Tss turkey loads

[DartonJager]

I wish I were as fortunate as you to have so much land/resources near where I live but being near Southern CA that is not the case. Most the good land is private and the public land that holds birds is saturated with "hunters" with no etiquette who will charge into your setup as you are calling in a bird, seriously. Gas here is $3.75 a gallon right now so driving 300 miles a couple days of scouting and a couple days of hunting gets expensive compared to ammo. Back when i had access to a private ranch I would get my 3 turkeys a season and help my buddies too but after the drought things are much tougher and the birds moved to mostly private land and I have to hunt public now. A guided hunt gets $750 and up which is too much for my budget. I have a dedicated turkey/coyote gun that I don't mind spending the money on the TSS as I spend way more on gas, food, etc than on ammo, I just want to stack the deck in my favor as my chances are much fewer these days.
We can't shoot lead shot at coyotes either so it's rifle or non-tox shot.

Point well taken. Have to remember to walk a mile or two in the other guys shoes every now and then and remember not everyone's situation mirrors mine.
You have my most sincere condolences on the complete lack of hunter etiquette you must endure. I live in NW Indiana and do quite a lot of public land turkey and occasionally deer hunting and same for IL as I have a life time IL sportsman's licence that allows me to hunt as a resident, and in all my years I've only had one time a hunter screw up my turkey hunt, but that is likely due to the fact most public land tracts are under 10K acres and the IL/IN/DNR strictly limits hunter numbers on the majority of state land to a ratio of about 1 hunter per 500-540 acres and every time I have met a hunter in the parking areas we have always discussed where we were going to hunt and always have made the best effort possible and stayed out of each others way. I hate to say this as my superstition warning bells are going off like a 200db train horn, but I've never had an unpleasant public land hunt in close to home. Out west elk was a little different, but I blame myself for allowing myself to be pressured into putting in for a unit I knew had changed for the worse VS last time we hunted it, cost me dearly in more ways than one.
Now when it comes to fishing it's a whole different matter, more than once I was threatened with harm when I enlightened a fellow fishermen far more diplomatically than they deserved, that public land access salmon and trout fishing doesn't mean you can stand within arms length of me and start fishing. Thankfully for their physical well being and my financial well being once I made it plane I couldn't be intimidated and I would be more than happy to oblige them in settling the matter as they saw fit they, always backed down as 99% of all bullies do. I realize though it's little different when one is carrying a firearm instead of a fishing pole. Not surprising about 95% of the disgusting slobs I meet while salmon/trout fishing are either non-IN residents or non-English speaking ***'s.
If the TSS gets down to a reasonable cost of say under $4 a shot I will definitely try it.

 

[DartonJager]

For all you guys using TSS shot in your 12ga's, do you need a specific size choke tube or will a Turkey Xtra full 0.660 work well?

 

[N2TRKYS]

I handload TSS for my 12 and 20 870s. I've had good luck with Remington Super Full and IC chokes in both gauges. I couldn't stand the poor on game performance of the 9s. I switched over to 7.5s and have been very well pleased.

 

[MWood]

I have used tried Browning TSS #7 in 12 ga . I dropped a nice Rio Tom at 40 yards , but am still hoping to get a opportunity for a longer shot this season to see if TSS effective range is real or just hype. One good thing about the Brownings are they are offering a rebate for a free thermacell for purchasing a single box of TSS. This sure helps offsets the sticker shot for TSS shells as they are way too expensive in my opinion.

 

[MWood]

The is the rebate form is at the following URL if any of you are interested. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/browning-tss-tungsten-turkey-shotshells

 

[Clay Target Guy]

I hand load my own and hunt with a 20 ga. With a little work and swapping chokes to match the shells, I am able to get great patterns.
I have sold all my 12 ga turkey guns after seeing what the 20 will do.

 

[DartonJager]

Might I ask why you sold your 12 GA in favor of the 20?

 

[Clay Target Guy]

I saw no need for the 12 ga. My 20 will do everything I need done. It will put up patterns that are effective well beyond 40 yards. It is lighter weight, easier to carry, shorter and more compact. Where I live and hunt, there are a lot of woods and I have hung low hanging limbs more than once with barrels that stuck up above my head.
When I am humping up and down hills the lighter smaller gun feels a lot better.

 

[Wedgy]

I saw no need for the 12 ga. My 20 will do everything I need done. It will put up patterns that are effective well beyond 40 yards. It is lighter weight, easier to carry, shorter and more compact.

If you are shooting 18g/cc TTS the #9's at 1,190fps will penetrate 3" of ballistic gel at 70 yards which is more than enough to kill a turkey and throws a very dense pattern. I am taking my 20ga tomorrow so I know what you mean about a lightweight gun !
I really like my Mossberg 535 turkey gun combo also as it has a 20" barrel which is really easy to maneuver, I love it for coyotes too.

 

[Clay Target Guy]

TSS #9 is what I shoot.
Just a word of caution, Check your bird very well for shot when you are getting ready to cook it. I missed a TSS pellet this year and as I was chewing, I found it, dang near broke a tooth.

 

[Wedgy]

I got the opportunity to hunt thru a guide friend whose client cancelled last minute and he more or less gave me the hunt with less than a days notice. Five toms answered at the 3rd spot I called and came in, the biggest problem was getting a shot where there wasn't three birds in a row LOL, they were packed together in a row walking shoulder to shoulder. I was aiming around the right side of a tree and has to reposition to the left side waiting to get a shot where only one bird(the biggest one) was clear of the others. At 34 yards he was clear and I let him have 1 1/2oz of the TSS #9's at 1,200 fps from the 20 gauge and he was down for the count, never twitched, tail went in the air and his head went down, no wings flopping at all. Beautiful ranch with lots of birds and saw ~20 pigs too ! At $750 for a normal price turkey or pig hunt it is way out of my league but wow, what a fantastic place. I feel really lucky to get a chance like this so close to home.

 

[MkJose]

I can see a use for some of their Predator loads.
TSS #2s and #BBs Oh yeah, deer at 50 yards=DRT.
I have killed a few at 30+ yards with #2 lead and they never took a step [shot in the head/neck].
But dang, $10 to $12 a shot, whoo-hoo.

 

[Wedgy]

But dang, $10 to $12 a shot, whoo-hoo.

Yes but if I shoot two turkeys a year it's only $12

 

[Clay Target Guy]

Congratulations on a really nice bird