SW, just a question, why not load your own?

I don't have the equipment to do it. Don't shoot enough to justify the start up expense.

I can only imagine what bulk TSS shot costs....

In reality, I'm really just fussing about the cost of commercial ammo that I only shoot 2 rounds per spring. When I think about like that....it's silly.

My sons and I have all gone to 20 gage for turkey guns and a young granddaughter will be starting out with a 410. All we use is TSS shells that we load ourselves. Bulk TSS is not cheap but the cost per shell is not that bad considering the consistent pattern and the down range energy. And I am not out there trying to see how far out I can kill one either. I have let some walk that I could probably have killed with the TSS loads but I judged them to be out of range. IMO, TSS is the best tool for the job!

And it is not like you are going to be burning through 25 or 50 shells a season. On a good year hunting multiple states I might shoot 6 or 8 times max. This year, I only hunted one state and only shot one shell. The shell is the least expensive part of the hunt. When we are hunting out of state, we are spending more on ice for the cooler than we are on shells.

Very true. When I focus in on what really matters...it isn't the cost of that ammo.

We started using TSS when hand loads were the only option, before Apex or Federal or any of the other ammo manufacturers got in the game. The recipe and the list of components is the critical part of hand loading TSS. As mentioned in an earlier post. TSS does not deform and can damage your barrel if you do not have the right components to prevent damage. But it does not require spending an arm and a leg on fancy equipment. A good electronic scale and a roll crimp for the gage you are loading and a drill press to run the roll crimp can get the job done.

We were getting low on shells and had all of the components we needed and rolled out a mixture of 20 ga. and 410 this year. It took the 3 of us about 2 1/2 hours to roll 50 shells.

11-87 youth set up good will kill stone dead at 40 yards with longbeard xr #5 and a solid 35 yard gun wit xx mags 5 shot been using it for 15 years and not one complaint. So if u think you need tss in a 20 it's all in your head and your calling

Fancy store bought shells?
For turkeys???

LOL, Great Grandpappy dumped broken glass and thumbtacks on top a hunnert grains of 2F!
Didn't need no fancy paper shotshells to.kill no turkeys!!!


LOL, the reason I started messing with TSS was in BP.shotguns.
Someone on here steered me to.an.importer from.China that was around $40/lb, if you bought 4#.

When we started rolling TSS they didn’t have Longbeard XR’s, lol. That was the whole point in going to TSS. Actually it was when HeviShot said they weren’t going to make Hevi 13 anymore, so we invested in TSS. Once it became mainstream it was hard to find and more expensive than buying already made shells. Now that I’ve found a manufacturer that produces a good quality shell that shoots in my gun/choke the way I like it, I ain’t gonna quit now, lol.

Sell me on the .20 gauge over the 12 gauge.
I get the gun weight advantage. Beyond that I need it explained to me.
I do a tremendous amount of duck hunting. I hunt with some young guys who have went to shooting ducks with.20’s. I guarantee there is NO advantage to a 20 over a 12 shooting mallard ducks. Their crippling percentage is way higher, and I’ll kill ducks way more dead at greater distances than the 20’s. But, we ain’t shooting TSS either!

Respectfully, the 7.5x9 load is not what you want. In 12ga I prefer straight 8's or 8x9's. You said in your original post that Federals are 90 bucks per 5 now, so that's the number I was comparing to

If I was you, I would ditch the 2oz load entirely. 1-5/8oz in a 2-3/4" 12ga hull is PLENTY of shot/knockdown power and the recoil is minimal

When I outfit a kid to hunt, it is usually with a 12ga shooting 1-5/8oz loads instead of a 20ga with 1-5/8oz loads

The 20 is a thumper with that payload. The 12 shoots soft, and patterns better.

Whatever shells you end up going with, just don't buy Federals

Yeah...some dealers they are $90....but the one in the pic is $82 for 7s & 9s.

Why is the 7-9 mix not what I want? I like the concept, but I may be wrong.

I don't mind the recoil of the 3". Don't shoot it enough for that to matter. Don't remember recoil when shooting a gobbler anyway.

It's not only weight, but recoil as well. And if talking duck hunting, I'm not shooting straight steel shot out of my 20 at ducks.

6 pound 20ga shooting 1-5/8oz turkey loads produces about 47 foot pounds of felt recoil



7.5 pound 12ga shooting 2 oz turkey loads produces 61 foot pounds of recoil



Now, as I was explaining to Swamp Wolf above, when you downsize the payload in the same 7.5 pound 12 gauge to 1-5/8oz, your felt recoil is less than that of the 20ga



Basically, if weight of the gun is no concern, shoot a lighter payload in your 12ga. I really enjoy carrying a sub 6 pound gun. It fits my run and gun style of turkey hunting much better than an 8 pound clunker. I shoot a 28ga at turkeys most of the time

Edit to take it a step further: 1-5/8oz of #9 TSS is common in 20ga loads. That provides you with 588 pellets in your load. A 3.5" 12ga long beard XR #5 has 340 pellets in it. The #9 TSS is far more lethal than #5 lead shot. You are not losing "killing power" by shooting the 20 with TSS

You lose pellet count with the 7's for no gain. You will never take a shot at a turkey that requires a #7 sized tungsten pellet. They are only in Federal's load to be compliant with states that have shot size laws requiring 7.5's.

The old metric for turkey shot lethality is 1.5" penetration in 20% ballistic gel.

1225 FPS TSS #9 shot gets 1.50" of gel penetration at 65.7 yards
1225 FPS #8 TSS gets 1.50" gel penetration to almost 90 yards
1225 FPS #7 TSS gets 1.50" gel penetration to a distance I won't post, but well over 100 yards

I understand wanting a magnum/overkill pellet, especially if you hunt in the woods a lot and want to be able to mow down some brush. The #8 TSS pellet is that magnum sized pellet. The 7's or 7.5's are purely overkill and reduce your pellet count for no good reason.

2 oz 7.5x9 load - 582 pellets
2 oz 8x9 load - 612 pellets
2 oz #9 load - 724 pellets

Clay, I only shoot turkeys with TSS. I couldn’t afford the TSS to duck hunt with it. I shot 3” #2’s when I had a lease in Arkansas. Down here I’ll shoot #4’s in our Woodie holes. All of this is with 12ga. If I was to shoot a 20ga out of a pit or timber, I’d shoot 3” #2’s and do some serious patterning to see the optimal load/choke combo.
The issue is folks buy a gun, shells, and go hunt. No one patterns their guns for anything except turkeys, and even then most don’t even do that. They just go shoot and if it falls it worked, if it runs or flys they say they missed (which we know isn’t true) 90% of the time. Granted I have seen some true misses, lol.

As far as selling someone on a 20 vs 12 all I can say is walk 12 miles up and down mountains or through thick swamps carrying a heavy 12ga, then do it carrying a light 20ga. Heck I’ve gotten to day three before and started taking calls out of my vest to eliminate weight, lol.
There’s not a shot or scenario you can tell me where a 12 outperforms a 20 when using TSS while turkey hunting. I can tell you several times I’ve seen guys that couldn’t take the shot due to they couldn’t move that clunky 12 around a tree or through brush and I could with the little 20. I’m sure not many people practice this shot and I only do it with dove loads, but swapping shoulders while sitting with minimum movement is easier with a 20 vs a 12. Holding in the shooting position for an extended period is easier with a 20 vs a 12.
Now I’m basing all this on the fact I use a youth model 870 20ga. The M2 I want may actually be lighter than my gun even with a couple inches more on the barrel. I also tell myself somewhere on this 100K acres is a turkey that wants to die and it’s my job to find him. If you sit in a blind or only walk 100yds to roosted birds then you’ll see no difference.

I shot all my PNW birds last year with #10’s. Ranges were 17-42yds. The 42yd shot was in a meadow/pasture in Montana and it was a “I don’t see the hen I should see” when he topped the hill, lol.
I did order 3 boxes of the 9x10 loads and like the straight 9’s and 10’s, they pattern extremely well.

10's will kill, no doubt! I have killed quite a few with my 410 shooting a 1oz 9.5x10 duplex load.

Easiest way I can explain it to guys is that #10 TSS is roughly equivalent to #6 lead, #9.5 TSS is roughly equivalent to #5 lead, and #9 TSS is roughly equivalent to #4 lead

Crawling on a tractor, but I’m gonna pick your alls brains some more after while.

CRIKEY!!!!! You can buy 2-3 frozen birds for that much!

So?

Mack’s Wild wings had Browning TSS loads on sale for $55 but that’s still too much. Try the Federal 3D loads they contain TSS, Flight control shot and copper plated lead shot deadly loads.