I DO believe the "crip" rate has generally gone up with steel shot but the payoff is that "crips" gets picked off by raptors and the steel shot doesn't poison them. As I remember that was the reasoning behind the move to steel. I went to bismuth long ago. Shoots like lead but nontoxic to the birds of prey and leaves no toxic waste in the shallow estuary areas where we hunt waterfowl.
Fun with game wardens too! I've been checked a couple of times with unmarked bismuth shells. Nonmagnetic. I open a shell and crush a pellet or two with the end of a pocket knife or Leatherman to prove it's not lead. Bismuth crumbles unlike lead.
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