One of my friends decided to make the switch this year from 3.5in 12g lead #5's Win XX to TSS after our TN trip. He's killed a pile of birds graveyard dead with that gun, but he flat out rolled a bird at 32 yards, shot him again at about 38 yards limping away. We found the bird piled up in a thicket 45 minutes later still alive.
His second bird he shot at 42 yards (he misjudged the distance), broke both his legs and the bird took flight. Luckily he crash landed against a woven wire fence and he was easy to dispatch and recover after the initial shot.
The next day he watched me absolutely graveyard dead, no flop, instant dispatch a gobbling tom at 40 yards with my little 20g. He commented that seemed like a long shot for a 20g. Not with TSS 9s.
Keep in mind I've seen him kill over 20 birds personally with his same setup in the past, never needed a followup shot before. He did miss one at 7 or 8 yards a couple years ago. But the pattern density of that setup always leaves the possibility of not putting a single pellet in the brain or spinal cord to drop a bird instantly at 30-40 yards.
yes, the 20g with TSS 9s is THAT good. I'm now up to 25 birds between me and my kids since making the switch. Only 2 misses (under 10 yards), 1 miss at 17 yards (I shot clean over him), and 1 loss (changed from reduced recoil to the full velocity without checking POI last year) that flew off without appearing injured.
