Nickel plated shot
 

Is it safe to shoot in vintage guns?

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

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 .

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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.

I was told by Precision Reloading that their nickel plated shot starts out as West Coast Magnum Shot. It is copper coated (plated) then nickel plated. The nickel needs the copper in order to adhere. They said copper plating is no more that a wash, not really a plating. There is a YouTube video were a guy test the plating and hardness of Ballistic Products vs Precision Reloading and Precision Reloading was far better.

Back in the early 1970s when I was the token officer on the ComNavAirPac Skeet & Trap Team, we were issued cases of Peters 3-dram equiv. 1 1/8-ounce #8 & #9 Skeet Loads and Remington 3 1/4-dram equiv. 1 1/4-ounce #7 1/2 nickeled International Trap Loads.

Attachment 135895

We were all really skeet shooters. The only thing I did with the International Trap Loads was shoot ducks on the Oceanside Marsh at Camp Pendelton.

That is my nickel plated shot story.

I’d be intrested to know what kinda velocity they were claiming with the 1 1/4 ounce nickel plated ? I think the nickel plated flyer loads I had were Fioochi .

Did you click the YouTube link in my year and half old post above yours? lol. It has the link to the video you are referring to.

I have used the PR nickel plated shot for several years in a .410 load I worked up for doves. It sends .73 oz. of 8s at roughly 1150 fps. When I began testing it on doves I was comparing it to WW 3/4 oz. lead loads at about the same velocity.

I was getting a lot of cripples with the WW factory loads but the nickel plated shot increased the percentage of dishrag dead doves substantially. It is a standby for me now.

I ended up trading some lead #2 shot for a 25 pound bag of Magnum chilled lead number five. It’s harder than the PR steel shot. I did the squish test from the video above on it. I loaded about a 100 rounds for my 10 gauge with a 2.5 ounce payload. You should see the patterns I get with it at 55 yards. It’s ridiculous. Pretty close to heavy shot patterns or right with it.

Rearranging my gunroom recently, I found a remaining partial box of the above referenced loads; the specifics on my label are as follows:

Hull: Federal League 2 3/4"
Wad: BPS with a BP gas seal
Powder: 38 grains of Blue Dot (!)
Primer: W209
Shot: 1 3/8 oz. BP #3 Nickel with poly buffer (as I recall it was GREX)
Velocity: 1360 fps
Pressure: 8,700 LUP (published by BP, not measured by me)
Loader: MEC 600 JR w/ 8 pt. crimp


I reloaded these rounds in Sept. 1982. They remain "stout" at the pattern board today, and remain the best Brant load I have ever used.

Are brant edible, Kevin? Always wanted to hunt sea ducks but never heard anyone brag on them as table fare.

Those sea ducks are a good substitute if you don't have any fish. :rotf::rotf:

Total BS with a quantifier - Atlantic Brant (a sea goose, not a duck) feed primarily on eelgrass but like the Canvasback duck have been forced to modify their diet according to periodic submerged aquatic grass (SUG) die offs sometimes in lengthy durations.

The classic eelgrass die off in the early 1930s led them, like the Canvasback, to alter their feeding preferences to ranker forms of SAGs , some of much higher sulpher content, and in dire cases reverting to very small species of the Mercenaria clam, both of which impart a pungent, rotten-egg flavor to the flesh of the bird.

The easy way to tell is to examine the first bird brought to bag by looking at and whiffing his butt. If the feathers around the anus are tinted greenish or turquoise and exhibit a foul (bad beer-fart) odor, you are wise not to shoot any more. if not, you are good to go and limits are small anyway (c. 2-4 birds depending on state regs.).

On two brant shoots in coastal NJ in the early 20-teens, we shot limits of brant on each occasion. We kept one or two to experience the boquet and texture of the meat (all breasts). Very much like the flavor and spirit of Canada goose breast fillets done on the Weber grill, my favorite way, cooking them rare and slicing the breasts wafer_thin like flank steak. No gloppy sauces or marinades. NO BACON!!!, just grilled whole after stuffing the body cavity with sliced apples. oranges, apricots, and onion! Interestingly, our guide took any not claimed by us in order to make his recently-perfected version of spicy chorrizzo sausage, which was great!

An interesting phenomenon taken place in the last 10-12 years is that the Atlantic Brant population along the Delmarva coast seems to have adapted to feeding in early emergent grain fields (e.g., winter wheat) within sight of the sea, along with Canada geese and mostly puddle ducks. This is thought by latest animal behaviorists to be a learned response on the part of the Brant; on the edge of starvation. they observed and mimiced their Canadian cousins. This is indeed a good sign. it shows they have adapted once again to the ever-changing nutritional ecosystems that keep them alive.

Kevin, your argument seems pretty fishy to me.

Thanks for the reply, Kevin. Very interesting stuff.