Non-toxic options for turkeys?

[OntarioHunter]

Might not be a bad medium for testing those steel turkey loads... "ballistic tofu"

I thought you were looking for nontoxic turkey? I hear those wild birds can sometimes taste kinda funky.

 

[winmag]

Might not be a bad medium for testing those steel turkey loads... "ballistic tofu"

Tofu is probably far too hard a testing medium for steel shot.

 

[nettereo16]

#7 TSS is WAY overkill for turkeys. But I understand that's what Federal released originally, and people have killed a bunch of birds with them. You just give up pattern density for no reason with #7 TSS, as they have far more energy and penetration than needed for turkeys.

#7 TSS penetrates like lead B's; 1.5" penetration at 103 yards.

On a tangent. I suspect Federal first released #7's because they thought there was no way they could convince turkey hunters that #9's could kill birds.

Edit: When I refer to TSS, I mean 18 grams per cubic centimeter weight tungsten shot.

Good point!!
My 7s are Hevi shot 13g/cc, the TSS 18g/cc is next-level!
I edited my post to clarify!

 

[winmag]

There is a guy that sells TSS components packages for 15rounds. Super18tungstenshot.com but you'll need to buy powder.

I've been buying 18 g/cc shot from Hal for a long time; his new website is Super 18. He's great. You get EXACTLY what you ordered, and he's extremely responsive. He gives you load data when you purchase, he just asks that you don't share it.

For reference, his former business partner left and started Apex Ammunition. It is no coincidence that if you cut an Apex apart it will be Hal's load data. Also probably why he has a bit of a sour taste in his mouth about his load data getting out into the public realm!

It's crazy how much performance you can get out of shotshells that you load yourself with minimal equipment. It's a slow process, but no one has enough money to load high volume amounts of TSS anyway.

 

[338win]

Tss is all I use now. I never find a pellet in the meat anymore. Those things zip through. Luckily I bought a few boxes on clearance before the price jumps

 

[seeth07]

Well I'm not sure exactly how much it really matters what shell is in your gun when shooting turkeys under 30 yards because for the longest time I didn't actually know better and it still worked.

When I was a kid growing up, I thought using steel BB was a good turkey load because I figured that a turkey is bigger than a goose so I want the biggest bb's I could get. I killed dozens of turkeys with this shell and not even thought to question it. One day my buddy goes, "why do you have goose loads with you?" Ummm because it's the best and knocks em dead?

To this day I still use the same BB loads from my waterfowl box while turkey hunting....if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have only ever missed one turkey and it was for sure on me screwing it up.

 

[mdcrossbow]

Ive been using TSS for a few years now. I'll buy a couple boxs every other year. But my steel shot #5 killed a lot of birds. I like going to the #8-9 shot 35-65 yards head shots are just as deadly out of the 12 ga. 3.5 loads
I'm switching to my 16 ga. this year with the poly choke. 95% of my kills are 35 years or closer. So loading a #8 Super X Winchester load for the 1st shot and follow it up with a TSS #8-9 shot will save me the $10 bucks untill it's needed.
Head shots on a turkey it will not matter what material your taking them down with.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

I saw some turkey loads at Sportsman's last weekend and had to do a double take... $70 for 5 shells!? If I turkey hunt this year, I'll stick with archery.

 

[mevertsen]

I saw some turkey loads at Sportsman's last weekend and had to do a double take... $70 for 5 shells!? If I turkey hunt this year, I'll stick with archery.

I can buy a turkey poult for $15. And raise it for about $30 in feed.

$70 for 5 shells, and that's not including tag price or anything.

No Thanks.

 

[Wild Bill]

Would copper plated lead not suffice?

If the goal is to not ingest lead, the copper plating being much harder than lead eliminates the deformation of the pellets and exposed lead travelling through the barrel and choke and into the turkey. Also, unless you make an incredibly poor shot, I don't see how you get more than maybe 1 or 2 stray fully plated pellets in the very upper portion of the breast.

If the goal is to not put any lead onto the landscape I understand, but would also counter with the fact that any pellet that would end up landing and remaining in the field will incredibly scattered and are coated by copper that will take 100+ years to corrode to the point where lead would be exposed, and will more than likely naturally be covered by leaves, grass, dust, dirt, etc. which decreases the exposure to factors that will cause deterioration meaning it will probably be incorporated into the soil long after this world is destroyed by nuclear weapons... Just a thought.