Steel shot in a regular repro

[ForrestArmstrong]

Will steel shot damage the bores, chokes of standard non-steel shot repros?

[John Dallas]

IMHO. if the chokes are more open than "full" and the shot size is no larger than #5, everything will be fine, but, it ain't my gun...

[Eric Eis]

From what has been said about the repro's, yes they can be shot with steel and as John says probably wouldn't be wise to use a full choke. As far as shot size I was told any shot size was ok to use in the reproductions. Wait and see who else chimes in here on that.

[Gary Laudermilch]

According to the original sales brochures they were designed to handle steel shot. You can review the catalogs yourself via the albums. I have not shot steel shot but I suspect heeding the previous advice of not shooting through tight chokes would be prudent.

[William Stevenson]

I've been shooting steel shot in all my Parker Reproductions for years. .410, 28, 20, 16 and 12. Never had a problem with any of them. I shoot ducks over decoys almost every day during the season here in Louisiana and alternate shooting all gauges. The steelshot special I have might be a little heavier than the 2 3/4 standard 12 ga, but other than the SS stamped on the water table, I can't tell much difference. I shoot several cases of shells each year. The origional ads said they were built to handle steel shot. This information is worth what it cost you. It's just my experience with them.

[William Stevenson]

My .410 is the only full choke reproduction I have, the rest are mostly IC or Mod. The SS Special has Briley thin wall chokes that I shoot IC & IC

[Joe Bernfeld]

Any size steel shot is fine, just not through full choke.

Doesn't the search function work? I remember this question being addressed many times :rolleyes:!

[ForrestArmstrong]

Any size steel shot is fine, just not through full choke.
Thank you for that information.

[John Allen]

In doing the research for the steel shot special,we found that .020" constriction appeared to be the cross over point.The more choke over .020" the more likely you were to see early signs of damage.One disclaimer however.We were testing with early steel loads which were not as high quality as todays loads.I personally think that modern loads of #2 or smaller shot can be shot safely in guns up to .028" (improved modified).