Shotgun Hunting

Apex Ammo Turns your Twenty Gauge into a 10 Gauge

The greatest advance in shotshell performance history has been TSS shot. It is hard to get your head around the fact that TSS #8 shot is roughly the ballistic equivalent of #2 lead, but that is indeed the case. Just by changing shells, your 20 gauge is superior to any 10 gauge ever made throwing lead shot.

Back in the day, #2 lead was considered ideal goose medicine: yet, 2 ounces of #2 lead runs about 175 pellets. Just one ounce of TSS #8 is 250 pellets, a 42% increase in pellet count over the 10 gauge payload. You can also find brutal 3-1/2 inch lead loads with 2 ounces of lead crammed into them. Still, TSS #8 betters the #2 lead pellet count by a whopping 42% with a fraction of the recoil. For the hunter that patterns his shotgun, there are only two basic considerations. Firstly, we need pellets of sufficient penetration and resultant tissue disruption to actually be lethal at the ranges we use them at. Secondly, we need sufficient pattern density to ensure hits to vitally critical, quickly lethal areas of what we hunt, at the ranges we hunt at.

As ballistician Ed Lowry noted, there is no such thing as a truly effective long range steel load. Look ahow poorly a 1-1/4 oz. BB steel load fares, compared to 1 oz. TSS #8. Not only does BB steel fail in penetration, the pellet count is abysmal.

The same can be said for lead, compared to Tungsten Super Shot. The best wild pheasant hunting loads in 20 gauge are 1-1/4 oz. of buffered #5 lead, commonly loaded at 1185 fps 3 foot instrumental velocity. That's about 214 pellets to start with and with a 6-1/2 lb. gun, generates 28.6 ft. lbs of recoil.

The 1 oz. #8 TSS Apex load has 250 pellets and although a faster shell, produces less recoil at 24.8 ft. pounds with the same 6.5 pound gun. The net result of all this is astonishing:

About 17% more pellets: pellets that do not deform.

13% less recoil.

113 fps higher 40 yard strike velocity.

Over 50% better 40 yard gel penetration.

Game limits vary: in Illinois, it is two cock pheasants per day. Ammunition cost is trivia compared to the overall cost of hunting: it pays to use the very best. Naturally, as much as I personally appreciate outstandingly good ammo, no TSS is going with me to the dove field.

Apex ammo has already turned the .410 bore into a terrific little spring turkey firearm. With this Apex load of 1 oz. of #8 TSS at 1350 fps, your 20 gauge is the do it all gauge: turkey, long range pheasant, long range duck, and a fine goose load as well. This is my version of the world's greatest 20 gauge field load. These are handcrafted loads from Apex. To get yours, contact the folks at https://apexmunition.com/ . You'll be amazed what your 20 gauge can do.