One thing about Long Beard XR is that you gotta learn to trust it. If she shoots high out of your gun, she's going to shoot consistently high. It took me about 5 shots to dial mine in on iron sights at 25 yards and I was decapitating my splatter targets (Winchester SXP 12GA Turkey Hunter NWTF w/Carlson's Long Beard XR 665 choke). I've taken her them out to 45 yards and again, trust them and they'll go in the same place every time. I told my job that I'll be experiencing the Bird Flu Wednesday morning here in the Southern Zone of New York.
Thanks for comparing TSS with Winchester I’ve shot Winchester for years and never had a problem with them. I’ll keep using Winchester and calling them in close .
Glad to see a side by side comparison of these shells. For years I shot Winchester 3 1/2 inch sixes with 2 1/4 oz. shot. I would take 3/4 oz of sixes out and replace it with 1 oz of 7 1/2 shot resulting in a 2.5 oz load of mixed 6's and 7.5's. This load was freakin devastating on short and long range birds. (25-55yds) Then i discovered the Long Beards. Greatest thing since sliced bread!! I can not find one fault with the XR Long Beard shells.The design and performance of this shell is absolutely amazing. Then came TSS. Not a fan. While the patterns are impressive, I dont see enough difference to justify spending 6-8 dollars per shot on a shotgun shell. Add to that all the marketing and advertising hype." KILL A TURKEY @80YDS!!" Is that the message we want to send to young and beginner turkey hunters? Controlling pellet flight is not the same as sightin in a deer rifle. Telling people they can consistently kill turkeys at 60-80 yd ranges gives them the confidence to take longer less lethal shots. Also the tightness of the TSS at short range can cause a complete miss if the bird moves a little bit. And most turkey hunters know the sickening feeling of missing or wounding a gobbler and not recovering it. This is a free world and folks can shoot what they wanna shoot but as for me, Im gonna continue to shoot the 3.5 long beard.
What turkey choke were you using? The Carlson Turkey Choke really shoots the XR Lonbeards really well but not quite as well as the Federal TSS #9 Tungsten when I shot my gun a 20-inch barrel Mossberg 500.
I use apex tss in my 410 and 20 gauge and killing birds at 40 all day long and we have kills out to 55 to 60 with 3inch tss 9s we use Indian creek choke tubes tss is pricey but you get more pellets down range and hit harder than lead go tss it's well worth it
Having a shell that’s less then half the price of the other giving you great patterns keeping up with the expensive one is the way to go. Longbeards are amazing shells never had a issue with them I’d rather pay 25 30 bucks a box for ten then 65 for five that’s ridiculous.
I have an 870 with a Longbeard XR .660 choke shooting the 3" #6 XRs and it lays an awesome pattern at all reasonable distances. I also have an 1187 with an Indian Creek .665 choke shooting the Federal 3" tss #9s and it lays exceptional patterns at all distances. Ive killed birds with each set up, but that tss will pick em off the ground when it hits em....
