TSS vs Lead Turkey Loads: What a First-Season Hunter Needs to Know

This is the first real fork in the guns and loads section: the box of shells you buy decides the shot size you shoot, the choke you screw in and, honestly, how much you spend before opening day. We cannot sell you ammunition here, and we have not fired any of it. What follows is what Federal, Winchester, Apex and the choke makers publish, plus what a state wildlife agency and the National Wild Turkey Federation say about the distances involved.

The verdict

TSS vs lead, side by side

Two things are missing from that table on purpose. There is no recoil column, because none of the load makers we read publishes recoil figures for turkey shells. And there is no “effective range” column with a single number in it, because that number belongs to your gun. We come back to both below.

What TSS actually is

TSS stands for Tungsten Super Shot. Apex Ammunition describes it as “a 18.1 g/cc density tungsten alloy” and puts lead at 11.34 g/cc and steel at 7.86 g/cc on the same page. Federal publishes its HEAVYWEIGHT TSS at 18 g/cc and says the density is “56 percent more than lead.”

That density is the whole argument. Apex puts it plainly: “when the density is increased, the shot size can be reduced without losing knockdown performance.” Federal says the same thing from the other direction — high-density TSS “allows the use of smaller shot for more than 800 pellets in certain payloads.” The NWTF, writing about .410 shotguns, goes further: “a No. 9 HEAVYWEIGHT TSS pellet carries at least as much penetration energy as a No. 5 lead pellet at all ranges.”

Be careful with the word tungsten, though. It does not always mean TSS. Winchester's Long Beard Tungsten is “optimized with 17g/cc tungsten shot,” and Boss lists its Boss TOM turkey loads under “Copper-Plated Tungsten.” Those are tungsten blends, not the 18 g/cc alloy. If the density matters to your choice, read the number on the maker's page rather than the word on the box.

Pellet count: the number that decides it

Turkey shooting is not about one pellet. It is about how many land in a circle the size of a gobbler's head and neck. Mississippi State University Extension states the working standard: “A standard ‘acceptable’ pellet count in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards is 100 holes.” Apex publishes the same rule of thumb.

This is also why TSS shooters use shot sizes that look absurd to anyone raised on No. 4 lead. Shot-size choice by gauge and load is its own subject, and it lives on our guide to what size shot for turkey, with a cited table by gauge.

What lead still does well

Nothing about TSS makes lead stop working. Federal calls the classic 3-inch 12-gauge 1 3/4-ounce load of No. 6 shot “a proven gobbler killer” on its own load-selection page, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation tells turkey hunters that “smaller shot, no. 4, 5, and 6, work better than larger shot, due to denser shot patterns.”

The premium lead lane is worth knowing about too. Winchester's Long Beard XR is copper-plated lead using what Winchester calls Shot-Lok Technology, and Winchester claims “twice the number of pellets in a 10-inch circle out to 60 yards compared to traditional lead turkey loads.” Carlson's built a whole choke line around it. So the real menu is three wide, not two: standard lead, premium plated lead, and TSS.

Range claims, and what to do with them

Every range number you will read comes from someone selling something. Federal says TSS has a “lethal range well past 50 yards, depending on the specific gun and choke.” Winchester's product manager, in Winchester's own announcement of Long Beard TSS, says a 12-gauge 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 all day, every day.”

Now set that beside a wildlife agency with nothing to sell. Missouri's conservation department writes: “Shooting at a turkey at more than 40 yards is not recommended, regardless of which gauge shotgun is used.” Both statements are honest inside their own frame. A load can be capable at 60 yards on paper while a 60-yard shot in the woods is still a bad idea — you misjudge distance, the bird moves, and a wounded turkey walks off.

The way out of the argument is paper. Pattern your own gun with the exact shell you will hunt, count the holes in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards, and let that decide your limit. We work through the distance question in detail on how far you can shoot a turkey.

Your choke has to be rated for it

This is the part beginners miss, and it is the part that costs money. A turkey choke is a tube with a specific exit diameter, cut and rated by its maker for particular loads. The makers do not all say the same thing:

• Carlson's TSS Turkey is, in Carlson's words, “optimized for Federal Premium® Heavyweight® TSS Turkey Loads but also work exceptionally well with other manufacturer's turkey ammunition (Smaller shot size 7-9).” Carlson's names no lead turkey load for it.
• Carlson's Long Beard was “specially designed to produce the best patterns when shooting Winchester's New Long Beard Turkey loads.” It is a lead tube; Carlson's does not rate it for TSS.
• Kick's Gobblin' Thunder is the one in this trio that covers both: Kick's writes that its chokes “can be safely used with lead, TSS, or other non-toxic loads.”
• Indian Creek takes a fourth position, and it is a fair one: “If you are considering TSS shells, check the shell manufacturers' website (i.e. Nitro, Apex, Federal) for their recommendations with our choke tubes.”

If you already know you are going the tungsten route, start with our TSS choke picks. If you are shopping the whole field, our best turkey chokes ranks lead-rated and TSS-rated tubes together.

The three tubes, side by side

Scores are computed from those published specs using the bands we publish at how we pick. They are not pattern results. No maker in this set publishes pattern counts for an individual tube, so nobody here earns a top mark for guidance.

The honest word on cost

We do not print prices, because prices move. What we can do is quote the makers. Winchester markets Long Beard XR as delivering “the knockdown power of popular heavier-than-lead loads at a fraction of the cost.” That is Winchester telling you, in its own advertising, that tungsten loads are the expensive ones. Everything published about TSS — the density, the pellet counts, the smaller shot sizes — comes with that price attached.

There is a practical consequence. Patterning burns shells: Carlson's recommends shooting a three-to-five target average, and Mississippi State's guide has you counting holes on several sheets of paper. If you buy the most expensive shells you can find and then skip patterning because you do not want to waste them, you have bought the wrong thing. A cheaper load you have proved on paper beats a premium load you have not.

Shot rules vary by state

Buy TSS if / buy lead if

Shoot TSS if

• You hunt with a 20 gauge, 28 gauge or .410. Density is what makes the small gauges work.
• You want the highest pellet count published — Federal lists more than 800 pellets in certain payloads.
• You hunt where non-toxic shot is required, and you have confirmed the rule with your state agency.
• You are willing to buy a TSS-rated choke and spend shells proving the pattern.

Shoot lead if

• You carry a 12 gauge and expect shots inside 40 yards, which is what Missouri's agency recommends anyway.
• You want to pattern generously without flinching at the cost of each shell.
• Your state restricts shot size in a way that rules out the fine shot TSS depends on.
• You want the widest choice of chokes: most turkey tubes are rated for lead and HEVI-Shot-type loads.

Buy a tube rated for both if

• You want to try TSS later without buying a second choke. Kick's Gobblin' Thunder is rated by Kick's for lead, TSS and other non-toxic loads.
• You share the gun, or you shoot lead at the range and carry TSS on opening morning.
• You accept the trade: Kick's publishes no warranty terms, while Carlson's covers its tubes for life.

Do not decide on this page alone

Whatever you buy, the last step is the same one: shoot it at paper at 40 yards, count the holes in a 10-inch circle, and hunt inside the distance that count supports.