What are you shooting this spring?

[Chief44]

T

H&K Fabarm 20ga, Federal TSS 8/10s through a factory .580 in my long barrel. After lugging a 12ga around for decades it's an absolute joy to carry and will flat wear a turkey's face out.

View attachment 68638

sweet setup. I've always wanted an over/under turkey gun.

 

[Woodman]

Beretta 390 12-gauge with a 24" barrel, Truglo sights and a Carlson extended turkey choke (.665). I get good patterns with both #6 & #5 Winchester Long Beard XR's...so that's what I'll be using.

 

[Bgoodman30]

M2 20 compact with Jebs 560 and Holosun dot. 5 lbs! Love it

 

[younggun308]

My "all-around" shotgun, Winchester SXP 3.5 Double X #5 through a .665 Indian Creek choke. 28" barrel + 2" choke can be annoying to carry in the thick stuff, but it flat out patterns!

Will be testing 3.5" 2 1/8oz #5 Longbeards. Might use them over the Double X depending on how it looks.

 

[cowhunter71]

Will start off with my old Win model 42 410 back home in 2 weeks. I'll drop back down into Al and Ga with my 870 Wingmaster magnum 12ga and continue hunting it when we start here. Have an old Mossberg ultimag that I switch out with from time to time here as well. Even tote a break open H&R 12 on special occasions, usually late season. I shoot either a single bead or true glo front and rear stick ons. 3in 71/2's in my 410. 3in #6's in my 12's.

 

[Tenntrapper]

I have killed turkey with 12,16,20, and 410. This year I will be using my CZ Bobwhite G2 in 28g. I am going to another member's house tomorrow to pattern with some tss he's hooking me up with. Hopefully a couple of the included chokes will work, otherwise I'll probably be looking at comp-n- chokes. I've been told they do well with tss and the 28.

 

[Spurhunter]

Beretta 390 12-gauge with a 24" barrel, Truglo sights and a Carlson extended turkey choke (.665). I get good patterns with both #6 & #5 Winchester Long Beard XR's...so that's what I'll be using.

I have an Extrema 2 that I use on the rare duck, dove, or rabbit hunt. One of these days I'm going to take it on a turkey hunt.

 

[chrmayo]

More than likely my m1 12 with 24" barrel. If I can get me a speed bead in in time to get her sighted in before season. It shoots the federal tss pretty good but think I can get a little more out of the apex.

 

[TheLBLman]

SA 459? If so what choke are you using?

Not sure of the model # because this one was the 1st year Weatherby introduced a dedicated "turkey" shotgun. I believe it was only a year later they changed where manufactured, and the subsequent versions (SA 459) use an entirely different choke system.

I'm using the "turkey" choke that came with this one, as do not want anything any tighter. SCN has one of the newer versions, and I believe he is getting rifle-like patterns (which would likely just cause me to miss).

For me, the best thing about #9 TSS is you can use a more open choke, be less likely to miss at the ranges you normally shoot turkeys, yet still have range beyond 12 ga lead.

 

[TheLBLman]

I hope to use my grandaddys Iver Johnson single shot 16 gauge.
30" full barrel. With lead loads too. TSS would make it easier, and that isn't what I'm about.

I've killed longbeards with both my different Grandfathers' different 16 ga shotguns, and have killed longbeards with 3 different 16 ga guns now. Some were killed with #7 1/2 loads, same as I used for quail hunting.

Let the birds get up close, it really doesn't matter so much what gun or what shells you're shooting, and it's a whole lot more fun, up close & personal.

 

[Ol Fart]

I am going to carry 3 different guns this year for the most part. The Stoeger 3020 with , Savage 301T 410 and The Mossberg Sa 20 Turkey thug. I shoot Federal TSS #9 out of each . I have too many! I may put a Tri star raptor 20 gauge in the classifieds but I hate to let it go, however it sit in the safe all last season!

Pics n price on that Raptor?

 

[deerfever]

Sent you a PM ,Ol Fart

 

[mike52]

For the last few years I have been hunting with 870 Remington 20 ga. Changed over to TSS 2 years ago---what a difference ! Shot a nice bird at 40 yards last year with #8 ...totally devastated it.. Have a Charles Daily 410 bore single shot going to hunt with this year. Shooting #9 TSS will see if it will do the job. I Think it will

 

[hard county]

Sp10! In a swamp... Hopefully I will burn off a few of this winter's duckblind breakfasts lugging that cannon around.

 

[Displaced_Vol]

SX3 with Jebs choke and Longbeard XR

Pretty country

 

[Displaced_Vol]

The old rattle can 835 started acting up last year. So I used my affinity all last season and it was a lot nicer carrying around than the 835. I prefer Win XX 5s but I've got a bit of a grab bag on hand to do some patterning. I've never struggled with any turkey load to be honest as long as I've done my job.

One of these days I'll downsize to a 20 or something but not this season.

 

[rem270]

Pretty country

That's about as far East Tn as you can get. Hunted with knightrider that morning and he called 2 birds in from almost a mile away.

 

[TN Larry]

Youth model camo 870 20 ga shooting hand rolled TSS #9s.

TSS is a game changer for the smaller gauges. Mine throws a pattern with 250 in the 10" and 250 more in the 10 to 20". The pattern, light weight, and reduced recoil is the reason that my 12 will probably never see the turkey woods again. My son is also shooting a youth 870 with the wood stock and TSS #9s with basically the same pattern.

 

[Boll Weevil]

^This. TSS game changer. May have tanked the 10ga turkey gun market, and really chipped into the 12ga turkey gun market.

 

[Tenntrapper]

For the last few years I have been hunting with 870 Remington 20 ga. Changed over to TSS 2 years ago---what a difference ! Shot a nice bird at 40 yards last year with #8 ...totally devastated it.. Have a Charles Daily 410 bore single shot going to hunt with this year. Shooting #9 TSS will see if it will do the job. I Think it will

My single shot 410 got it done more than once..with #9 tss.

 

[RobDooley]

I don't have a pic of the gun handy but it's a Remington 870 compact 20ga, Burris Fast Fire 3 and Carlsons .555 choke with Federal #9 TSS. Here's 20 and 40 yard patterns.

that is awesome

 

[RobDooley]

Turkeys. I'm shootin turkeys

Good answer

 

[bvoss]

My gun is a Mossberg 930 field edition with a burris fastfire 3 and the factory turkey choke. My boys are taking a Stevens 301 .410 with a Sig Sauer Romeo 5 and the factory choke. We are all shooting 3" Federal TSS #9's.

 

[Rakkin6]

Mossberg 835 and some Apex TSS

 

[Specializedjon]

Just shootin the S**t this year. No gobblers.

 

[Granddaddy]

You didn't ask, so forgive the unsolicited advice. But with TSS, shooting anything larger than 9s out of a 20 gauge is very counterproductive. The advantage of TSS is the ability to shoot much smaller shot which increases the number of pellets in a payload.

9s are more than adequate to kill a turkey farther than anyone should shoot at a turkey. With 7.5s, you'll have about 300 pellets. With 9s, you'll have about 540. So you'll gain nothing with 7.5s but lose 45% of your payload.

Maybe it's just phycological, shooting lead #4,5 or 6s at turkey for years. My patterns at 40 yds with 7.5 TSS are better than my lead from my 12 ga. so I wouldn't call it counter productive. Would love to shoot 8s or 9s if I could convince myself they can kill (yes I've seen the data). Thanks for the info.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Maybe it's just phycological, shooting lead #4,5 or 6s at turkey for years. My patterns at 40 yds with 7.5 TSS are better than my lead from my 12 ga. so I wouldn't call it counter productive. Would love to shoot 8s or 9s if I could convince myself they can kill (yes I've seen the data). Thanks for the info.

Counterproductive is probably the wrong word. There are about the same number of pellets in an oz of TSS 7.5s as there are in an oz of lead 6 (~220). But TSS 7.5s will undoubtedly outpattern and outperform lead 6s. So you are gaining something over lead. But from a physics and performsnce standpoint, there is just no argument for 7.5s over 9s for turkeys.

I completely get the psychological aspect. I started hand loading tungsten in 2013 before it was sold commercially. Couldn't make myself shoot 9s. Thought about loading 7.5s but those who had more experience explained basically what I'm explaining here. Still couldn't do 9s, so I loaded 8s for a couple years. Eventually I started wrapping my head around it and moved down to 8.5s. Finally, 2-3 years ago I bought 9s. Last year I even shot one with #10s out of a .410.

Shoot what you're comfortable with. It took me years to become comfortable with 9s, and without a doubt, 7.5s will kill turkeys remarkably well. But 7.5s versus 9s is ultimately a choice between 310 lethal pellets or 540 lethal pellets going downrange.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Yildiz youth SPZ ME 20 gauge, magnum butt pad added to make LOP equivalent to an adult stock. Sumtoy .570 choke in the top barrel and I ordered a Trulock improved modified for the bottom. Topped with a Fastfire III and loaded with hand rolled 1 5/8 oz 9s.

High Standard Flite King K4111 .410. Factory full barrel, Fastfire III, hand rolled 13/16 oz 9.5s or 10s. I'm really fond of this gun, probably more for nostalgia than anything else, but it has performed admirably on turkeys along with several other species.

 

[Andy S.]

^^^^ Fun setups bud, good luck with them this spring!

 

[tickweed]

Matthews Z7 extreme, or a model 42 Winchester 410, apex tss