Bismuth Duck Loads

[Craig Larter]

7/8oz bismuth loads in any gauge have no place in duck hunting in my opinion. 1 1/4 oz loads do not make up for poor shooting. Ducks are a resource that should not be wasted and we should respect the resource with adequate loads and off season shooting practice. I have shot many hundreds of ducks with bismuth and I consider 1 1/8oz bismuth loads at 1200fps the minimum for ducks over decoys. Later in the season 1 1/4oz bismuth at 1200fps is the minimum. There are plenty of adequate bismuth published loads.

[Kirk Mckinney]

Lol. I like the one about the extra 3/8 of a ounce going somewhere. Lol. Good one. To make it clear I hadn't loaded any bismuth hunting loads. I was just trying to see what y'all thought it would take. I bought 4 boxes of bismuth from RST. I just checked them. They are 1 oz at 1200 fps. I think I remember reading somewhere that when they proofed these old sterlingworth barrels that they did it with 1 1/4 oz loads. I think that's right. I just don't no what pressure I can safely get it up to. no one in their right mind want to see wildlife get away crippled or maimed. Anyone know what is a safe psi for my gun ???

[Kirk Mckinney]

Right outside my back door. They nest in shrubs in our neighborhood image.jpg

[Kirk Mckinney]

I just found data for longshot powder with 7200 psi @ 1350 fps. And that's with 1 1/4 oz bismuth. That should be ok on my old gun. What do y'all think. It's on hodgdon site. It's for a 2 3/4 in but I'm sure I could find a way to get it into a 2 1/2. Any comments.