Member
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
Posts: 1550
Location: Minnesota and Florida
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Several years ago I loaded up some of their "sabot load recipes". Over decoys, I shot a big Canada goose in ND with 7/8 oz. of #7 TSS. The goose tumbled over backward, not from the energy of the shot, but in apparent reaction to the shock. He just spread his wings and gave a few flaps and went over backwards. All those #7's went right straight through him and never so much as ruffled a feather. He came straight down, not one broken bone. It took a long time for him to die. I won't do that again.
The energy of a #7 TSS shot is almost exactly the same as a #5 lead shot, when launched at the same velocity. When launched at 40% higher velocity (easy to do in a 12 ga. with a 7/8 ounce load), that TSS #7 has almost exactly the same muzzle energy as a lead #2. It will retain its velocity much further out than the #2 lead because it's sectional density is 14.3% greater. However, due to its frontal area being only 44.4% of that #2, the TSS #7 will penetrate much further into the target, without transferring nearly as much energy into it.
OK then, how will TSS do for long shots? -- I mean 70 to 80 yard shots. It might shine there, if you are good enough to put it on target. Since it is very dense (18 to 19 grams per CC), depending on your load, you might not have as many pellets as you would with steel (7.83 g/cc) or some hard tungsten alloy that is around 13 grams/cc. Certainly, though, TSS will retain its energy at longer ranges than shot of other materials. I would strongly recommend never loading smaller than #5 TSS for long shots. Smaller sizes keep the pellet count up, but reduce per pellet energy transfer to the target. Number 5 is small enough. Now, how many of these long shots do you really take, or even want to or need to take? You surely do not need shot any more dense than steel if you are decoying properly! The real question is whether the benefit of TSS exceeds or even equals it's cost. The answer, in my case, is "no". |
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