I'm Late To The Game

[Moore]

I know folks been using TSS for a while now, and I decided to give TSS a try this season. I have been using the longbeard xr for a long time and have been really happy with them out of my Mossberg 500 12ga with a Sumtoy .660 choke. I'm going to try Apex Turkey Ninja 8.5 shot. I went to the patterning section and couldn't find any patterns for the ninja out of a 12ga,so I'm just wondering how you folks are liking this shot and if anyone have any photo of the ninja out of 12ga.

[Happy]

I would probably open it up to about a .670. That's just me though.

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[Notsoyoungturk]

Haven't shot Apex Ninja out of my 12 but my 20 and .410 love it

[Moore]

thanks Happy and Notsoyoungturk four replies, I just Got the Ninja in the Mail and looking forward to patterning.

[Lcmacd 58]

You'll like it ....

[Spring Creek Calls]

I shoot the Ninjas in my 28 gauge. The 8.5's hold a great pattern and really hit hard.

[Marc]

I know folks been using TSS for a while now, and I decided to give TSS a try this season. I have been using the longbeard xr for a long time and have been really happy with them out of my Mossberg 500 12ga with a Sumtoy .660 choke. I'm going to try Apex Turkey Ninja 8.5 shot. I went to the patterning section and couldn't find any patterns for the ninja out of a 12ga,so I'm just wondering how you folks are liking this shot and if anyone have any photo of the ninja out of 12ga.

I would probably open it up to about a .670. That's just me though.

A bit off-topic, but how tight are these chokes shooting?

A standard full choke (which I shoot with Hevi-Shot) as a constriction of .035. (.729 barrel diameter with a choke diameter at .694)  I get plenty of pattern density at 40 yards to kill a turkey.


A Mossberg 500 is supposed to have a barrel diameter of .733.  A choke of .660 is .073 constriction which is more than double that of a full choke.  Even the .660 seems far tighter than anything I would dream of wanting to shoot?

What kind of pattern are you getting at 20, 30, and 40 yards with these ultra tight chokes shooting TSS (which I understand shoots even tighter than Hevi-Shot)?  After some field experience and patterning, I found that these very tight chokes were awful tight at the ranges I was most often shooting.

Not bashing, just asking???

[Happy]

To answer your question, Marc. I have an 835. It has a backbored barrel, which means it's more of a 10 gauge barrel. I don't hunt with tss in a 12, but I have shot it. With a .676 constriction choke it is unreal what that gun will do. Its extreme overkill for my style of turkey hunting. It's about grapefruit sized at 20, basketball sized at 30, and beach ball sized at 40. Another thing to consider is the shot string length, and I suspect it is fairly long and, in my opinion, that is pointless as well but looks good on paper. I won't go down that wormhole, though. Now a mossy 500 is using a "standard" diameter 12 guage barrel, and so i cut cut back a touch on the choke diameter to get him in the ballpark of what will shoot good. This has been my experience with tss anyway. A super tight choke, like a .660 or .665 is not usually that good with tss. Tends to blow the pattern. A .670 is usually pretty dependable for a good pattern with 1 7/8 to 2oz loads in tss. This is just what I have seen when shooting the shells and helping to set up guns. Weird note, federal shells seem to like even a little more open choke than Apex.

[Marc]

To answer your question, Marc. I have an 835. It has a backbored barrel, which means it's more of a 10 gauge barrel. I don't hunt with tss in a 12, but I have shot it. With a .676 constriction choke it is unreal what that gun will do. Its extreme overkill for my style of turkey hunting. It's about grapefruit sized at 20, basketball sized at 30, and beach ball sized at 40. Another thing to consider is the shot string length, and I suspect it is fairly long and, in my opinion, that is pointless as well but looks good on paper. I won't go down that wormhole, though. Now a mossy 500 is using a "standard" diameter 12 guage barrel, and so i cut cut back a touch on the choke diameter to get him in the ballpark of what will shoot good. This has been my experience with tss anyway. A super tight choke, like a .660 or .665 is not usually that good with tss. Tends to blow the pattern. A .670 is usually pretty dependable for a good pattern with 1 7/8 to 2oz loads in tss. This is just what I have seen when shooting the shells and helping to set up guns. Weird note, federal shells seem to like even a little more open choke than Apex.

Thank you for the response!

My understanding is that TSS, Hevi-Shot, steel, and the rest of the harder metals, have a far shorter shot-string than lead... 

And in all fairness, shot-string only has significance with a moving target.  For a flying bird moving 40 MPH, the front of the shot string might miss, and the back might connect or vice versa...  With a turkey on the ground, what you get on paper is far more representative of what you get on the turkey (cause at least the ones I am shooting are relatively stationary).