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New gear 2026 edition….

Mass doesn't kill animals. Speed and accuracy. I need my pellets to get there as quickly as possible.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
I was thinking about the TSS situation this morning while out turkey hunting and one thing that occurred to me that I really like about TSS over lead is that the birds I've shot with TSS just drop. No flopping, no nothing. They are out and limp like a sack of potatoes. They are dead before they hit the ground. That hasn't been that case with lead loads most times. I seem to remember a lot more flopping and flouncing before switching to TSS. I think TSS is just more humane...for the birds sake.
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Not to take anything away from the killing power of a thick swarm of TSS, but appropriate sized and loaded lead, good sights, accuracy and pattern at conservative ranges, and not shooting through brush cuts way back on the flopping.

I can't think of any time I had a flopper that I could honestly blame the lead.
 
You know, I was thinking about this yesterday waiting on a turkey. I was thinking about how to get TSS performance out of lead, or something similar, and that got me thinking about going the opposite direction of TSS and using something like aluminum pellets (low mass) moving at very high velocity (relative to a shotgun) like 2300 to 2400 fps. I have some shotgun loading experience but I'm no internal ballistician, so I don't know if those speeds are achievable. Most loads go in that 1200 fps range. I also was thinking about a heavier payload of lead, maybe 3 ounces, pushed to subsonic speeds, somewhere in the 900 to 950 fps range.

Shotguns are weird. When I was working up my TSS loads and picking a choke, the patterns were going wild. I contacted someone working at Apex ammunition and talked with them. They suggested going with a looser choke, and the patterns improved dramatically. Tight chokes don't necessarily correspond to tight patterns.

If you want speed to outrun a bird's reflexes, subsonic would be plenty fast. They can't duck a pattern going 900 fps. It's not like we are talking arrow velocities.
 
woodsdog2 said:
Ahh, gotcha! I thought bismuth was heavier than lead. Not sure why they put it in loads like Golden Pheasant. Maybe a lead alternative more for public health reasons than performance…..
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It started as an alternative to steel shot for waterfowl hunters. When steel came out there were tons of shotguns that were not compatible with shooting steel, it wrecked barrels.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
You know, I was thinking about this yesterday waiting on a turkey. I was thinking about how to get TSS performance out of lead, or something similar, and that got me thinking about going the opposite direction of TSS and using something like aluminum pellets (low mass) moving at very high velocity (relative to a shotgun) like 2300 to 2400 fps. I have some shotgun loading experience but I'm no internal ballistician, so I don't know if those speeds are achievable. Most loads go in that 1200 fps range. I also was thinking about a heavier payload of lead, maybe 3 ounces, pushed to subsonic speeds, somewhere in the 900 to 950 fps range.

Shotguns are weird. When I was working up my TSS loads and picking a choke, the patterns were going wild. I contacted someone working at Apex ammunition and talked with them. They suggested going with a looser choke, and the patterns improved dramatically. Tight chokes don't necessarily correspond to tight patterns.

If you want speed to outrun a bird's reflexes, subsonic would be plenty fast. They can't duck a pattern going 900 fps. It's not like we are talking arrow velocities.
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Just call em up to 25-30 yards and shoot with whatever shells you have that are handy. They will all work. Too much emphasis in the hunting industry on making everyone be a shooter rather than a hunter.

STAY OFF MY GRASS!!!
 
BTaylor said:
Just call em up to 25-30 yards and shoot with whatever shells you have that are handy. They will all work. Too much emphasis in the hunting industry on making everyone be a shooter rather than a hunter.

STAY OFF MY GRASS!!!
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Well, this is all true, but consider this... I can get 6 yard bow shots on deer which have an awesome sense of smell, hearing and sight. In two years I have not been able to get an unobstructed shot within 70 yards of a gobbler. But, hey, turkeys are easy to kill.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
Well, this is all true, but consider this... I can get 6 yard bow shots on deer which have an awesome sense of smell, hearing and sight. In two years I have not been able to get an unobstructed shot within 70 yards of a gobbler. But, hey, turkeys are easy to kill.
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It helps a lot to hunt where they is not where they aint. That is experience talking.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
Well, this is all true, but consider this... I can get 6 yard bow shots on deer which have an awesome sense of smell, hearing and sight. In two years I have not been able to get an unobstructed shot within 70 yards of a gobbler. But, hey, turkeys are easy to kill.
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Gobblers will come in close if you let them. (We all need a reminder of this every once in a while.)

They will do it on their own timetable, and you need to be sitting where they want to be.

As you know, there's a time to call, and a time not to call. There's also a time to chase them, and a time to let them come to you. I know you've said you don't want to hunt gobblers the way you do deer, but there's a reason run-and-gun didn't become really popular until there were a lot of birds around.

Before that, it was just called "finding a bird to hunt" and it was a lot of work, so you had to be a little crazy to think it was fun.

When the gobblers are scarce, quiet, or the hunting is tough for some other reason, scouting, woodsmanship and waiting them out where they want to walk are the proven old-school tools.

Hope this helps, LOL.

Bart Gobblers Close.png
 
BTaylor said:
It helps a lot to hunt where they is not where they aint. That is experience talking.
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They are there. They (or their wives) seem to be extremely call shy. Call to them and they go the other way. Kinda defeats the purpose. The alternative is pick a random spot in the woods, sit all day, and hope one walks by at some point within range.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
They are there. They (or their wives) seem to be extremely call shy. Call to them and they go the other way. Kinda defeats the purpose. The alternative is pick a random spot in the woods, sit all day, and hope one walks by at some point within range.
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What we need here is some piece of gear that will herd the turkeys back in the direction they don't want to go ...

Let's get Ron Popiel on this right away.. Ronco has to still be around, right?

Otherwise, this thread will get hijacked to hunting strategy/ turkey therapy territory, and nobody here wants that ...LOL
 
Swamp Fox__On The Run said:
What we need here is some piece of gear that will herd the turkeys back in the direction they don't want to go ...

Let's get Ron Popiel on this right away.. Ronco has to still be around, right?

Otherwise, this thread will get hijacked to hunting strategy/ turkey therapy territory, and nobody here wants that ...LOL
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"Let's get Ron Popiel on this right away.. Ronco has to still be around, right?"

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...
 
Swamp Fox__On The Run said:
What we need here is some piece of gear that will herd the turkeys back in the direction they don't want to go ...

Let's get Ron Popiel on this right away.. Ronco has to still be around, right?

Otherwise, this thread will get hijacked to hunting strategy/ turkey therapy territory, and nobody here wants that ...LOL
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Ok, so here it is. For only $199.99 you can get the turkey thumper. Just stick it in the ground and its rhythmic thumping will bring in the birds by imitating the natural infrasound made during spitting and drumming. (may also attract sandworms, use with caution).
 

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NMSbowhunter said:
Ok, so here it is. For only $199.99 you can get the turkey thumper. Just stick it in the ground and its rhythmic thumping will bring in the birds by imitating the natural infrasound made during spitting and drumming. (may also attract sandworms, use with caution).
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I had to look that up ... My fantasy game is pretty lame.

On the other hand, I did think for a moment about suggesting you build a long fence of Ghost Blinds in your turkeys' escape path. Approaching gobblers would be so confused/aggravated/frustrated at seeing what they think are other birds that are just making fun of every thing they do that they would eventually turn around and head back in your direction.
 
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