Casting bismuth for shot?

[Stan Hillis]

Good luck, Milton. I'm a big fan of bismuth for ducks and have loaded it for my 3" chambered, 32" HE Fox for years, loading 1 1/4 oz. of 4s. In the last couple years I've bought bulk lots of BOSS factory bismuth, one in the lower pressure loads without a plastic shot cup, and the other with the shot cup and higher pressures. I'm very impressed with their loadings, though I haven't had a chance to try the higher pressure loads yet on ducks.

Those Ts ought to be big medicine on geese, for sure. How big a payload are you "shooting for"?

[Milton C Starr]

Originally Posted by Stan Hillis

Good luck, Milton. I'm a big fan of bismuth for ducks and have loaded it for my 3" chambered, 32" HE Fox for years, loading 1 1/4 oz. of 4s. In the last couple years I've bought bulk lots of BOSS factory bismuth, one in the lower pressure loads without a plastic shot cup, and the other with the shot cup and higher pressures. I'm very impressed with their loadings, though I haven't had a chance to try the higher pressure loads yet on ducks.

Those Ts ought to be big medicine on geese, for sure. How big a payload are you "shooting for"?

Well with handloads in the 10 ga magnum you can get 2oz of steel in there so I reckon 2 1/4oz of bismuth should be doable, plus roll crimping doesn't take up as much hull capacity. Tom mentions in his book he seen the best results with buffer in bismuth loads and I have read others experiences with bismuth and buffer and it looks to be a good combination. Ts are going to have alot of air space between the pellets anyhow so they would probably get the most benefit from buffering I would think. I'll have to start with a baseline and get PR to test them and go from there. I know with bismuth 2s they pattern well in the 6 frame and the 8 gauge with minimal fracturing (3-4 pellets per load) I am curious if the larger bismuth holds together better. I know some guys make patched round balls using bismuth and havnt ran into a problem with them fracturing.