I can't really see where it could be better especially for upland birds.
I'll say first off I want a choke and a pellet size that will kill what I shoot with minimal meat damage....that puts me off to shooting a high number of pellets like small TSS shot at something I intend to eat.
Well, there are options and realities you apparently are not contemplating ...
Consider: TSS is DENSER than lead. That means there are FEWER pellets in a given weight of a given shot size in TSS than in lead. The TSS pellets will also be much more lethal and much more likely to pass through.
1 oz. #4 Lead (134 pellets) @ 1200 fps penetrates gel 2" to 45.4 yards. Your preferred shot size, I believe.
1 oz. #4 TSS (83 pellets) @ 1200 fps penetrates gel 2" to 139.1 yards. Too sparse for my taste, but you might like the pellet count.
1 oz. #6 TSS (137 pellets) @ 1200 fps penetrates gel 2" to 98 yards. Now tell me whether this load is going to damage meat more or less, not to speak of leave more or fewer pellets in your 40 yard turkey? I am seeing equal pellet count, smaller holes, and complete pass-throughs (and DOUBLE the range). In all likelihood, you are looking at complete pass-through to whatever range your skillset/patterns take you.
It's not even close. At identical muzzle velocities, #6 TSS will outdo your lead #4s to double the range, if you were so inclined and properly choked/patterned. Notice, we have not even set out the smaller/high-count pellet scenario here, even though it is very attractive to most, because YOU do not prefer it. And that's fine. There are lots of ways to go with this.
As an aside, and as stated before not really worth getting into at this point, I use steel/TSS duplex loads out of a 20 ga (incredible performance!) for quail and very light (5/8 oz) TSS-only loads out of the 28, and I am still experimenting.
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." Thomas Paine
