The Brits say steel shot and vintage guns is OK
 

I have always personally felt that way.

Isn’t steel shot, lacking the down range energy necessary for clean efficient kills, propelled at higher velocities? And how does this affect chamber pressures?





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Worth Matthewson wrote, in his book Big December Canvasbacks that for many years after the mandate of steel shot for waterfowl he continued using his tightly choked L C Smith, with 2s and 3s as I recall. He had to take it to a gunsmith for some minor repair not concerning the barrels and the gunsmith measured his chokes, surprising Worth about how tight they were. The old warrior had been belching out those big steel shot loads for years with no discernible damage.

If I were to do so though, I'd stick with smaller shot sizes that that. I have, however, been shooting steel, up to and including size 3s, in my 30" barreled BSS for ages, with no damage. I had the left barrel's choke opened to the same as the right came from the factory, .018".

This is the second recent article on steel through vintage guns. The other is about the upcoming mandate for all hunting in the UK. Once again the Brits caved to anti-gun, anti-hunting pressure. The reason for the upcoming mandate for steel usage is the overwhelming majority of game taken is sold for public consumption. They are trying to say that humans will eat lead pellets and then get lead poisoning. That is ass. As a tag along item, they are now required by the Home Office to have a doctor sign off on any firearm permit and their social media profiles will be scanned by law enforcement to make sure they can have the priviledge of owning a firearm. It's not a right over there.

Stan, the BSS and Win 21 guns are completely different animals. We can shoot even stupid shells (1400 FPS 1 1/4 oz) through them. 1350 FPS 1 1/8 oz of #5 are brutal on crows when shot through a BSS with an ISIS system.

My family and I have always used steel shot in our waterfowl guns since New York imposed it in the late 1970's. Guns were Win. 1897's & early model 1912's, Fox, Parker, Ithaca and Sauer doubles in mostly mod & full chokes shot size from #1 to #6 steel. I never saw any damage to either metal or wood over the next 20 years and I spent a huge amount of time on the bays and expended lots of rounds. Granted I did not have access to sophisticated tools to accurately measure any slight differences but trust me there were none. I switched to other non-toxic loads mainly because early steel rounds didn't kill worth a s---, current steel loads seem to do much better. Just my experience and I totally agree with the British experts.

My cousins in Minnesota used my father's old Remington KED-grade with early steel shot and it bulged the chokes and broke the ribs loose. Over the years I've seen two Magnum-12 NIDs with bulges at the chokes, a No. 2E at the Cabelas flagship store in Sydney back when Wes Dillon was running the gun library and the other a Field Grade at The Big Reno Show a few years ago.

My 10 gauge AYA Matador with .040 chokes never suffered any damage shooting #2 and #BB steel. The round count was not large, but more like medium. I never shot anything larger than #BB.

I once owned a two barrel set with one set damaged either by steel shot, too much pressure or a combo of both. I am always going to err on the side of caution. Low pressures and bismuth for my old guns.