I speak only from my experience. My experience is precisely the same as Richard Flanders. I only hunt with guys who use steel because I'm a tolerant man, just as I keep my mouth shut when old men chew tobacco. Both are disgusting habits. Makes no difference if the ejecta comes from guns or mouths.

seems like most of you fellas that hunt water fowl dont like steel shot....what size shot in steel did you fellas use on ducks and geese when yall used the steel shot...and what gauge gun did yall use the steel shot in plus what was the lenth of hulls used...im just wondering ive never shot steel or any of the other new loads... charlie

#4 High velocity 2 3/4". Birds are only shot over decoys. Nothing longer than 35 yards

I picked up some hevi metal last year but thought it was just a gimmick. Kind of ignored it but then figured I would shoot it up toward the end of this season. Whodathunk that every duck I hit went dead with one shot - whistlers, puddle ducks, and sea ducks. I was impressed and will go with a case this year.
That said I also shoot some older Remington hevinshot , buying up what I can still find,and it is very lethal. I find few pellets in the birds they are going right through the cavity some times. Also shoot the hevinshot shot brand and it is also a go to ammo for hitting power.
Thanks

Last November in SD I used steel on a couple of walk on areas that required notox. I had a box of Federal Roman Candle 1&1/2oz #3s that I had bought on a close out that I used in that case in my SBE. Five birds killed out of six rounds; none less than 35yds, some a little longer. Where lead was ok, I used my Trojan 16 and brought in a lot of birds, but I don't think my bird/shell ratio was any better,or as good.

Hevi metal is snake oil. They had to have something cheaper to compete with steel since ammo has gone up so much in the past few years. Yes, it is better then steel only but no way better then Hevi shot only. Hevi shot kills them dead and at longer distances end of story. With that said, I started to use Black Cloud. Hits better then straight steel but still doesn't perform well at longer distances. I can't afford to use Hevi shot.

Ray

Hevi metal is snake oil. They had to have something cheaper to compete with steel since ammo has gone up so much in the past few years. Yes, it is better then steel only but no way better then Hevi shot only. Hevi shot kills them dead and at longer distances end of story. With that said, I started to use Black Cloud. Hits better then straight steel but still doesn't perform well at longer distances. I can't afford to use Hevi shot.

Ray

I too have used a bunch of Black Cloud and as long as you don't push it too far it is lethal. When dressing ducks shot with it it sometimes looks like they were hit with a 22 when they take one of those Saturn shaped pellets. Hevinshot shot is outstanding. It is expensive but if you do the math of one shot per most ducks and two shots with steel for most ducks the numbers actually do move in your favor. I pick up a box here and there in the off season so usually there is always some in the boat.

I don't think that math is correct. If you use 12 ga 3 1/2 shells, Black Cloud is $28 for box of 25 and Hevi Shot is $45 for box of 10. That's about one dollar per shell vs $4.50 per shell. The good news today is that Cabelas has Hevi Shot on sale for $29 per box and I think you can still get a small rebate from Hevi Shot for a box or two. Still too much money for me to spend on ducks but anyone who wants to stock up for next year might want to go to Cabelas website and buy a case. It's a good deal.

If price is no object, you may also consider the waterfowl loads made by Nitro Ammunition in Mo. I use their turkey loads and they are by far the best. I'm sure their ducks loads are just as good.

Ray

I've gotta say, if you say steel sucks then you've not shot much of the high tech modern stuff. It's not lead, that's for sure, but it's certainly not the early 80's crap that gave it such a bad name. I'm the only vintage style gunner in my local crowd and all the other boys still seem to have a nice bag of birds at the end of the day, all shooting steel. Where it loses a lot of it's juice is in a high wind, because it's so much lighter than lead or the other non-toxic stuff. But on a normal day, at reasonable range, the modern steel will kill.

That being said, if you're shooting a vintage gun, then the Kent TM is the way to go. It's the best by far of all the factory stuff. If you want loads for damascus guns then get with the boys at RST, they make the best sort of thing for that kind of work.


Destry