Purple Death at my Doorstep!!

5 stand said:
South Dakota is 700 miles from my house... So the checkbook goes out the window on pheasant shells... My shoulders don't like carrying the 12 gauge anymore... I'm getting a little long in the tooth for that... So I moved to the 20-gauge few years ago and it doesn't have enough payload in non-toxic for me, I'm accustomed to 12 gauge performance..
So I've been hand loading TSS it patterns so tight that the learning curve has been tremendous for me... I don't get to shoot enough shells at pheasants each year to get things figured out very quick. But we're working on it.. I hope my comments didn't come across as bismuth bashing, not my intent at all...
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Not at all. Maybe we've had this conversation elsewhere, but what shot size(s) have you tried with the TSS? 7s? 9s? I'd love to try like a 3/4-7/8 oz load of 9s. Freaky stuff. At 1100-1150, I bet you'd hardly feel any recoil. Just can't justify buying the components though. If it had come along 25-30 years ago, I'd have probably gotten deep into it.
 
No I haven't had a conversation with anyone about it, it's still very much a work in progress...
I started out with HW15 #7's that I bought on clotheout from Rogers sporting goods... 10 gauge shells with 2 oz of shot in them... Then I bought some #8 1/2 TSS... Have since purchased another 5 lb of #9 TSS. I have enough to load just under 600 rounds. So I should be good to go for a few years... I'm going to duplex it with steel, for my first barrel. I can't get it to spread enough at 20 yards, with the load that I like out past 40. I'm loading it around 1250 to keep my pressure's up and function an automatic.. Recoil doesn't seem to bother me hunting.
 
It does have the potential to be freaky stuff...
362 pellets in 1 oz of #9's...
I duplexed 1/2 of h w 15 # 7 with 1/2 of the TSS#9 which gave me 291 pellets, and it performed really well at distance this year... Up close it was ugly...
As I have said it's still a work in progress...
I killed two sharptail grouse at freaky distance with them. Not tooting my own horn, I had to miss two times to get to that freaky distance lol...
I will probably end up loading two different types of shotgun shells, and load them accordingly in my gun.. short to medium-range and long-range??
 
5 stand said:
I tried bismuth to get the added penetration beyond 40 yd and had to use extremely tight chokes. Which hindered me at close range. 150 pellets is on the low end for me. Hope you can make them work.
I think a rifle has shock energy and kills things with shock. A pellet with five or six pounds of energy doesn't have much shocking value to it IMHO. Hitting the vitals is what kills birds.
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I think you meant "added pattern density" and not penetration. Chokes don't have much affect on how far a pellet flies. I agree that a heavy rifle cartridge has a higher potential for kills with shock energy. That being said, I think a load of coarse shot hitting a bird at close to mid range can definitely kill due to shock energy. Hits in the vitals are definitely preferred, but I don't think you can brush off any effect of the shock of pellets on a bird that only weighs a few pounds. As always I appreciate the conversation.
 
Reread my sentence. I meant penetration. I had to use extremely tight chokes to get pattern density at 40.
Like I said before Bob you kill them with shock... I'll shoot them in the vitals... Dead is dead...
 
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5 stand said:
Reread my sentence. I meant penetration. I had to use extremely tight chokes to get pattern density at 40.
Like I said before Bob you kill them with shock... I'll shoot them in the vitals... Dead is dead...
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My personal preference is to shock the shit out of them AND destroy vitals. And break wing bones, leg bones, & all sorts of other bones. No mercy.
 
Yep I agree... And when I hit all those bones that you described above... I say dang it I shot the shit out of him....
 
LOL... I just don't seem to be that mad at them anymore...
Don't get me wrong, I do love the game that me and Mr Rooster play.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
My personal preference is to shock the shit out of them AND destroy vitals. And break wing bones, leg bones, & all sorts of other bones. No mercy.
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My brother says to just shoot them in the head! It's kind of our running joke when we miss or center punch one.

Or, when you're cleaning birds and you wonder how you killed it because they look so perfect. My brother will chime in, "Yea...I shot that one in the head".
 
Bob Peters said:
I think you meant "added pattern density" and not penetration. Chokes don't have much affect on how far a pellet flies. I agree that a heavy rifle cartridge has a higher potential for kills with shock energy. That being said, I think a load of coarse shot hitting a bird at close to mid range can definitely kill due to shock energy. Hits in the vitals are definitely preferred, but I don't think you can brush off any effect of the shock of pellets on a bird that only weighs a few pounds. As always I appreciate the conversation.
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My thoughts when I tried bismuth, was to make my 20 gauge perform like my 12 gauge does with an 1 1/4 oz of #2 steel. 155 pellets with 1.5 inch gel penetration around 40 yd.. I had this great idea bismuth and never could make it work out, could be argued that I didn't give it enough effort? I'm glad you guys like it and can make it work, kudos to you...
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
I still go in phases. Some days they just really torque me off & deserve everything they have coming to them.
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I agree, I do go in phases... I seem to hunt with a little different mindset.... If one of them wily rooster slip by me or outsmarts me and the dog, it's on me... I don't get mad at him I get mad at myself... I always go down the road of, I should have handled that situation different...
 
Bob Peters said:
a bird that only weighs a few pounds. As always I appreciate the conversation.
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As I've mentioned, I have shoulder pain... Moe and I killed three roosters at the back side of a piece of property this year... By the time I carried them back to the truck, I would have swore up and down they weighed 10 lb of peace...:ROFLMAO:
 
I've read that bismuth is more similar to lead concerning choke to be used. I wish I had more time, variety of shells, and a big chunk of land to shoot a bunch of paper to better choose my choke/load combinations. That being said I do a bunch of research and go with educated choices. I shoot lead when I can and bismuth when I must. I am not rich, but don't spare expenses when it comes to pheasant hunting. I can't wait until opening day 2022.
 
Bob Peters said:
I've read that bismuth is more similar to lead concerning choke to be used. I wish I had more time, variety of shells, and a big chunk of land to shoot a bunch of paper to better choose my choke/load combinations. That being said I do a bunch of research and go with educated choices. I shoot lead when I can and bismuth when I must. I am not rich, but don't spare expenses when it comes to pheasant hunting. I can't wait until opening day 2022.
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Bob, opening day can't come soon enough. That said, it seems to come sooner every year. It's hard to make generalizations about pattern, but I find bismuth usually tends to shoot maybe a little tighter than lead and a little looser than steel. Sort of in between. How's that for definitive? 😂 With Kent #5s, MOD works really well for me. May find that I want to tighten things up a bit with the #4s to get pattern density I want. We'll see.
 
Small sampling using Boss 3" 20ga. #7 shot in IC choke, six roosters up and six roosters down dead, within 35 yds on a public refuge. Old expression, shoot their nose off. No complaints. My dog gets all the credit.
 
For me, it's a confidence thing. Shooting the best non-tox shells I can at public land pheasants adds maybe $40 to the cost of my season, & I hunt public land a lot. To me it's well worth it to shoot something I have no doubts about. You can still blame the shells &/or gun anyway if you miss, but when you take a reasonable shot & place it well, a rooster goes in the vest. No ifs, ands, or buts.
 
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