Is TSS worth it? Change my mind

[kwild835]

I don't think it is something to try to talk someone in to.  If you want to shoot the best performing shells, then you will want to shoot it.  If you are a guy that kills all the turkeys you could ever want with lead, then you aren't going to be interested in paying more for the same results.
I shoot it because it is fun to load my own, I love knowing a manufacturer can't swap out components and change the performance,  I can carry a super light 20 gauge that has light recoil, and the way TSS responds to chokes I can pretty much customize my pattern to my hunting style. 

 

[LaLongbeard]

It is easy to talk about up close and personal in a blind with decoys around you. Sitting against a tree with nothing but hoping your set up is good enough to not get picked out by him is where the rush and enjoyment comes from. I would rather kill one at 40 with nothing but air between us than one a 10 in a blind with any weapon.


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Have killed them in the timber, out in an open picked corn field (no cover) and in an open pasture (again no cover) and no decoys or blind just my mouth call and shotgun and still under 20, I pick my sets right. And yes I do use a blind and decoys for hunts with youth, newbies, bow hunters and video all depends on the hunt and who I am calling for, but when I'm solo it's a different game.

MK M GOBL

Let me get this straight ...your saying you called a gobbler to under 20 yards in an open pasture with no blind, or cover? Really

[hootgobbleyelpgobble]

In the heavily pressured public woods of the South, I want the best shell I can get. I have full confidence at 40 yards with TSS but honestly have never even made a shot close to that far or greater. TSS allows me to use a sub gauge gun and have a better pattern then my heavy 12 ga.

Plus it helps me with the addiction some in the off season. I can load my own shells so I know exactly how they will perform. I am not held to what some factory ammo QC person is willing to pass along down the assembly line. I like to tinker with patterns, chokes and such so helps ease the pain during the cold months.

[Bowguy]

It is easy to talk about up close and personal in a blind with decoys around you. Sitting against a tree with nothing but hoping your set up is good enough to not get picked out by him is where the rush and enjoyment comes from. I would rather kill one at 40 with nothing but air between us than one a 10 in a blind with any weapon.


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Have killed them in the timber, out in an open picked corn field (no cover) and in an open pasture (again no cover) and no decoys or blind just my mouth call and shotgun and still under 20, I pick my sets right. And yes I do use a blind and decoys for hunts with youth, newbies, bow hunters and video all depends on the hunt and who I am calling for, but when I'm solo it's a different game.

MK M GOBL

Let me get this straight ...your saying you called a gobbler to under 20 yards in an open pasture with no blind, or cover? Really

To personally answer this question sometimes birds do maybe what we consider strange things. Sometimes we give em way too much credit and maybe sometimes not enough. We don't know the situation or if the birds were pressured. That'd make a big difference.
One year my daughters n I were hunting the local refuge. Lots of gobbling but no shots. On the way out I guess just force of habit I cutt on a mouth call. Birds gobbled. We froze, looked to the side and realized it was solid stickers.
We were caught in an open field. The birds entered about 80-100 yards from us. I noticed my kids did not drop their face masks and my older daughter had her hood showing.
I worked those birds w an Atomic 13 behind my daughters back as well as the mouth call. The birds came to about 25yds in an open field w no decoys. All 7 gobblers.
At that distance I told the kids to just stay still. Finally my older daughter shot one. Her younger sis didn't as she was frozen looking left of where they came from. The birds gobbler yelped as they approached.
Now this was the youth opener. I bet the next week might have been harder to do same. But i can relay more than once where sitting stock still paid off when all seemed like odds were against us.
I can also tell you of longbeards watching my younger daughter wiggle so bad the sapling she sat up on was moving all over. The bird was believe it or not missed but at 15 yards in wide open woods that bird should have avoided a wiggly sapling with a kid shuffling below it. That was also youth opener.

[Happy]

For me $1.60 shell=dead turkey.
$10.00 shell= waste of money.
I am an overkill within reason but #5's kill them plenty dead at the ranges I deem shootable.

[Greg Massey]

I can remember the day's we all thought we needed a 10 gauge ... i had to have one of those and carrying it in the woods was like dragging a ball and chain ... Now i will just keep and carry my 20 gauge and federal HW 7 .... 0 - 40 is my range ... but i sure do like those kills at 20 or less....

[Premier Turkey Calls]

So it sounds like the consensus is that there is little advantage to switching to TSS in 12 gauge unless one intends to shoot long range, shoot in thick cover, or obliterate the turkeys head with more pellets. The last one could be a huge disadvantage. Miss low... More pellets to pick out... Smaller pellets to pick out... Tougher on the teeth when you miss picking out the small, harder than lead pellets...

[MK M GOBL]

It is easy to talk about up close and personal in a blind with decoys around you. Sitting against a tree with nothing but hoping your set up is good enough to not get picked out by him is where the rush and enjoyment comes from. I would rather kill one at 40 with nothing but air between us than one a 10 in a blind with any weapon.


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Have killed them in the timber, out in an open picked corn field (no cover) and in an open pasture (again no cover) and no decoys or blind just my mouth call and shotgun and still under 20, I pick my sets right. And yes I do use a blind and decoys for hunts with youth, newbies, bow hunters and video all depends on the hunt and who I am calling for, but when I'm solo it's a different game.

MK M GOBL

Let me get this straight ...your saying you called a gobbler to under 20 yards in an open pasture with no blind, or cover? Really

Yes I have.

I'm not trying to say that this happens every day, far from it but I live in the "ridges and valleys" of  Mississippi River bluff country and use the land contours to move, may drop into the timber to get close. I have some very memorable hunts doing this, I have been beat and busted way more times than I have had success.

MK M GOBL 

[davisd9]

So it sounds like the consensus is that there is little advantage to switching to TSS in 12 gauge unless one intends to shoot long range, shoot in thick cover, or obliterate the turkeys head with more pellets. The last one could be a huge disadvantage. Miss low... More pellets to pick out... Smaller pellets to pick out... Tougher on the teeth when you miss picking out the small, harder than lead pellets...

Never found TSS in the breast meat, seems it all makes it to the breast bone or deeper.


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[Gobble!]

Never found TSS in the breast meat, seems it all makes it to the breast bone or deeper.


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Even shooting the 2.5oz load I've never had this problem.

[Greg Massey]

Never found TSS in the breast meat, seems it all makes it to the breast bone or deeper.


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Even shooting the 2.5oz load I've never had this problem.

NOW GUY'S ... You all know that depends on how close or how far your shooting that bird... 

[mudhen]

Lead is highly illegal in my home state!!!

Danger!!!

Danger!!!

TSS really snockers 'em!!

Also, I don't hunt turkeys to save money, so fancy shells that happen to be very effective are just fine with me!!!

[Gobble!]

Never found TSS in the breast meat, seems it all makes it to the breast bone or deeper.


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Even shooting the 2.5oz load I've never had this problem.

NOW GUY'S ... You all know that depends on how close or how far your shooting that bird... 

True. My point just because your shooting 2.5oz of TSS doesn't mean you going to pepper the bird, 0-40 yards. Now if you like to shoot birds in the chest then your better off giving that meat to a uncle you don't like so you save on the dentist bill.

[owlhoot]

Depends
As far as with the 20 qauges the Federal Tss 9's gave good 40 yard patterns with no fuss.
Didn't have to spend to a bunch on different loads, choke tubes , multiple range trips or extra cleaning regiments.
Of course sometimes all that extra stuff can be fun too.

[Bigeclipse]

I would really like to know if it is worth the extra money to change to TSS? Lead has been getting the job done for me ever since I started throwing it at turkeys. Would there be any true advantage to TSS other than being able to shoot a further distance and having more pellets in your pattern. I personally have no intention to ever shoot past 45 yards even if I had the capability to do so. Turkey hunting to me is at its best when it is up close and personal. I'm not trying to start another TSS debate, I just struggle to see the advantage of a $8-$10 a shot vs my current $2 a shot (longbeard xr). I enjoy practice shooting and trying and comparing different loads and shot but if I was paying that much per shot i'd shoot 1-2 shots before the season and call it good. Is it worth it?

Here are my honest two cents...the answer to your question is it depends. TSS is great because you can use much smaller shot size which allows many more pellets. What does this gain...well it gains you more hits. So when would TSS be a positive? If you have a gun that just wont pattern well with multiple chokes and multiple loads tested, I can say with a certainty that you WILL get well over 100 pellets in the 10 at 40 yards with basically any shotgun loaded with TSS 9s. If your max distance is 40 yards and your pattern is already hitting these numbers...then no, you really wont see much of a benefit. The other thing that is good about TSS is let's say your current setup allows 100+ hits at 40 yards but at 20 or even 30 yards it is very tight, well with TSS you could use a less tight choke allowing a larger pattern at those close distances but still 100+ hits at 40. For me, the reason I like TSS is 2 fold. I can now use a 20 gauge shotgun with TSS 9s and get better patterns than I ever did with 3 or even 3.5inch shells in a 12 gauge using non-TSS loads. 20 gauge shotguns tend to be less expensive, are lighter and handier in the woods and reloading my own TSS in 20 gauge is cheap. I also use a 12 gauge when I'm hunting in a field. The reason for this is at 50 yards I am still getting insane hit counts. I do not advocate such far shots but we all know stuff can happen in excitement and it did with me a couple years back. I shot at a turkey which I swore was 40 yards. Turned out to be 54 yards! I wounded the bird. Luckily it didn't go far and I finished it off quickly. I would have bet someone 1000$ I was so confident that bird was around 40 yards but in a flat open field it can be difficult. I did use my range finder earlier to range several objects in the field around me to get an idea but that obviously did not work. Now with TSS I know I can flat out knock a bird down at those distances. I would never do that on purpose and honestly, it almost takes the fun out of it. I like to get them around 30 yards but should something happen, I know I wont wound a bird at those distances.