Cabela's Decent Price on Bismuth Ammo.....

[Destry L. Hoffard]

http://www.cabelas.com/product/RIO-BISMUTH-SHOTSHELLS-PER-BOX/1774237.uts#productChart

This isn't a bad price at all.

DLH

[Mills Morrison]

That is a great price. Has anyone used this stuff? How does it compare to Nice Shot and Kent TM?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Any bismuth I ever fired came in 2nd place well behind Kent TM or well hand loaded NiceShot. That being said, it still kills ducks, and is a lot safer for old guns than steel.

DLH

[Mills Morrison]

I deal with the added price by picking my shots more carefully which is better for the ducks and me anyway

[Jay Gardner]

The print ads I have seen for RIO indicate they also produce bismuth in 16, 28 and 410. Seems like carrying 16 would be a no-brainer for Cabelas, but then is is Cabelas….

[Russ Lindsay]

For our older guns consider that their Bismuth 1 oz 20 gauge 1250 FPS shells - " Typically they will run 800-850 BAR"

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Nobody shoots a 16 gauge anymore, they're going to quit making the shells for them pretty soon.

DLH

[Mark Riessen]

REALLY ?!?! I better stock up ! LOL mark

[Mills Morrison]

I shoot 16's regularly and even converted my wife with a VH 16 for Christmas.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Mills that was a joke. I've actually been hearing these feed store gun experts saying that line since I was a child.

DLH

[Mills Morrison]

Actually, that was almost true back in the 80's when my Dad bought his Trojan 16, because they were less popular (and less expensive) than the 12's and 20's

[Gerald McPherson]

We are getting a new Cabelas store in Acworth Georgia and a Bass Pro Shop in Emerson of all places. About 10 miles apart. Both are near Lake Alatoona. Both on I-75. Talk about competition.

[Mills Morrison]

The Cabela's in Augusta, GA, stinks. I now buy most of my ammo online now and it comes to my door.

[wayne goerres]

Mills Have you noticed that Cabalas now charge GA. sales tax on there internet sales. Probable wont be long before we have to use a lead substitute for rabbit and squirrel. Cant wait.

[Steve Huffman]

10 rounds per box is that a good deal ? I dont buy much I have been buying steel for $ 10-15per 25 at shows .

[Mills Morrison]

Julia orders from Cabelas. An internet sales tax is coming, I am sure

[Richard Flanders]

I can tell you I really really like Rio shotshell ammo. It's the cleanest burning shotshell ammo I've ever used. You can shoot all day and the gun still looks clean. Haven't tried their bismuth but the only time I've gotten a price like Cabelas has is when I went into my fav Anchorage shop and cleaned them out of most everything Bi, including the 28ga, he had at the end of the waterfowl season. Joe loves it when I do that and does me right on pricing.

[Jay Gardner]

Mills Have you noticed that Cabalas now charge GA. sales tax on there internet sales. Probable wont be long before we have to use a lead substitute for rabbit and squirrel. Cant wait.

No matter the retailer, if the company has a location in a state then you are going to pay sales tax. Nothing new or remarkable about that.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Winplumber,

Are you shooting steel through vintage Parker shotguns? Bismuth is more money than steel for certain, but I don't want to run the risks of ring bulging behind the chokes of my good guns so I stick with more double gun friendly ammo like bismuth.


Destry

[Greg Baehman]

Bismuth is not a cure-all when it comes to ring bulging.

I have first hand knowledge of a set of 12-ga. fluid steel barrels with M/F (.020/.035) chokes and 3" chambers that never had anything other than bismuth shot through them when the left barrel developed a ring bulge from shooting just 8 cartridges of 3" 1 3/8 oz. bismuth loads through them. It was explained that a phenomenon termed "momentum" caused the ring bulge -- too much of a load at too much speed through too small of an area.

[Steve Huffman]

Destry,

No im not shooting steel through any Parkers just RST. I wasnt understanding what you were using it for. My bad.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

A factory 3 inch chamber gun of that era would have been designed for the 1 3/8 loading, so that theory doesn't really hold up. I'm guessing it was probably shells loaded by the Bismuth Cartridge Company which weren't the greatest.

I have 10 gauge shells from them that are literally loaded so hot they'll make even a factory Ithaca Magnum 10 gauge double jump open after every shot. I had a batch of 12 gauge one time that every half dozen shells there would be a gross case failure. I literally cut the shells up and sold the shot to a friend rather than pass them along to some other poor soul.

That's why you never hear me bragging about their bismuth ammo, I'm actually glad it's gone out of production. Rio on the other hand, is a good solid company that loads good solid ammo.

I've shot a lot of hand loaded bismuth with good results.


DLH

[Larry Stauch]

I know a guy in California that regularly shoots steel through his Parker and has no issue doing it.

I wouldn't do it on a bet, but he's been doing it for over 15 years.:banghead:

[Sam Ogle]

Setter Man: I worked for Cabela's; & watched the Fiocchi 16 Gauge "Golden Pheasant" loads just sit there with no takers. I finally bought the flat of them for a big discount.
I too, love 16's......but there are so few of us, it's hard for big retailers to carry stock.
Destry is right on, as usual......I've been hearing of the demise of 16's for 50 years.
Sam Ogle

[todd allen]

My first quail hunt was with a 16. I fell in with a bad crowd!

[Richard Flanders]

I cleaned the Alaska supplier out of every box of bismuth shotshell ammo he had, just for the shot and the buffer. I had to buy 80 boxes and some shot and shell sizes I have no use for such as 3-1/2" 10 & 12ga w/ BB shot, so I have a lot of ammo to either resell or sell the shot out of. I mostly wanted the #4 shot and have cut a lot of shells open to get it. I got it all for just about the cost of the shot if I had to order it. If I cut the hulls carefully to get the shot out I can leave enough plastic to load light target loads with the hulls and powder charge left in there.

[William Shirah]

Lat year I purchased a c. 1889 10 Ga Model DH. Nice gun - sent the Damascus Barrels off to to Dale Edmonds. Came back beautiful. Dale said they were the "Nicest, most consistent" Parker Barrels he had seen in a while. I also purchased some of the Gold Inserts to shoot 12 Gauge Ammo thru it on the Skeet Field.

Question: I was wondering if anyone out there had Hunted using the inserts with either 12 Gauge 1-1/8oz., 1-1/4 and/or 1-5/8 oz. Bismuth and/or Nice Shot in 2-3/4" or
3" shells?

I'm concerned about chamber pressure. Based on felt recoil, it would seem there's a signifigant pressure drop shooting 12 Ga 1-1/8and 1-1/4 oz ammo thru a 10 Bore. Any thoughts?

[Dean Romig]

Yup, I would say 'significant' too.

[William Shirah]

Many apologies. My mis-spellings are legendary.

The reason I asked the question is because last Duck Season I was unable to purchase nice shot from RST (They explained they had been waiting for months for a shipment to arrive). Well, I'm looking at this 12 Ga Rio Bismuth as an option. I've got appx $400.00 in Cabelas Dollars built up on my Credit Card and this looks like an option for spending it.

I'm not looking for someone to sa "Go ahead", I'm asking if anyone "has"....

I've got 38 & 40thds in each barrel 9" from the breach. The bores are untouched and perfect. The only problem is that some previous owner lopped off what I assume was 4" inches from the barrel making them 28" long - It has no choke whatsoever. Again, I'm just trying to be mindful of chamber pressure.

I read Sherman Bell's report to Gauge Mate covering pressure drops(On their website). Unfortunatley, the one Chamer Mate size he didn't test was the 10/12 Ga.

[Dean Romig]

Please don't misunderstand - I was agreeing with you and hadn't even noticed the spelling.

.:cheers:

[edgarspencer]

I see little to no point in taking a 10 bore with no choke and degrading any performance the ammo may yield by dropping the pressures (and resultant velocity) and attempting to down ducks. If you want to go fowling, use ammo which is intended for the gun's whole barrel, not 4" of it. Modern wads are dimensioned to fit a barrel diameter, and seal the gasses to achieve some sense of killing power. Wounding game for the sake of using a particular gun isn't responsible, in my estimation.

[William Shirah]

I agree.

[William Shirah]

I've taken Pheasant with the gun using 1-1/4" 12 Ga ammo at a tower shoot. I wasn't getting the impact that I wanted to see. However, that could be due to the lack of choke. I've shot the gun on the pattern board at various distances. The pattern is decent out to the 25 to 30 yrd mark, but completely falls apart further out. I've contemplated Choke Tubes. But, I do hear what you your saying about killing power using 12 ga ammo.

[William Shirah]

Ha!! No worries!

Cheers to you Kind Sir!

[Mills Morrison]

Nice Shot and Kent TM deliver clean kills and cleaner than the stuff I used to use in my BPS. I agree wholeheartedly that whatever you use should deliver clean kills. No steel and no 410's

[Destry L. Hoffard]

As long as you don't shoot the cheapo stuff, modern steel kills just fine. Through a Parker? No way! I suppose unless it was a beater piece of junk with open chokes, then I suppose I wouldn't care.

Destry