RST Bismuth
 

I’m considering a box of RST bismuth 5’s for my 16 gauge VH. Yes, they are pricy, but this 30” FxF Parker is begging to take a few ducks!

Any feedback on these loads would be appreciated.

RST's are great shells. I use Kent Bismuth loads in my VH 12 gauge and they are also available in 16 gauge.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/shoo...2.uts?slotId=0

Thanks. I have a bunch of the 16 ga. Kent Bismuth for my newer 16's, but it's 2 3/4" and fairly spicy at 1300 fps, so I am hesitent to use it in my unaltered 1913 VH.

Dave, the RSt's are probably "softer" shooting shells but the velocity on both are 1200 FPS. The RST's are 7/8 ounce loads and the Kent are a very close 1 Ounce load.

The Kent’s I have are 1 oz. @ 1300 FPS. They are labeled as such and I verified it with my chronograph.

Dave, they very well may be, but i was just taking the velocity that Kent lists on there load specs.

I bought some RST 10 gauge Bismuth for use this upcoming season. Their old Nice Shot was excellent and I was sorry to see it discontinued.

I was 5' from the screens.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...921/jjJk2P.jpg

I bought a box of the RST Bismuth over the phone and will pick it up in Medford next Thursday. My VH 16 has a date with a duck in October.

Dave,

I think you are wise to go with the lighter pressures. Post a picture or two of your gun and the ducks it takes this Fall.

Will do!

You can't fool me. Laying an over/under on it's side does not make it a side by side.

Edgar,

Completely depends on neighborhood and technique!!!!

Ye ye

Thank goodness! ;)

Up/Down guns have their place in the double gun world, but sxs just feels right.

I have an equal amount of both, but the SxS’s do feel best!

Here is a thought Dave. You might want to consider going with #6's instead of 5's in a 16 bore. You'll get greater pattern density and probably more even patterns. I have taken a ton of mallard's in Sasketechewan with the 6's to 40 yards. And the 6's are better if you are shooting smaller ducks. I have found that the 16 bores I have patterned shoot a bit better with the smaller pellet. In a 16 bore, I don't shoot smaller than #6. Just a thought....

Meant to say larger rather than smaller in my post above

Tom, thanks. I'll try both sizes at some point. I might have to start reloading bismuth if my Parker starts to overtake my A5. I shot an awful a lot of ducks with an ounce of lead 6's back in the day.

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.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...921/3WMunH.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/Iqhp5U.jpg

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.

If I had three boxes like those on a shelf, I'd buy a 16. Nice stash!

The specific RST load works for me in a Trojan 16 M&F.

I might be considered just a young pup but I have been shooting ducks and geese with steel since it was first required (early 80's). I have shot waterfowl all over North America and I will tell you that steel 3" 1425 fps #3 will crush a duck as far as you can realistically shoot using IC in Beretta 391. The same thing can be said for cranes, big geese and small geese (snows, specks, Ross, lesser Canada) with 3" 1425 fps BBs.

I just returned from southern Alberta with my first attempt to take Large Canada geese with my Parker Trojan 12 and the new Rio Bismuth 1 1/4 oz #4 at 1350 fps. The Trojan is choked mod/full and I was not impressed with the performance of the Bismuth. Decoying birds within 30 yards that were head shot dropped like hammers. Outside of that range or body shot birds, I experienced a large percentage of cripples and would not recommend for big geese.

Conversely I shot mallards at a fair distance (40 to 50 yards) with the same Bismuth #4 or #5 load and they dropped like rocks. I feel fairly confident that the Bismuth load would be adequate for close small geese. Unfortunately, those big Canada geese can absorb a lot of shot before they drop.

I have some Bismuth #2 and plan on handloading some rounds to around 1200 fps and just less than 8000 psi. Hopefully I'll have a chance to try some out with the Trojan and compare results.