELOCITY SHOT WT SHOT SIZE

LONG BEARD XR 10 STLB12L4 12 31⁄2 1200 2 4

LONG BEARD XR 10 STLB12L5 12 31⁄2 1200 2 5

LONG BEARD XR 10 STLB12L6 12 31⁄2 1200 2 6

LONG BEARD XR 10 STLB1234 12 3 1200 13⁄4 4

LONG BEARD XR 10 STLB1235 12 3 1200 13⁄4 5

LONG BEARD XR 10 STLB1236 12 3 1200 13⁄4 6

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