Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting 20 ga Apex Hometown Blend

I’m blown away by the results from shooting today. It’s a NEF 20 gauge that Sumtoy customs threaded and choked for me. I had a local guy lengthen and polish the forcing cone as well. I shot Remington and Winchester #6 though it and was able to get 5-10 pellets in the kill zone at 46 yards. Once I had my scope adjusted I tried the apex and got over 45 in the kill zone on my first shot. I they are expensive and aren’t for everyone but I’m glad I decided to try them.

Apex makes a good product, just wish they had some 16 gauge.

I emailed Rogers asking if they knew when 16 ga Apex TSS might be back in stock.. To their credit they replied promptly that they had no idea and that I should contact Apex... Emailed Apex and got crickets.. Hmmm??

My NEF 20ga with .565 choke loves Apex Ninja 8.5 TSS

No doubt the TSS 10 will produce holes in paper. Has has anyone compared them in size to TSS 9’s.

I load a duplex of 9’s under 8’s, and get great results at 40. Just not real sure about the size 10 stuff.

10s have plenty of gusto to kill turkeys at normal turkey hunting ranges <40 yards. I believe the new Apex Greenleaf load is a 9/10 blend. The Ol Tom load is a 8/10 blend. I want to try the Greenleaf in my 20 gauge

I didn’t look for 16 gauge but I do know that WoodHaven sells Apex and had the 20s in stock when no one else did.

What choke/constriction are you using? On some chokes, the porting is made to slow the wad down and release the shot column, you don't want that with specialty turkey loads. Notice the Carlson TSS turkey choke tubes have no ports, not saying all ported tubes slow the wad down, you just have to read the description of the choke tube.

I have used TSS in #8 and #9 shot with great success. I settled on #9 and I'm very happy with it. Later the #10 showed up on the market and I never evened looked at it. It was not that I thought it would not work but because I saw no reason to change from #9. That and the fact the I have a double life time supply of TSS #9

What choke/constriction are you using? On some chokes, the porting is made to slow the wad down and release the shot column, you don't want that with specialty turkey loads. Notice the Carlson TSS turkey choke tubes have no ports, not saying all ported tubes slow the wad down, you just have to read the description of the choke tube.[/quote]
It’s a Sumtoy customs choke. I didn’t measure the constriction of it. He makes two turkey chokes. One is for everything inside of 30 yards or so. The other which is what I have its designed for 40 yards plus.

It’s a Sumtoy customs choke. I didn’t measure the constriction of it. He makes two turkey chokes. One is for everything inside of 30 yards or so. The other which is what I have its designed for 40 yards plus.[/quote]

A choke made for TSS loads is a good choice. What size TSS shot were you shooting? it's not uncommon for lead not to shoot well through tight TSS chokes, the tighter constriction and larger shot size can deform the lead when it goes through the choke. When the lead shot leaves the choke, not all of the lead is round and it doesn't fly true. I switched over to 20 gauge this year, I have 2 NEFs that I had threaded for REM chokes, one has a red dot on and the other has rifle sights. I'm using Apex TSS #9 with a Carlson TSS choke.

I am using Indian Creek .555 chokes in mine. Some get better result with a .562 but mine wanted a tighter choke to pattern the way I wanted it to.

In 20 gauge, .555 to .565 seem to be the sweet spot for TSS loads. (8s and 9s)

555 or 562 Indian creek is the sweet spot in 4 20s for me

thought they loaded 16 ga shells

They do, but last I checked they were sold out.

If you do Facebook, I highly recommend the Apex Ammunition Pattern Board group. Bunch of the guys that work at Apex post there. They can tell folks when to typically expect a certain shell to come out.