First came Last Call, an all-TSS waterfowl load. It is devastating to ducks and geese but pretty rough on budgets. Waterfowl hunting isn’t like turkey hunting, where a box of $10-apiece shells lasts a few years. So, this year, Winchester added Last Call Double Shot, following the lead of Apex and HeviShot in mixing premium pellets with steel, lowering the price while retaining some added pellet count by mixing in small sizes of TSS with larger steel. The results, so far, are very promising.
Last Call Double Shot is available in three 3-inch 12-gauge and one 3-inch 20-gauge configurations. The two shot sizes in each shell are chosen to be relatively close to one another ballistically. There are 2 ½-steel/9 TSS in 12- and 20-gauge, and 2 ½/8 TSS and BB/7TSS in 12 only. Velocities are 1350 fps in 20-gauge and 1425 fps in 12.
Last Call Double Shot: Field Performance
Cutting open two of the shells (one 2 ½/9 and one BB/7), I found 30 grains of TSS—about 1/6 of an ounce—mixed with 1 1/8 ounces, give or take, of steel. That came out to 32 #7 pellets and 55 #9s in the BB/7 load, and 144 and 55 in the 2 ½/9. While 1/6 of an ounce isn’t many TSS pellets, I found at the patterning board that almost all the TSS shot stayed inside the 30-inch circle, with a lot of it staying inside a 20-inch circle at 40 yards with an Improved Modified choke. That means you’re getting your money’s worth out of the smaller shot. It’s doing what it’s supposed to, and filling out the pattern, giving you plenty more density that you would get with an all-steel load.
On paper, the 2 ½/9 loads averaged around 160 pellets in a 30-inch circle, which is dense enough for any duck. I took the BB/7 hunting without prior patterning, which I know I’m not supposed to do, but I did. In a short, non-scientific test, I shot a wood duck, doubled on greenheads, and killed a Canada goose with them one morning in our early season. Everything fell very dead, and birds showed both BBs in the bodies and 7s in the head and neck. So, this ammo seemed to work exactly as it was supposed to. I am a fan, and I’ve been a fan of steel/TSS blends. Last Call Double Shot seems to be a fine addition to the mixed, stacked-load category. Prices are around $50 per 25, which is a premium price, but also the price of just a very few all-TSS loads.
