ssramage
Senior Member
Better late than never I suppose. Work, family, and baseball obligations have had every non-rainy day off tied up over the last couple of months. Finally got out today and put my gun through the paces with a new choke and several new loads.
Gun is an NEF single shot 20 gauge. Choke for the last 10+ years has been a Colonial Arms X-Full turkey .570 and has always done really well, but it is VERY open with the new TSS loads. I picked up a Sumtoy .562 to give it a shot and see what a tighter pattern looks like. Patterns looked like the below (count in 10" circle at 40 yds):
Federal TSS #9 (Colonial Arms - Baseline): 146
Federal TSS #9 (Sumtoy): 242 w/ plenty left in the 20"
Federal TSS #8x10 (Sumtoy): 242 w/ most even 20" pattern
Apex Ol Tom Blend #8x10 (Sumtoy): 328 w/ ok 20" but spotty in places
Apex Ninja #8.5 (Sumtoy): 304 w/ worst 20" pattern of all tested
I tested a Fed TSS #9 at 20 yds and it is a lot tighter than I'm used to, but workable if I do my part. It put every pellet inside about a 7" circle.
Overall, the Apex threw the best #s on paper, with killable 20" patterns but not as even as the Feds. The weird thing about the Apex loads was that each of them I shot failed to eject from my gun. Both spent shells got stuck in the barrel and I had to push my cleaning rod down the barrel to dislodge. I have never had this issue with the gun, but I'm assuming the Apex loads must be loaded way hotter than the Feds. Hard to trust something like that in a hunting scenario, regardless of the patterns.
Gun is an NEF single shot 20 gauge. Choke for the last 10+ years has been a Colonial Arms X-Full turkey .570 and has always done really well, but it is VERY open with the new TSS loads. I picked up a Sumtoy .562 to give it a shot and see what a tighter pattern looks like. Patterns looked like the below (count in 10" circle at 40 yds):
Federal TSS #9 (Colonial Arms - Baseline): 146
Federal TSS #9 (Sumtoy): 242 w/ plenty left in the 20"
Federal TSS #8x10 (Sumtoy): 242 w/ most even 20" pattern
Apex Ol Tom Blend #8x10 (Sumtoy): 328 w/ ok 20" but spotty in places
Apex Ninja #8.5 (Sumtoy): 304 w/ worst 20" pattern of all tested
I tested a Fed TSS #9 at 20 yds and it is a lot tighter than I'm used to, but workable if I do my part. It put every pellet inside about a 7" circle.
Overall, the Apex threw the best #s on paper, with killable 20" patterns but not as even as the Feds. The weird thing about the Apex loads was that each of them I shot failed to eject from my gun. Both spent shells got stuck in the barrel and I had to push my cleaning rod down the barrel to dislodge. I have never had this issue with the gun, but I'm assuming the Apex loads must be loaded way hotter than the Feds. Hard to trust something like that in a hunting scenario, regardless of the patterns.