You are dead duck on target with that comment. Number 6 lead shot worked awesome on decoying ducks in a 12 or 16 gauge.

The Nice shot did a much better job for me on ducks. 30" barrels choked f/f and killing ducks dead at 40 yrds all day. Bismuth is not as good IMHO. Really miss the Nice shot...nothing lasts forever.

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I loaded up 3+ boxes of Nice Shot 5's roughly 10 years ago for a South Dakota trip. As rotten luck would have it that year, both of my older 16's when down with mechanical problems! I had thrown in a 12 gauge double at the last second and it ended up bailing me out on the trip. (At the time I felt foolish bringing a 3rd gun.)

I still have most of these loads, and used up a small stash of Activ hulls to better differentiate the pricy Nice Shot loads.

Shot Shells Duck Hunting with a Parker
 

I have not done much waterfowl hunting, but have been lead to believe that you need to use #2 shot when duckhunting. I have a recently restored 1914 VH grade Parker with fluid steel 12 bore barrels (30”) and I am looking at using with either Kent matrix 2 3/4” or Rio Bismuth also 2 3/4”, (RDT doesn’t appear to sell duck loads anymore) but l don’t seem be able to find anything larger than #4 shot? Also, the velocities are pretty high for an old gun, over 1,300. If I’m mostly going for mallards, what would you recommend I use at a relatively high altitude (Great Salt Lake)?
Thanks for your advice.
-Doug

Hey Doug. Did you mean RST? Check out RSTshells and bring up 12 ga. There you will find bismuth loads for very pricey/ box. I shoot 4's when it is not too windy and 2's when it's howling. Low pressure and on the quiet side as they are 2 1/2 inch shells. They are good on 30-35 yd. mallards. Just noticed they only have 5's, so make that 25 yd. mallards. Good luck.

I have hunted ducks extensively in Saskatchewan and New York so my opinions are not without merit or consideration. In my opinion, #2 is all wrong for ducks. I have killed tons of ducks with #6's and am perfectly satisfied with their performance even on the larger mallards. Some use 5's and 4's and that's fine but I would not use either in other than a 12 bore or 10 bore. I have patterned my goose guns years ago with #2's. None of my guns patterned worth a damn with the 2's. The 10 bores were not good but serviceable but the 12 bore patterns left a lot to be desired. The smaller #3 patterned great with the 10 bores and very good with the 12 bores. I used #3's on geese till the shot was no longer available for reloading. I then went to #4 for geese and never had a problem with them.


My recommendation would be to stick with #6's for ducks with your VH. You will have the pattern density and retained energy necessary out to a full 40 yard or a bit further.

Tom, I agree with you to the extent the shooter is using shot that is denser than steel (e.g., bismuth, tungsten composites, etc.).

-Victor

Yes, I don't use steel and none of my comments are relevant to steel shot sizes. That is a whole different issue that I don't have to think about, thank goodness.

I think it is almost now universally understood and discussed ad nausea that steel shot stinks for just about any use with firearms. It is just the less expensive non toxic alternative and that is its only attractive feature. Years ago crippled so many ducks using even #4 steel shot that it made me sick. Big fan of #6 shot that is lead mass or better equivalent for ducks. All I know is that just about anything is better than steel and would never shoot steel or anything harder than lead equivalent in any old gun. Actually can't think of any reason to really shoot steel at all. I know some of the shooting ranges are starting to push non toxic loads though.

Tom's experience with shot-size is same as mine.