doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com TSS?

I bought two pounds but haven't used it because I'm waiting for in-the-blind reports and recipes closer to my supplies at hand, particularly the latter. Switch to TSS worth the cost and effort?

Great, let us know when you have test results, our season has not yet started

King, I'd say TSS is probably not worth it for waterfowl. The new Federal TSS loads are $7.00 a shot. I don't know what your reloading cost is. For Turkeys they're probably worth it...Geo

This may help if the link works.

https://www.duckhuntingchat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=849473


What size shot did you buy.

I�ve been thinking about the exact same thing. I�ve been thinking about hand loads using # 5 or #6 shot size. I have been shooting TM in #5 and just about out of bismuth in #6

My take on TSS. It would work well if you want to take your 410/28 to the duck blind, beyond that I see it as a crutch to replace hunting skills.

If you know how to find places where ducks want to be, place your decoys so they want to land in them, call to get their attention and give them confidence that it is OK to land there it doesn't make any difference what shot you use as most of your shots will be in skeet field distances. You also have to have patience to wait for those shots.

I used steel in a SKB-100 for many years and when I found Bismuth and ITX-10 for reloading my old sxs's went back in the field. I use ITX 6's and Bismuth 5's for all my waterfowl hunting now, 7/8-1 oz on the 12's and 3/4 oz in the 16. All I hunt is public lands and kill as many ducks as I care to eat in a year and that is a fair number as I love duck fajitas, saut�ed harts/gizzards/livers on my toast in the morning, duck and wildrice casserole, sliced duck breast on rye sandwiches, bacon wrapped duck breasts, goose in sauerkraut with apricot/mustard dipping sauce, you get the picture I like to eat waterfowl.

"Shoot the ducks you know you can kill, pass on the ones you think you can kill", a quote from an old duck hunter I admire a lot.

By that measure, every firearm and shotshell improvement going back to pinfire is a crutch.

I've used it for a decade now in turkey hunting, and consider it by far the best shot for that use. It's also great as a predator load. I dropped a coyote last week at 50 yds with a one ounce load of #8.

I am not much of a duck hunter, but I have tried it on ducks and I don't think it is worth the trouble or expense. The one ounce load of #8 in a 12 gauge gun patterned at 87% through a cylinder choke. That's way too tight for my shooting skills. But I'm a guy who is lucky to get to go duck hunting 5 times in a season, so someone who is serious about it might reach a different conclusion.

From all that I have read, I think the best use of TSS for waterfowl is probably in a duplex load with steel in a smaller gauge gun. A load like this might make you more effective with a 20 gauge gun.

If you are serious about trying it, do some reading on this site:

https://pipesf16.wordpress.com/tss-steel-duplexing-when-is-steel-enough/

The guy who owns this site has done extensive testing of it and is worth reading. Good luck with it.

"By that measure, every firearm and shotshell improvement going back to pinfire is a crutch."

Exactly, untold thousands of waterfowl were killed with percussion and early cartridge guns. People made a living killing waterfowl with them. The Shotgun reached it's peak over 100 years ago. Making ammo and chokes so you can kill a bird at 50 yards because you can't get them to come in to 30 yards or you don't have the patients to wait for them to come in is a crutch.

I can still kill ducks just fine with my muzzle loading shotgun, it shoots the same load as my cartridge shotgun, it is just slower to load.

Just got in from a good morning in the blind. The above settles it for me. I was using handload one-ounce bismuth size 5 in Sauer 16ga Model 8. For my waterfowling, it's just fine. Blacks and mallards aren't wary this early in the season, and I move to 12s regular stuff when the gunning gets serious. With a good dog, they keep me out of trouble. Thank you for your comments. You made up my mind. (My hand loads cost $1.35 each.)

Sounds like the perfect rig for hunting ducks, not only classy but effective.