Nickel plated shot

[Jeff Elder]

Is it safe to shoot in vintage guns?

[Bill Murphy]

In proper loads for such guns. Plated shot is not that hard.

[CraigThompson]

I shot nickel plated pigeon loads sometimes in the VHE vent rib trap gun I have . Not a great amount typically no more than forty rounds at a time .

[Stan Hillis]

True plated shot is hard to come by. The only source I know of is some that is marketed through a reloading retailer in the USA, but is actually made in Italy. It provides a slightly harder surface that helps patterning.

I have a 3/4 oz. .410 load that involves plated shot. It kills doves like the hammer of Thor, much more so than the WW 3/4 oz. factory loading, which does not use plated shot.

[Jeff Elder]

True plated shot is hard to come by. The only source I know of is some that is marketed through a reloading retailer in the USA, but is actually made in Italy. It provides a slightly harder surface that helps patterning.

I have a 3/4 oz. .410 load that involves plated shot. It kills doves like the hammer of Thor, much more so than the WW 3/4 oz. factory loading, which does not use plated shot.

I ordered some from ballistic products. I was going load some number 3’s for crane gunning. I had cannibalized some old lead #2 that I thought might be a little hot and reloaded them in 12 gauge low pressure. I’m going again and didn’t want or need 25 lbs of #2 so I ordered the nickel #3’s since they are slightly bigger than lead #3’s I figured they are like a 2 1/2 and I should have close to same number of pellets that way. Just wanted to make sure they were safe in my VH 12. Sounds like they will be since last time I went I only shot 6 times to kill 3 crane and two geese.

[Stan Hillis]

Please let us know how that works, Jeff. I can't remember if I bought my NP shot from Ballistic Products or from Precision Reloading. Good stuff, tho'.

It's fun designing loads for specific purposes, and actually reflects an entirely separate reason for reloading shotshells, as compared to $$$ savings. Some of these "creations" just cannot be bought at any price.

I'm in the beginning stages of trying to develop a "magnum" (read payload, not velocity) .410 load using a 9.3 X 74R brass rifle cases, fireformed to a straight wall shotshell case. The thought is that maybe the case volume will be increased ....how much, I dunno yet. But, the process is often as much fun as the finished product.

[Kevin McCormack]

Before nontoxic shot requirements took effect, I reloaded a hundred or so nickel plated #3 shot in 1 3/8 pz. / 2 3/4" cases specifically for brant and small geese. They turned out to be perfect for that as well as loooooong shots on highballing big ducks.

[Jeff Elder]

Before nontoxic shot requirements took effect, I reloaded a hundred or so nickel plated #3 shot in 1 3/8 pz. / 2 3/4" cases specifically for brant and small geese. They turned out to be perfect for that as well as loooooong shots on highballing big ducks.


Thank you. Was it out of your Parker?

[Kevin McCormack]

Thank you. Was it out of your Parker?

No; I used them in a Browning Superposed and Auto-5.

[Jeff Elder]

Thanks again Kevin. From reading what was said I can’t wait to roll up some more cranes with this shot.

[Cory Rams]

I’m a little late to the party, but this is a good video for people questioning on nickel plated shot.

https://youtu.be/Bp5ESO49Dlo?si=gaheSbgO3W13eebj

I bought some number six nickel plated shot from BPI a couple years ago and used it for turkey hunting. I had a bunch of feathers they got sucked into the meat from the number six shot. It worked just fine BUT it’s not very hard shot. Plain old cheap magnum lead shot is way harder…and penatrates deeper. Next time I’ll buy some from Prescion to try since the video above says it’s the SAME hardness as plain old non plated magnum lead shot. Really no reason to waste the extra money since plain old Magnum non plated lead shot is just as hard. Nickel might give a little better patterns but imo not enough to matter. Imo todays modern nickel plated shot is a Gimmic.