TSS #9's with Winchester 34 .410

[SCnative]

I know in the big TSS thread there were a few of us that were going to try it in the .410. My intent was to have a good turkey gun with low weight and recoil for my kids. I hit the paper with it earlier this week (pics/pellet counts later).....

10 yds - great as in not too tight like you get with a typical load with turkey choke. One ragged hole with plenty of outliers to help a near miss. Maybe the outliers are from the bottom of the tall column that's inherent with a .410.
20 yds - good. The kind of pattern that will definitely kill a bird, but I'd expect at 30-35 with the 12g/turkey choke. This distance seem optimal.
30 yds - just OK.

At $5/shell, I didn't go farther than that, but I did finish the box with two more 30yd shots with the same result. Just refining some point of aim/point of impact issues with the old gun.

I read an article which was a .410 TSS review using an old Rem 870 pump .410 and a Win 34 single shot like mine. The 870 was much better to the point that he quit with the 34. I can't find that link at the moment.

Just curious, but did any of you Win 34 owners ever get around to trying it?

 

[josh]

No help with the Winchester 34

The federal and apex loads hold an acceptable killing pattern out to 40 with a mossberg 500 fixed full choke. I didn’t try any further, I will limit shots to 30 yards max with that setup but it should kill at 40 if distance was misjudged.

How was the pattern at 30?

 

[lasttombstone]

I have taken 4 with my Win. 37 at 16, 24, 28 and 30 yards. My patterns are good for 40 yards but I prefer to let them keep coming if they will. 20017 bird at 28 yds.

 

[SCnative]

Correction, Winchester 37! Sorry about that. Mine's just like the one lasttombstone has pictured. Here's the pics of the patterns. The 30 is better than I remembered. The last two 30yd shots aren't pictured, but they weren't as good. I was playing with point of aim a bit, but even so they weren't as consistent. I may play some more. Might even take it hunting. I took the 870 this morning. The .410 would have done just as good.....skunked!

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[45/70 hunter]

Not great but, looks like 5 to the spine, 4 more at the edge of it, and 2 in the brain ... dead bird!

 

[darkthirty]

Are you handloading? Have you tried 10’s? A lot of guys carrying 410’s have gone to 10’s and are quitE pleased with the results.

 

[lasttombstone]

I don't have a fancy turkey picture to post for you. I just use a piece of cardboard but just pulled 2 of my old boards from last year with #9 TSS. 30 yds. had 136 hits in a 10 inch and 138 in a 20 inch for a total of 274. at 50 yds., just for fun, I had 62 hits in the 10 inch circle. For what it's worth.
I can kill cardboard but can't find a turkey to try it on so far this year.

 

[SCnative]

Not great but, looks like 5 to the spine, 4 more at the edge of it, and 2 in the brain ... dead bird!

That's what I was thinking!

Are you handloading? Have you tried 10’s? A lot of guys carrying 410’s have gone to 10’s and are quitE pleased with the results.

No, not hand loading. This is Winchester TSS. I'd be interested to try that.

I don't have a fancy turkey picture to post for you. I just use a piece of cardboard but just pulled 2 of my old boards from last year with #9 TSS. 30 yds. had 136 hits in a 10 inch and 138 in a 20 inch for a total of 274. at 50 yds., just for fun, I had 62 hits in the 10 inch circle. For what it's worth.
I can kill cardboard but can't find a turkey to try it on so far this year.

I'd rather have used cardboard, but printed these in a hurry and didn't have any on hand. Sounds like yours is throwing a tight pattern. Are they handloads?

 

[hawglips]

Most guys are getting over 100 in a 10" circle at 40 yds with anything from 9s to 9-1/2s to 10s.

 

[lasttombstone]

Yes, SC. Mine are handloads from the original TSS guru.

 

[SCnative]

Who's the TSS guru? If he's still doing it, I'd rather buy from him than "the man". Even for my regular 12ga stuff.

 

[lasttombstone]

That would be hawglips, but it is a bit of a drive from SC.

 

[SCnative]

Thanks. I'm actually near Winston for the last 12 yrs. I'm just from SC originally.

 

[Part-time hunter]

On the advice of and with the help of Lasttombstone I traded in my 12 gauge H&R that shot 3 1/2 inch shells for a Savage .410. And I have taken a couple of toms around the 30 yard range. And my repaired rotator cuff is much happier. I was using the tss on one of them but the other was taken with Federal premium not tss. I just bought some of Federals tss . 410 shells and I'm looking forward to trying them out.