Federal 20 gauge TSS question

[turkeykirk]

Decided to try a box of the Federal TSS #9 shot. Bought a box and got home and opened them. The shells are different than what it says on the box. Too much trouble to try to go back and exchange them. Anyone else ran across this? How much difference do y’all think would be between the #7-9 blend vs. straight #9’s (besides more pellets).Thanks.

 

[tad1]

Federal should be made aware. They may send you some replacement direct and or send Prepaid label for returning them

 

[Lumpkin Hunter]

If my memory is correct Midway had an issue with this same situation earlier in the year. From what I recall Federal had a mess up when packaging the shells and placed the blends in the #9 boxes. Someone posted that Federal would send you new #9's if you want to swap them out. This is the first year I have shot a 20 and I used the Federal #9's. Killed two birds shooting a flush .585 Carlson choke. Shooting at paper I would get 300 pellets in a 10" square not circle, just the way I done it. The pattern out side of the 10" was very even also. My son in law shot a Carlson non ported .575 choke. Not sure of pellet count but I do know he got a very even pattern.
As to the shell performance I couldn't ask for anything better. They flat out smacked the heads of the turkeys I killed and the ones my son in law killed. I shot one for 45 yards but he was a little further than that, the 9's dropped him flat with little flopping. I also killed a coyote at a little under 20 yards. He stepped forward on the shot so i hit him shoulder back. He ran a ways but died.
I shoot a youth 11-87 and did have an issue with the shell feeding the second shell into the chamber due to the length. Others have had the same issue with them in various automatic shotguns. I'll shoot them next year for sure just because of the smack they put on a turkey head. Good luck with them.

 

[Lumpkin Hunter]

I apologize for not actually answering your question. In my opinion you will get a good pattern if you use the right choke with the blend. I actually patterned the Federal 3rd degree which is a blend. It did well with a tighter choke. It shot well with a Primos Tight Wad .570 ported choke. They also did OK with the .585 non ported flush mount choke so I think the 7-9 blend will be a killer. They will for sure hit hard due to the mass weight of the pellets, most likely pattern well and kill turkeys, just get the right choke which I will suggest the Carlson extended non ported .575 choke like my SIL shoots in his youth Rem 870.

 

[High road]

I sent Federal customer service an email with the lot # and pics about 2 weeks later they sent me a free box of 9s and I got to keep the blends. Both pattern well in my guns SA-20 and 500 youth with Carlson extended .575 chokes almost to tight.
I think more turkeys are missed with too tight of a pattern under 30 yards than most people will admit. 40 yards will give you a
basketball sized pattern. Ain't much room for error inside 30 yards +- 6 inches and it could be bad news.
You got nothing to loose if you contact Federal.

 

[jrmcc]

I'm sure they will kill, but I'd definitely check the patterns. My handloaded tss tend to shoot nice even 15-18" pattern at 40yards. The federal tss #9's shot 8-10" pattern that moved around a bit. They are a little tight through the same choke I shoot handloads through. The whole reason i shoot tss is for a forgiving pattern, but my federal tss patterns came out similar to long beards at twice the price. I'v been told the #7 shot patterns tighter than the 9's but never tried it.

 

[Bubba_1122]

#9's have 362 pellets per ounce. #7's have 185 pellets per ounce.

Don't know what proportion Federal puts in their blend shells, but if it's half and half of 9's and 7's then you have roughly 440 pellets with the 7-9's (as opposed to 588 if it's just #9's).

That means you'd be giving up roughly 25% of your pattern density.

I've been shooting TSS for a number of years, and load my own 410, 28 and 20's. I only shoot 9's cause it does what I want it to do - and does it very well.

If it were me I'd go back and get what I paid for.