Bismuth Shot - It's not all created equal

[OH Osthaus]

wow - homework

glad to help Pete

5 random pellets weighed ( on my RCBS beam scale) 14.6 grains

one ounce of these #4's (437.5 grains on the RCBS- and checked at 1 oz on my postal scale) contains 150/152 pellets (did it twice)

the bottle says they are .130 diameter
i measured two - they both came out at .133 on my digital caliper


I see lead 4's listed as 132 to 137 pellets per once depending on the chart

so only 13 to 18 extras- I think this is pretty close - so far the ducks have not complained about being shorted

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Rick Losey

wow - homework

glad to help Pete

5 random pellets weighed ( on my RCBS beam scale) 14.6 grains

one ounce of these #4's (437.5 grains on the RCBS- and checked at 1 oz on my postal scale) contains 150/152 pellets (did it twice)

the bottle says they are .130 diameter
i measured two - they both came out at .133 on my digital caliper


I see lead 4's listed as 132 to 137 pellets per once depending on the chart

so only 13 to 18 extras- I think this is pretty close - so far the ducks have not complained about being shorted

So you should have 187 pellets in a 1 1/4 ounce load. That is in between the two different sizes of No-Tox 4's I have on hand. They would perform similar to a lead 4 1/2 if there was such a thing.

These bismuth 4's sold by Precision reloading are a significantly larger pellet than the bismuth 4's being sold by Ballistic Products .130 vs. .0815 in diameter. I am glad to see another source of loose bismuth but the bargain priced bismuth 4's from Ballistic Products is not going to perform the same. I'll stick with the stuff from Precision reloading.