Home Forums Reloading Shotshells - TSS and Unleaded Real World Experience w/BOSS Shotshells

Heading out to SD in early Nov for some public land pheasant hunting where the need for non-toxic shot is the norm. Use mostly steel last year and borrowed a few rounds of Hevi-X from a hunting partners. Both killed birds, but I wasn't really impressed. Birds that folded in the air, and hit the ground supposedly dead, often ended up being runners.

Been thinking about BOSS copper-plated bismuth this year. Lots of hype, but moreover, they are a available to ship. FWIW, I'll be taking a 16ga Lightning, 20/28ga Beretta 686 combo, so I'm looking into non-toxic shells for each.

Any real world experience with the BOSS shells?

They should work well...It doesn't take a genius to put a shotgun shell together using decent components. They have a following. Most likely if one points correctly they will put Birds on the ground.

👍

Good input - albeit facious (sp).

Was really hoping someone would chime in with something on the order of "used X", #X shot, year in my XXga" . . . .

I asked the same question here a little while back. Pretty much got the answer I gave above. So I went looking on the web and found more than a few reviews of those who were satisfied with them. Then looked at a couple You Tube videos of them being used.

Seems as if none here have used them or want to answer your question. They are either bismuth or TSS shot and have a following of those who find them adequate or superior to other offerings. Again, with good equipment, putting together a quality shell is not all that difficult and they should work as well as other well made shells of the same material.

I just received three boxes, Check back in a month if you want a report. I don't expect it will be anything other than I shot Pheasants with them out of my 16 gauge and they did fine within my limitations. Hit a Pheasant solid inside 35 yards with 5's with most any shot material; most likely they will be retrieved quickly.


Addition: Just hit me that mine are Kent Bismuth....I suspect the results will be the same. However, unfortunately that will not answer your question.

If you are still curious, Facebook has a Boss shotshell page with 19,000 members.

Sorry no direct experience with Boss. I’ve shot lots of bismuth over the last 15 years. Mostly at ducks and geese. Some at pheasants. #4 or 5 for ducks and #2 for geese fold them up just fine. Even 6’s kill ducks ok, so any of these should work well for the OP. I’d use 5’s for a dedicated pheasant load.

IMO, currently manufactured bismuth shotshells are needlessly fast. The high velocity just adds recoil and puts stress on my old guns. I may resort to hand loading to bring speeds back down to the 1200-1250 level. I’ve found those loads kill like lightning at any sane range.

Battue/WMR,

Have either of you found the need to go with tighter chokes than with a similar payload (weight and shot size) of lead?
I'm typically, and successfully using LM/M, maybe IM in my 16 O/U with lead. Looking at some of the data posted in some of the YouTube vids, IM and tighter seem to pattern bismuth (in general) at 40yds. That said, I'm more inclined to try and keep shots in the 25-35yd range

I’m mostly a 35yd and less guy. I shoot IC/M for almost everything. My gun pattern bismuth great choked this way. It’s worth a few shells IMO to check it on paper, even at these prices.

BTW, I think every South Dakotan I’ve ever talked to advises tight chokes and heavy loads in Dec. I’ve never bought into that and have done most of my hunting there in the late season. Good luck.

Edited to add: Our daughter is lethal on ducks with 2 3/4in bismuth 6’s in her Ruger 20ga.

WMR, thanks again for your input.

Just ordered a box each of BOSS 16ga #5s and some 20ga, 3", #5s. Should be here middle of the week. Probably won't get to pattern them until affter I get back from TX, culling some deer and pigs. I'll pattern them before I head to SD the end of Nov and probably order more after pattern testing. Probably need to get a Briley IC for my 16ga Lightning so I can give patterning a could shake down.

I recently got back from a trip from a North Dakota mixed bag hunt. I wanted to carry a 20 gauge BSS and did not want to shoot steel in it but since we hunt primarily around cattail sloughs I wanted the ability to jump shoot ducks if the opportunity arose. I used 3" 1 1/8 oz #5 on the first 3 roosters I came across and all 3 were dead in the air. I switched to 2 3/4" 7/8 oz #5 as an experiment and 2 more dead birds, one of them a fairly long crosser. I did not get a chance to shoot a duck with them but have no worries they would have worked great. By comparison a couple of the ducks I shot with the 12ga over decoys with steel had to be swatted on the water again, a pretty common situation in my experience with steel. I have a public area in Iowa I like to hunt for pheasant as well that requires non-tox so decided to try Boss this year instead of shooting steel, especially in the smaller gauges. I picked up a 1938 Ithaca M37 16 gauge I want to carry occasionally so used Boss 1 oz #5. Only one opportunity so far but it was a pretty long crosser and another bird solidly dead in the air. I know 6 birds is not a huge sample but so far I am very impressed with the performance of Boss #5 on wild pheasants.

JSH, excellent feedback.

I’ve been using it for 2-3 years for all my waterfowl shooting instead of steel.

I’ve been using a mix of 3/5, 4’s, and 6’s for ducks, geese, snow geese.

Less cripples for me and I shoot less shells too.

They are about an hour away from here. Good company, fast shipping.

I’ve mainly used the 20 gauge shells.

I’d still shoot lead where I could, but it has replaced all my steel shot.

The trend for me has continued with 9 solidly dead roosters with #5 Boss in both 16 gauge and 20 gauge. I shot one twice as I was a bit off center and he was coming down with his head up but that's on me. I am very pleased with the performance and appreciate it allows me to carry some classic guns with non-tox and no worries. I have recovered a few pellets with no signs of fracturing; I know that was a concern with bismuth in the past.

A buddy and his son have been slaying birds in Alabama at 40+ yards with 20 ga. Boss for a couple of years.

I won two boxes of the bismuth loads a couple years back, fired a handful of shells and they killed what I shot at - no different than any other product in a similar situation. I don't think of them as being any different than lead in regards to chokes and use IC to IM depending on conditions and expectations.

There are no magical loads despite what some may claim. This is why BOSS is at the very bottom of my ammunition choices as their sales reps actions would shame a carnival barker. In my limited experience, BOSS ammunition has done nothing that is any more meaningful than any other company though they will dispute it. The ammunition is fine, I just do not care for the hype.

Correct....However, Boss should get an award for best sales pitch in the shooting industry. They have enrolled "Bossmen" into the fold. You get a Boss "Money Bag" with an order. They have a Facebook page where "Bossmen" show their kills and patterns. Discussions everyday on chokes. The Boss owners participate in the discussion and talk about new products. They will sell you Boss Bismuth and help with reloading receipts.

Like them or not, they have cultivated a dedicated and loyal following that have become a nationwide group of sales people.

The Boss owners are Fox smart....

I use Boss TSS in 3 turkey guns (20ga and 410) and also their bismuth for ducks in 12 and 20

I’m not a bossman, don’t wear a flat-billed cap, don’t have any moneybags and don’t do social media. But I absolutely love their shells

The TSS turkey loads pattern great for me. I tried every TSS load I could find in two 20s and a 410 and Boss shot the best in all of them in all 3 guns by a good margin

All I can say about the duck loads is that they kill a lot better than steel. Can’t say if they are better or worse than other bismuth shells on the market but I can order them online from boss and have them at my doorstep in a couple days

I've shot heviX, varies purveyors of bismuth, lead, steel, etc.

Boss is the closest thing to lead I've ever shot. Great patterns, tremendous knock down power. Cripples are far less than steel, and I've gone to shooting waterfowl and pheasants almost exclusively with 20 ga because if it over the last 4 years.

Choke it full or IM.

I've also goose hunted with the 12ga boss and while I don't goose hunt a lot, I can't ever imagine goose hunting with any other load.

A complaint from light primer strikes. A buddy has a franchi SA that wouldn't fire the shells. He replaced the firing pin and spring and it fixed the problem. This is a well known issue.

I haven't shot it, but know a few raving about apex ammo that is combined steel and TSS, something like 3 & 8. If I wasn't shooting Boss, I'd be likely to try it next.

I switched to BOSS copper plated bismuth shells a couple of years ago for my waterfowl hunting. I have less cripples and more folded up birds than I did with steel. I did some pretty extensive pattern testing with different chokes and loads from BOSS. I found that it patterned better with a tighter choke and I actually used an extra full turkey choke on a couple of ducks this year but decided I was getting too tight of a pattern and went back to just a full choke. Definitely shoot a few through your gun and see how it patterns, specially if you have a fixed choke gun.