My mind is wandering a bit but I have a question. Seeing these monster patterns with 300 plus pellets in the a 10" circle and another couple hundred in the 20".
Does the meat get shot up bad? In my minds eye I see these patterns overlapping a bird and hundreds of shot zipping through and dragging feathers and whatnot with them and I am curious if this is the case?
Toying with the idea of setting up a 12 guage side by side with a 2 3/4" load. Don't want a smaller gauge and don't want to tear up to much meat. Can it be done through a full choke and a light load?
I have never found it different than any other shot. This was my third year shooting TSS in a 20 ga. One of my guns puts up over 300 and the other just under. Most of all the shot that has hit the breast is at the breast plate and just cut through the meat. Have not found any more feathers that what I found when shooting Hevi or lead. I have found less shot actually in the meat and it usually just travels right through it.
You will not tear up much meat and a light 12 ga load is what I would use if I was doing a 12. If you decide to go that route I think you will be very happy.
No, it does not.
I am shooting 1 3/4 ounce load in a 2 3/4" 12 gauge. I run around 250 in the 10 at 40 and I have not noticed any difference in damage to the breast than what I saw shooting lead 5's or Hevi 6's.
Now these loads putting 500 plus in the 10", I could see it ruining one if you pulled the shot and hit the breast.
Happy, I've wondered this myself. As a matter of fact, I ask the same question on a recent post when someone said their TSS pattern was 300-10, 300-20 at 40. I didn't get an answer. We all know TSS hits harder than previous shot and I would think you have to have shot penetrating the breast at 30 and beyond. With shot penetration, you will have feathers penetrating also. I've seen a turkey shot in the breast and it isn't pretty. Holes in the breast, shot that didn't penetrate all the way through and feathers that get pushed into the meat also. Just saying.
It may be something I might have to play with and try out. I have always liked old side by sides and if I get one I would want to be able to hunt more than turkeys with it. So that would mean no major modifications. From what I have read tss handloads seem to like a more open choke and a light 2 3/4" load would be perfect. Not looking for a pile of pellets but a 200 pellet count in a 15" or so circle at 40 would be about perfect so long as there weren't a lot of fringe pellets. Don't want to go with too big of pellets to cut down on numbers and kill the farmers horse in the next county either. My initial thoughts are 1.5" ounce or so loads of 8's or 9's through a full choke.
This is my first year with tss. I'm shooting 8.5s in a 2.5 oz load. Its putting around 425 in the 10 inch and 230 in the 20 inch. It straight kills turkeys. They don't flop. I've noticed way less damage to meat than the hevi shot I was shooting. It just goes straight thru and doesn't pull feathers in like lead or hevi. I aim at the neck and have found maybe 4 pellets out of 3 birds.
Quote from: Fl strutter on April 09, 2018, 07:20:55 PM
This is my first year with tss. I'm shooting 8.5s in a 2.5 oz load. Its putting around 425 in the 10 inch and 230 in the 20 inch. It straight kills turkeys. They don't flop. I've noticed way less damage to meat than the hevi shot I was shooting. It just goes straight thru and doesn't pull feathers in like lead or hevi. I aim at the neck and have found maybe 4 pellets out of 3 birds.
I am pretty tough but don't think I want to touch off 2.5 ounces in a light double barrel even if it doesn't year them up.
I was just saying that even that load doesn't tear em up. I'm currently building a 870 youth 20 gauge for next year.
Quote from: Fl strutter on April 09, 2018, 07:37:22 PM
I was just saying that even that load doesn't tear em up. I'm currently building a 870 youth 20 gauge for next year.
Gotcha. Thanks
Non issue. I'm shooting a 900 pellet load and have not experienced a problem.
I shoot a light 12 ga O/U with a 2.75" 1.625 oz load in the tight barrel and 1.25 oz load in the open barrel. I typically find from 0-4 pellets in the turkeys I have killed (sample size of several dozen). Very rarely is a feather dragged into the wound channel. It does pay to chew carefully, as a TSS #9 is very hard on teeth, but then so is any other HTL shot.
Thanks fellows.