The best turkey chokes for TSS, and why the tube has to be rated for tungsten

How we picked

One rule decided this page: the maker has to name TSS or tungsten on its own product page. We have not installed or patterned any of these tubes. Each was scored on the choke rubric published with our First-Season Score: load compatibility 30%, constriction options 20%, thread fit coverage 20%, build and porting 15%, published patterning guidance 15%, from maker pages read on 2026-09-22. If you are still weighing whether tungsten belongs in your first season at all, start at the guns and loads hub.

Two makers here rate their tubes for lead and tungsten, which is why they rank first: Kick's (“lead, TSS, or other non-toxic loads”) and Primos, whose TSS tube is “specifically designed for TSS loads” and “will also shoot super tight patterns with HEVI-Shot, Copper Plated and Lead Shot.” Carlson's TSS Turkey line is the dedicated option, named for one load family and sold in all three gauges a turkey hunter is likely to carry.

The six tubes, side by side

Every value links to the maker page it came from. Constrictions are exit diameters at the muzzle, and they change with the thread you buy, not just the gauge.

Why the tube has to say TSS

Tungsten Super Shot is not a harder version of lead, it is a different material. Apex Ammunition publishes TSS at 18.1 g/cc against 11.34 g/cc for lead and 7.86 g/cc for steel. Carlson's puts the same comparison in its own words: TSS has “a 56% heavier density than traditional lead shot.” Winchester adds the property that matters inside a choke: “Tungsten pellets are so hard that they don't deform, resulting in almost no flyers and tighter patterns downrange.”

Here is the honest version of what that means for a choke tube. No maker we read publishes a warning that TSS will damage a tube that is not rated for it. What they publish is which loads they designed each tube around, and they are specific: Carlson's cut its TSS tube for Federal Premium Heavyweight TSS and smaller shot sizes 7 to 9, and cut a separate Long Beard tube for Winchester's lead loads. Indian Creek, which makes a well-regarded turkey tube, simply declines to advise: “If you are considering TSS shells, check the shell manufacturers' website (i.e. Nitro, Apex, Federal) for their recommendations with our choke tubes.” Patternmaster and JEBS publish no load rating at all.

So the rule is not superstition, it is buying inside the evidence: use a tube whose maker will put its own name behind the load you are shooting. These makers do publish hard limits when they have them, which is how you know the silence elsewhere is meaningful. Every one of them bans steel shot in a turkey tube, and Carlson's spells it out: “Do Not Use Any Steel Shot Larger Than #4, Slugs, Sabots, Rifled Slugs, or 00/000 Buckshot Through a Carlson's Turkey Choke.”

Why Kick's Gobblin' Thunder wins

At 9.3 it is the highest-scoring choke in our registry, and it earns it on the two metrics that carry the most weight. Load compatibility: Kick's names lead and TSS in the same sentence, so one tube covers both the cheap shells you pattern with and the expensive ones you hunt with. Thread fit: 19 separate 12 ga versions, from Invector and Invector Plus through Remington, Remington Pro Bore, Mossberg Ultimag, Benelli Crio Plus, Beretta Optima, Retay, CZ and Ruger.

It also offers the widest choice of sizes here: six exit diameters, 0.655 to 0.685 in, within the Invector Plus thread alone. Every other tube on this page gives you exactly one diameter per thread. Kick's publishes 17-4 PH stainless, diagonal porting, an extended body you tighten with your fingers, and a choke selector tool it tells buyers to use when matching a size to a gun and a load.

The trade-off is paperwork. Kick's publishes no warranty terms, and its Invector Plus 12G page is marked “NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES ON THIS ITEM.” Carlson's covers every tube it sells with a lifetime warranty and will replace a damaged one by mail. If you want a maker that names the exact box of shells the tube was cut for, that is Carlson's too, and the gap between them, 9.3 to 7.4, is mostly thread count and size choice rather than anything about tungsten.

12 gauge, 20 gauge and .410

TSS is the reason the small gauges are in this conversation at all, so this page covers all three.

12 gauge

Three picks: Kick's at 0.655 to 0.685 in depending on thread, Carlson's TSS Turkey at 0.640 to 0.675 in across 8 thread systems, and the Primos TSS at 0.650 in for most threads and 0.670 in for the Mossberg 835/935. If you also want the lead-rated tubes ranked beside them, that is our full best turkey choke list.

20 gauge

Kick's 20 ga at 0.560 or 0.570 in across 12 threads, and Carlson's TSS 20 ga at 0.555 in, or 0.565 in for the Browning Invector Plus. Carlson's files the 20 ga Mossberg 500 under its Winchester / Browning Invector / Mossberg 500 thread, item 38008, and warns in capitals that the same tube “DOES NOT FIT WINCHESTER SX-2, SX-3, SX-4 or SXP.” The rest of the 20 ga field, including the lead-rated tubes, is in our 20-gauge choke picks.

.410

Carlson's TSS Turkey .410 is the pick, at 0.385 in, marked “410 SHOTGUNS ONLY.” Carlson's names the guns: its Long Invector 1.9 in flush version (item 38032) fits the Browning BPS and Citori, CVA Scout, Henry and Mossberg 500, and its Short Invector version (item 38030) fits the Stevens 301. Carlson's interchange guide also says the .410 Remington 870 uses Remington Pro Bore threads, which Carlson's “does not make.”

Whether a .410 belongs in the turkey woods is a fair question, and the NWTF has looked at it: it reports that a 13/16 oz load of No. 9 TSS carries about 295 pellets, that test guns “averaged 125 to 150 pellets in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards,” and that “most current .410 bore shotguns come with fixed full-choked barrels,” which is precisely why a threaded .410 and a tube like this one change the picture. We work through the whole case in the .410 for turkey hunting.

What tungsten actually changes, and what it does not

Density buys pellet count. Apex publishes TSS No. 9 shot at 362 pellets per ounce and notes that “when the density is increased, the shot size can be reduced without losing knockdown performance.” Winchester's product manager, announcing its own tungsten load, claims a 12 ga No. 9 TSS load puts “over 8 times the pellets into a 10-inch circle at 60 yards when compared to traditional lead #5s,” and calls it “a legitimate 60-yard plus turkey load.”

Read those as marketing claims from the companies selling the shells, because that is what they are. They are also the reason a 20 gauge or a .410 can now hold a pattern that a lead load in the same gun could not. What tungsten does not change is the part that is yours: where your gun shoots, how your barrel's bore interacts with a given exit diameter, and how far you can honestly take a shot. That is settled on a pattern board, not on a page. The routine is in how to pattern a turkey gun, and how TSS stacks up against good lead, including on cost, is in TSS vs lead turkey loads.

Three things to check before you buy

1. Your thread, from the maker's chart. Read the factory tube in your gun, then confirm the match on the maker's own interchange list. A Mossberg 500 and a Mossberg 835 take different tubes, and Kick's says it plainly: “Mossberg has multiple thread systems that are not interchangeable.” Our guide to choosing a turkey choke has the thread systems by gun in one table.
2. Whether one size will do. Carlson's and Primos sell a single exit diameter per thread. That is a clean decision and a dead end if the pattern disappoints. Kick's is the only line here with room to step tighter or looser inside the same thread.
3. Availability and terms. Every primos.com product page is currently marked “This is a pre order item.” Kick's marks some pages non-returnable and publishes no warranty. Carlson's publishes a lifetime warranty and made-in-USA sourcing. Those are not pattern claims, but they are real parts of the purchase.

Buyer's guide: your first TSS setup

Decide whether you need TSS at all

Plenty of first turkeys are taken with lead. Tungsten earns its place when you shoot a 20 gauge or a .410, when you want the same pattern density from a lighter gun, or when your state restricts lead where you hunt. If you are mostly shooting a 12 gauge inside 40 yards, a good lead load through a lead-rated tube is not a compromise. The comparison, with pellet counts from both sides, is in what size shot for turkey, and if you are still assembling a first kit, our beginner gear picks put the choke in proportion to everything else.

Match the tube to a named load, then stop shopping

Carlson's cut its TSS tube for Federal Premium Heavyweight TSS and says it also works with other makers' turkey ammunition in smaller shot sizes 7 to 9. That is a complete buying instruction: tube, load, shot size. Buying a tube for one load family and then shooting something unrelated through it throws away the only thing you paid for.

Budget the shells, not just the tube

Tungsten shells are the expensive part of this setup, and you need several to pattern properly. A practical approach is to find your point of impact with cheap lead shells, confirm the tube is seated and the sights are right, then spend the tungsten on two or three patterns at 40 yards to count what actually lands.

Never put steel through a turkey tube

This is the one hard safety line every maker on this page draws. Carlson's: no steel shot larger than #4, no slugs, no sabots, no buckshot. Primos: the TSS tube is “not to be used with Steel Shot.” Patternmaster: “NOT safe for use with steel shot.” If you also duck hunt with the same gun, keep the turkey tube in its own pocket and check what is in the barrel every time you change seasons.

The first-season mistake: trusting the yardage on the box

Load makers publish 50 and 60 yard claims for tungsten, and some of them may hold up in the gun the maker used. None of them were measured in yours. Pattern at 40 yards, count the hits in a 10 in circle, and set your personal limit from that number. How to read the count is covered in how far you can shoot a turkey.