HEVI-METAL verses HEVI-SHOT

Phil C · 02-26-2012, 08:30 PM

I am planning on doing a lot more duck hunting next year and started researching non-toxic shot. Seems to be a huge difference in price between HEVI-METAL and HEVI-SHOT. Can someone tell me what the diffence is?
Thanks Phil

full choke 16 · 02-26-2012, 08:50 PM

Hevi-Metal is half Hevi Shot and half steel shot. Honestly, I've never tried it because it seems to mix two types of shot with different densities. That said, at some point, you'll have shot going at two different speeds to my way of thinking. I am a big fan of straight Hevi-Shot ammo. It doesn't cripple, it kills.

Richard Flanders · 02-26-2012, 11:37 PM

If I had to pick one non-tox that I've tried and which seems to work the best it would be Kent Tungsten Matrix. I've done well with the Classic Doubles stuff also. Bismuth is ok, but a bit brittle. Steel sucks and should be outlawed to put it mildly.

Phil C · 02-26-2012, 11:53 PM

Thanks for the information. Of course you are right. Shells gernerally are the least expensive item on the hunt. In January I took some people out hunting Gamble quail. I asked them to buy some good quaity shells in 6 or 7 1/2 's and I would supply everything else. I went on to explain there as a fair number of birds where we were going to be hunting but the birds were jumpy late in the season. Since we would be hunting just one day I told them they only needed about 4 or 5 boxes of shells between the 4 of them and they would have shells left over. The next day they showed up with 2 100 packs of #8's from Walmart. Said that they had decided that since the shells were such a great deal they bought double the amount, that I had told them they needed. They saved 3 to 4 dollars a box. Though they had to settle for number 8's. We ended up getting into a lot of birds but lost more birds then I care to talk about. I will not find myself in that situation again.
I shot Bismuth this year, jumpy shooting ducks off of the desert tanks, and was happy with the results, also shot some steel out of my Benelli. Did not like shooting the steel. No comaprison. I'll try buying up some Hevi-Shot for next year, or give the Tungsten Matrix a try.

Phil

Scott Gentry · 02-27-2012, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phillip Carr

Thanks for the information. Of course you are right. Shells gernerally are the least expensive item on the hunt. In January I took some people out hunting Gamble quail. I asked them to buy some good quaity shells in 6 or 7 1/2 's and I would supply everything else. I went on to explain there as a fair number of birds where we were going to be hunting but the birds were jumpy late in the season. Since we would be hunting just one day I told them they only needed about 4 or 5 boxes of shells between the 4 of them and they would have shells left over. The next day they showed up with 2 100 packs of #8's from Walmart. Said that they had decided that since the shells were such a great deal they bought double the amount, that I had told them they needed. They saved 3 to 4 dollars a box. Though they had to settle for number 8's. We ended up getting into a lot of birds but lost more birds then I care to talk about. I will not find myself in that situation again.
I shot Bismuth this year, jumpy shooting ducks off of the desert tanks, and was happy with the results, also shot some steel out of my Benelli. Did not like shooting the steel. No comaprison. I'll try buying up some Hevi-Shot for next year, or give the Tungsten Matrix a try.

Phil

Used Hevi-Steel this year ( in SBE not a Parker) and was very pleased with the results. Performed well with Kicks High Flyer (full) extended choke.

Scott Gentry · 02-27-2012, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Gentry

Used Hevi-Steel this year ( in SBE not a Parker) and was very pleased with the results. Performed well with Kicks High Flyer (full) extended choke.

Correction I used Hevi Metal loads and had very few cripples.

charlie cleveland · 02-27-2012, 06:08 PM

ok all you duck and goose hunters help us out here.... charlie

John Liles · 02-27-2012, 08:45 PM

I can't help much here as I've never shot any composite loads. I can say this, on a recent trip to North Dakota in search of Ducks, I had a Beretta auto-loader that I fed steel shot, and an Elsie SXS that was fed Heavy Shot Classic Double ammo. The Beretta was along for venues where we had to wade/swim to our shooting spots, and sometimes the gun was completely submerged! The Elsie was used for lay-out blind field hunts and hunts from shorelines.
As expensive as the heavy shot ammo was, I do honestly believe that it killed enough duck on the first shot to at least break even with the cost of the steel shot. Absolutely no comparison! Both guns were comparatively choked, given the recommendations for steel shot, and ducks that took two shots at 40 yards with steel were dish-ragged with one Heavy Shot shell. Shots that I would have passed on with steel shot, came to the table with Heavy Shot.
Maybe it was just me.
John

Richard Flanders · 02-27-2012, 08:55 PM

I doubt it's completely you John. What myself and my duck hunting partners most dislike about steel shot is the number of cripples that we never recover. I finally sold all my steel shot for a song and got rid of any guns I had that I could shoot steel through. It's all Parkers now and I'll pay whatever it takes to shoot them. Life's too short to shoot an ugly gun....

Double Lab · 02-27-2012, 11:11 PM

Steel does suck. I've been hunting waterfowl here on the fabled Chesapeake Bay since the early 60's. Back in the good old days with lead you very rarely chased cripples. When the pinheads in DC mandated the use of steel I almost gave up waterfowling due to the horrible performance of the early steel loads. No one will ever convince me that steel shot saves birds. I became an outlaw for a few years, still shooting my old lead loads but always having some steel loads in my pocket in case the "man" would check us. Then Bismuth came along and it was better than steel but not without its limitations. I'd say that about 80% of my birds are shot at 45yds. or less in that I spend considerable effort in decoys and calling to get the birds to lock up and glide in. I shoot a number of Parkers, Foxes and just recently a M12 from 1940 and for my money nothing beats the Tungsten Matrix loads. I agree that steel should be banned. These ammo companies are selling these new fast steel loads that chrono at 1400-1700fps. They are no better than the crap they were selling in the early 80's. Most waterfowlers are horrible judges of distance and they tend to stretch their shots to 60+ yds. We call them skybusters here and they cripple birds. Makes me sick. Buy the best loads- the birds deserve it.