Need help finalizing my 870 Youth here ***Finalized***

[357MAGNOLE]

I have had this gun for a while, I think sometime around 2015/2016 is when I picked it up. It has been through a few forms. The original wood stock, the sure shot stock with a home-done paint job, and most recently I got it hydro-dipped in the new bottomland and a cerakote matt clear finish on top for some added durability.

I am at a crossroads however and need to make one more change and hoping for some good advice here. I have been running a Carlsons .575 choke with the old heavishot #7's from Federal ever since I got the gun and I just put down a nice tom on Friday however I only have one more round of those #7's left.  I have been outright refusing to switch to TSS due to the cost. I hate it, but when looking around for some old stock heavishot people here wanted TSS prices. If I am to do that I might as well make the switch now.

So as far as this new TSS loads and choke combo, what have yall seen good consistent results in for 10-40 yard patterns? Here in Florida, I do hunt in a lot of brush but my last kill was at 44 yards, further than I would prefer however, I am finding myself hunting in more places with logging roads than thick river bottoms so I am having a few more opportunities at distance so I want a decent pattern at 40 but not something so tight at 10 I have to worry about being off by a inch when I hit the trigger.

I am also considering the longbeard XR loads and a carlsons longbeard choke to keep cost down. I despise the price of TSS, ill quit crying about it now. In the meantime ill be perusing the threads already covering the subject. But I am mostly interested in the opinion of people with the same gun and what their guns liked and didn't if it helps me save time.



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[chipper]

Been shooting the same setup scrap years, I have been hand loading several years also and would switch to a .555 or .562 Indian creek and run strait #9's in tss anywhere from 1 3/8 to 1 5/8 once loads any not worry about it. The .575 Carlson will give you a plenty dense pattern to further than you should be shooing but I like the hot cores with a Indian creek while shooting a red dot.

[sswv]

been shooting that same gun for several 8 years and I tried a LOT of chokes. A Trulock .562 and a RSFT .572  are the only 20ga Remchokes I still own. The .562 shoots the old Federal Heavy #7's and the Winchester LB XR #6's extremely well. The RSFT does an awesome job with the #6's but not so good with the #7's. I tried a Carlson's LB choke and my 20ga didn't like it but my 12ga 870 throws a pattern with LB #6's that anybody would be proud of.  I'm like you, just can't pay that price for a box of 5 shells. I'm blessed with good wordsmanship and the ability to call a gobbler so it's money wasted for me.

[TrackeySauresRex]

I don't have the same set up. However, I feel you tss pain. I won't pay either. I stock piled some #7's, Hevi and Fed's and have a little left. I've been shooting some lead and the LB #6 do pretty good out of that trulock choke rated for 7's.

[RED NECK]

One of my 870 youth shoots the longbeard 5 & 6's outstanding with a primos tightwad choke, Its definitly a 40 yard gun, and a little more if needed. That is 40 yards using a range finder.

[RED NECK]

This is longbeard 5's range finded 40 yards, .570 tightwad choke.

[RED NECK]

I agree the prices have gotten out of control, I have seen a few shops here in Ontario charging $109.99 for 5 tss shells, they can take them sons a bitches and shove them straight up their crooked gouging asses, those are the shops that need to go under, there's shops in the same area charging $40-45 less a box. I couldn't imagine paying the $109.99 and honestly it isn't even the price that is the real issue for me, It's the gouging, I'd never buy a thing from those shops, no matter what it was.

[jordanz7935]

I have the same setup, 870 20 ga 21" barrel with shurshot stock.20 + turkey seasons with that gun. Killed alot of birds with the ol Fed HW 7s. Used 2 different chokes over the years, Rem superfull
572 and a sumtoy .562.... I finally patterned it with 1.5 oz# 9 tss handloads last season and got 315 in the 10" @40 with sumtoy choke. Good enough for me. I'd highly recommend tss over 20 ga longbeards.... night and day difference. If your used to Fed HW #7 performance, lead aint gonna cut it in a 20 ga.You already have a good choke to start with... I'd definitely look into apex or foxtrot tss loads. Don't overlook the straight 8s or #8.5 tss loads either

[357MAGNOLE]

So I finally got in some Federal TSS#9's and another choke to test out. I got a little bit better patterning out of the Tight-Wad .570 than I did with the Carlsons .575.  Yall are just going to have to take my word for it because my paper rack got blown over by the wind and mangled the paper.  I dual-purpose a paper rack for arrow tuning with my bows and for patterning shotguns. It's not heavy at all, it's just a clothes rack from Lowes on Wheels that has a roll of construction paper on it.  Nice for patterning, but doesn't do great in the wind it acts like a sail. I didnt want to blast through 10 TSS shells to pattern and sight it in so I shot it out of both the Carlsons and Tightwad and picked the better 40.  Then did a small adjustment and shot a round at 35 yards to compare against my 35 yard shot with the heavyweight #7's out of the Carlsons (my previous setup)

Not gonna lie, been resisting TSS forever and I hate the expense but the results do speak for themselves. I will say, if I could still buy the heavy weight 7's at $20 a box I would just use those but any way.... Here is the results from today and the comparison to the days of old.

[Greg Massey]

I have the same setup and i'm using a non - ported Trulock 565 with Federal HW 7 and it lights out ... Luckily I still have a good stock of these shells ... The old Federal HW 7 in my opinion was one of the best 15g shells ever made for turkey hunting at a reasonable price...

[randywallace]

I have the same setup and i'm using a non - ported Trulock 565 with Federal HW 7 and it lights out ... Luckily I still have a good stock of these shells ... The old Federal HW 7 in my opinion was one of the best 18g shells ever made for turkey hunting at a reasonable price...

The old HW7s I have are 15g.  I bought several when Rogers closed them out in various gauges.  They shoot good and will kill a turkey, but #7s simply can't put up the patterns from smaller #9s in 18g.  There are roughly 150 more pellets in a single ounce of 18g #9 vs. a 15g #7. 

As for the original question, a Jebs or IC in .565 or SumToys .562 will put 385+ pellets in the 10 ring at 40 yards when paired with Rogue 1 7/8 ounce #9s or Boss 2 ounce #9s.  I shoot a youth compact with a Jebs .555 that throws 410+ pellets into 10 inches at 40 with Boss 9s.   

Biggest downside to me with going to tungsten over lead is having to run a little pinpoint metal detector over the meat before cooking.  You bite down on a tiny tungsten pellet and you will be visiting the dentist.  Both the Boss and Rogue shells will run you about $55 for 5 shells (plus ship) which is reasonable compared to other manufacturers that use a lighter load of tungsten. 

[Greg Massey]

I have the same setup and i'm using a non - ported Trulock 565 with Federal HW 7 and it lights out ... Luckily I still have a good stock of these shells ... The old Federal HW 7 in my opinion was one of the best 18g shells ever made for turkey hunting at a reasonable price...

The old HW7s I have are 15g.  I bought several when Rogers closed them out in various gauges.  They shoot good and will kill a turkey, but #7s simply can't put up the patterns from smaller #9s in 18g.  There are roughly 150 more pellets in a single ounce of 18g #9 vs. a 15g #7. 

As for the original question, a Jebs or IC in .565 or SumToys .562 will put 385+ pellets in the 10 ring at 40 yards when paired with Rogue 1 7/8 ounce #9s or Boss 2 ounce #9s.  I shoot a youth compact with a Jebs .555 that throws 410+ pellets into 10 inches at 40 with Boss 9s.   

Biggest downside to me with going to tungsten over lead is having to run a little pinpoint metal detector over the meat before cooking.  You bite down on a tiny tungsten pellet and you will be visiting the dentist.  Both the Boss and Rogue shells will run you about $55 for 5 shells (plus ship) which is reasonable compared to other manufacturers that use a lighter load of tungsten.

Those old shells were awesome ... and still are in my opinion...  I will keep using them until i run out, which will probably never happen.. LOL...

[RED NECK]

Looks good! no doubt that tss shot is better for 20's, I have found the .570 tightwad shoots better than the .575 Carlsons in both my 870 youths and multiple shells,including tss. Both are excellent chokes for the gun. Good luck this spring.

[357MAGNOLE]

So I went back out today to do a good 40 yard pattern and see how it came out.  I took my laser range finder with me that I did not have originally. So I have to make a correction, my original 35 yard pattern is 31 yards.  I counted my slightly larger then normal steps and thought I was pretty spot on, guess not.

So my original pattern is 31 yards. Not 35. 

This is an accurate 40 yards from the tip of the barrel to the target shot.  I have 218 in the 10" ring and 217 in the 18.5" ring. I did not have a 20" circular object in the house and did not feel like fooling with a string and sharpie to make it 20". 

Maybe not as good as I expected but I think a 50/50 split betwen 10"/18.5" area is a damn good hunting pattern. Ill take it all day every day.

[357MAGNOLE]

So I was in my local sporting goods store today and saw a box of turkey shells for $10. $1 a shell.  They are Kent Ultimate Turkey #4's and their "Diamond Shot" which from what I could find is just very hard led shot.

Anyway, I started hunting on another lease the past 2 weeks, and 80% of my shot opportunities are gonna be tight. Like 10-25 yards tight.  Very few places where I might stretch it out past 35 yards and I have already stated I hate the price of TSS loads so ill reserve the few I have left for other places with long-shot opportunities.

Check out these results. From left to right they are 10 yards, 20, 30, and then the last is 40.  I don't think I would try a shot past 30, maybe 35 yards absolute max. But these are a pretty nice performing load for the price up to 30 yards, out of my setup anyway. But for $10 a box of 10 shells...... I think people should at least try them if they typically have birds closer than 30.