Our Turkey season opens May first, so far I can't find Federal TSS loads in any local store, all say anyday. Plus we can't order shells thur the mail thanks to New York laws.

I had a strutter yesterday about 70 yards. If he had been 60 I would have tried him and maybe recovered a few pellets. I did shoot one of the TSS loads today. Had him going crazy in the tree. Flew down, went the other way. I followed an hour later, set up in the woods on the edge of a cut-over. Watched the open oak woods. Now any experienced turkey hunter would know they prefer the cut-over to sneak to the call over open woods. Brain freeze. He saw me, clucked and before I could get the gun up was airborne so my 1 1/4 ounces of TSS are spread over five acres now as I wasn't even close. Been fooling with him for four days and now he is well educated.

What fun. Birds like that taste better anyway. Btw once you get a bird educated you may have to back off a few days or try other subtle or aggressive tactics. Subtle ones are easier like changing a call so bird hears a different yelps. Sometimes it simple easy stuff you overlook, forgot or learn that makes a difference.

Years ago we had a bird like yours that bested us for 2 days working an area with woods, logging roads and food plots. We had that bird down in his patterns and he always did something different, but we did know about where he roosted. Got there early and owled him to roost gobble and then snuck within 300 yards of an old oak tree that had some thinned out pines it. Thinking was we would move to him some and cut him off to area of logging road on knoll he had been working. We sat down and yelped one time and he barked back at us. Off in the distance a few moments later even saw him drop out of that big old tree. We made one more yelp and he gobbled from the ground again and then we shut up, he knew where we were and it was right where we thought he wanted to be. Thinking he was going to be on us in a few minutes, then nothing but we were patient. We never heard him for almost an hour. He obviously went the other way to a food plot we knew of but never had seen him there nor any turkey sign before. So we think we need to try and move closer to him.

Luckily fella I was hunting with was way more experienced than me and said before we move lets try something. There was a crow calling way off in the distance and after the next crow call he shook an old box call and it sounded like a weak jake gobble. I had never seen that trick before. Immediately that gobbler hammered at it and he was 50 yards away from us with 3 jakes and about a dozen hens. In the span of about 30 seconds we were about to break cover and move to having a flock in our lap at 10 yards.

Thats turkey hunting.

Hal will recommend #8s and #9s.

Seems like a great chemistry/metallurgy experiment, but $10/shell?

Most expensive part is patterning. After that, $10 for successful hunt with a bird on the ground is probably the most inexpensive part of the whole experience. What hacks me off now is that I have boxes of lead turkey loads but now want to buy these tungsten loads. I guess its a great 1st world problem to have.

Any guesses on the effect of such hard shot on old barrels, if any? Apparently it has some sort of razzmatazz hot rod wad/shot cup

In my 20 gauge 1 ounce loads it uses a 7/8 ounce wad with the top of a 28 gauge wad inside of it, and a wad under the shot inside the wad. The shot all fits within the cup. On the 1 1/4 ounce 12s it is inside a 12 gauge wad with a mylar wrap. I have looked at the bores and can see no marks or scoring. The small shot takes up very little space compared to lead.

I'll eventually get him. And yes, I do change calls. I have eight calls with me at all times: 1 gobbler, 1 box, 1 pot with two different strikers for different frequencies, and four mouth calls from a juvenile hen to great great grandma.

Yea you will. Your definitely properly accessorized. :) What I like about challenging birds is the learning part and figuring out patterns. It's said you learn more from defeats, maybe so, but I like to learn from success just a much. He will slip up somewhere. Just a matter of time and mind over matter.