TUNGSTEN SUPER SHOT TEST RESULTS

[J. A. EARLY]

The Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) in vintage guns test concluded today. I carried a 12 VHE for two weeks, and being superstitious having missed one that sneaked up on me and took to flight and another that a metal gate caught most of my shot I went to a modern gun for the first turkey.

I then switched to a 1927 32” DH 12 Parker and on a turkey that I had been after at least twenty times I finally connected when the season turned to all day hunting. I could not hunt that morning and felt obligated to go. First I forgot my camera, went home and got it and then forgot my hat. So the footage is sideways a little while as I placed my camera on my gun monopole and forgot it was on there sideways. He came to five steps and I waited for an opening and like a dummy did not shoot, but he stopped behind a tree and I thought the game was over. He chased away the jakes and at twenty-five yards with a modified right barrel he went down to 1 ¼ ounces of TSS 9s. That did not prove much, but dead anyway.

For number three I switched to a 12 gauge 1910 A Grade Fox. I held the Fox up for nearly an hour waiting for the fly-down. I hoped it would be right in front of me as I was within thirty yards of his tree. He flew down to over fifty yards and I had been thinking right barrel and modified. I chose the wrong barrel but if there was any doubt about TSS, he went down at over fifty yards with only a .020 modified choke to number 9s. The autopsy revealed only a few hits but a bloody mess inside where the shot went from one side to the other. Any other shell in a modified at that distance would have meant failure. I can see no sign of barrel damage due to essentially double wadding with mylar wrapper inside the shot cup.

Videos are Parker, Fox, and the modern Franchi at about forty-five yards. None are long videos since I have learned to cut the camera off after a while of constant calling and gobbling.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzy9__cs7xQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQUm...ature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bewA4Oxtkk

[Mills]

Really cool!

[mobirdhunter]

Excellent!! I thoroughly enjoyed your videos. Thanks for posting.

[charlie cleveland]

way to go ja its always a good feeling to take your limit for the year....these were nice birds also was these winschester hulls you were useing they look like a clear see thru hull....you have got me hooked on this new shot maybe by next year i can find some of this shot....charlie

[J. A. EARLY]

Charlie,

These semi-clear hulls are Fiocchi hulls. The only problem with the recipes are they use components that are not common. Some though do use the clear Federal hull.

The components cost as much as the shot since you have to buy oddball hulls, wads, powder, and mylar wraps. I wish they used stuff like Federal hulls, SP wads, Winchester 209 primers, and common powders.

But killing that turkey at fifty plus yards from a modified choke (.020) with only 1 1/4 ounces of #9 left no doubt as to what it will do.

[charlie cleveland]

i watched your viedo real close and counted your steps to the bird as you went to it after you counted the steps on your way back to your seat i under counted by 2 steps...nothing like this new shot has come along in a long time...i have killed turkey from 50 to 67 yards but i used no 2 or bb shot the 67 yard was with the 8 ga shooting a 2 1/2 ounce load of bb s.....charlie

[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

i watched your viedo real close and counted your steps to the bird as you went to it after you counted the steps on your way back to your seat i under counted by 2 steps...nothing like this new shot has come along in a long time...i have killed turkey from 50 to 67 yards but i used no 2 or bb shot the 67 yard was with the 8 ga shooting a 2 1/2 ounce load of bb s.....charlie

Charlie,

The reason you under counted the steps going to the bird is I went over forty yards, stopped, and said a bad word when I could not find the turkey. It took quite a few steps more and there he was dead. I thought he had run off. It took me over an hour to figure out how to cut out the bad word and that cut out a few steps. If you look about 3:10 plus the video is spliced together.

[Southpaw]

Congratulations on a successful turkey season on many fronts. Thanks for sharing your journey.

No doubt that TSS stuff is the real deal. Personally just worried about newer shot technology being run through old guns, but maybe that is wrongful mindset and can be accounted for with some sort of cellulose buffering. I have no doubt that mylar could protect any scoring but just wondering how thin it is and about running tungsten through older fixed choked guns with full choked barrels.

I guess due to barrel regulation you could at distance when using left barrel sight down the right barrel.

Anyway good stuff and lots to consider. Thinking about working up some of this for a 16 gauge.

[TARNATION !!!]

I never got into reloading and have only shot lead. I can still use lead for upland and that is enough bird hunting for me. Not knowing a lot in life I turn to google to fill gaps. Thinking of barrels, shot and penetration I discovered the Mohs scale of hardness and paired that with density. Any shot less hard than steel and iron will not scratch steel or Damascus barrels. The more dense the shot the greater penetration at same velocity. I think all those statements are correct. So.....


METAL HARDNESS DENSITY g/cubic cm

Lead 1.5 11.34
Bismuth 2 9.78
Copper 3 8.96
Iron 4 7.86
Steel 4 - 4.5 8.05
Tungsten 7.5 - 8 19.3

Lead is least hard so won’t scratch barrels. It is more dense than all but tungsten so has good penetration. Tungsten will scratch barrels. It is almost twice as dense as lead so has far superior penetration. With Mylar tungsten should not scratch cyl/cyl barrels. Once choke restriction is a factor I would expect the Mylar to become compromised and potential for scratching of barrels at the restriction to increase.

That’s my thinking on the subject.

[J. A. EARLY]

Jack,

The 1 1/4 ounce load is shot inside a deep wad that is then lined with thick mylar. The 1 1/4 ounces does not fill the shot cup, and being that the shot is #9 in size, it cannot get through the double wrap and make contact with the barrel. So all you have is a plastic wad filled with small shot going down the barrel.

In the 20 gauge loads, it too is inside a deep wad, and inside the 20 gauge wad is another 28 gauge wad with the piston cut off. So a double wad with only one ounce of #9s. As you say tungsten is harder than any steel, so in theory it would damage the surface of even the most modern chrome lined bore. But the shot can't come in contact with the bore in these loads if loaded to the recipe Hal provides. Now he does have loads that may spill over, for example a 1 5/8 ounce 20 gauge 2 3/4" load he calls Little Stubby or something like that. I would only use that in the most modern gun.

But it is a personal choice whether to believe in it as being OK or not. I saw nothing in six different barrels. Had I seen damage, I would have stopped.