Boss copper-plated bismuth shot shells

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

In the very recent AHFCA Fox News Issue, there is a featured article on
duck hunting and patterning tests by Jeff Stegmeier involving Fox, Parker, Lefever and C. Daly shotguns.

The writer experienced separation of Boss copper plated bismuth #5
shot shells in his HE Super Fox gun. The pattern tests involved all five
shotguns, with only the Super Fox turning in evidence of poor patterns and apparent disintegration or lack of integrity with shot-or "peeling off" of the copper plating. The author objectively stated that this only happened with copper plated bismuth Boss shells. His HE Fox patterned very nicely with non-plated bismuth shells.

The article features a table of pattern results. The author does point out that it occurred only in his individual gun, and readers are advised to test their own guns as results may vary.

[charlie cleveland]

chokes might be to tight in the fox....charlie

[Dean Romig]

That's pretty bizarre Henderson.





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[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Since I have a 3in Super Fox, and some of these same shells; like
Sherman Bell, may find out for myself. Since my 3-in guns are mainly for geese and turkey,
it pays to check. Have had good luck with bismuth in LC Smith Long Range 3-in guns,
but NOT copper plated.

[Stan Hillis]

My 32", 3" chambered HE Fox has been patterned with BOSS Cu plated 1 1/4 oz. loads of #5s. These are the loads they don't advertise much, but are lower pressure shells loaded without plastic shot cups, but rather with fiber wads. I was surprised to see only 67-68% patterns with it. Since i was shooting at a grease plate and taking pics of the patterns to do pellet counts later I didn't notice any copper fragments or other evidence of fragmentation of pellets. But, that may well have been happening. I knew going in to expect lower percentage patterns with the loads with no shot cups, and the lady at BOSS I talked with had also told me to expect that.

I have not patterned the BOSS, higher pressure, shot cup loads yet in it, but will definitely use paper to do so and will look closely for evidence of fragmentation. BTW, my 3" chambered LC Smith pigeon gun patterned the same lower pressure BOSS loads only slightly tighter at nearly 70%.

I have used the BOSS shells for two years in my HE, on ducks, and have used hand loaded bismuth in it for many more years than that. As a casual observation, I have noticed no difference in the killing ability of the two. But again, that is not empirical evidence, just a casual observation. Very interesting stuff.

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Good points, Stan.

The Fox article ironically states the problem occurred only with the author's 3 in
HE Super, which he stated is # 32577, and has a bore of .739 and a choke of .048.

He inspected his paper test targets on his test board and found deformed pellets,
copper "shrapnel" pieces, and pieces of broken pellets . The author is convinced
the pellets broke apart within his barrel, which means the damage probably occurred at or between the forcing cone and the long tapered and polished choke-or both.

Fox made three changes to the traditional barrel: they lengthened and polished the forcing cone;increased the bore of the barrel, and third, they developed a long gradual choke with a highly finished or polished surface. The purpose of these steps in the 30 or 32 in barrels was to create tight patterns AND prevent "flyers"-those little flattened lead pellets that head anywhere but at a mallard drake. Bert Becker is given credit for
much of this new barrel boring, and he definitely did a few including Nash Buckingham's famous HE: "Bo Whoop".

If the Boss version of these shells with pellet protected cup is used, the results might be totally different in the author's Super Fox. Of course, these internal shot cups were not used in the 1920s and 30's so its apples and oranges as the protected shot column heads down the bore. I think Silvers and I have often wondered about that in our Long Range Smiths and Super Fox 3 in guns.

As an aside, the author's Super Fox produced 82.5% pellet count using regular bismuth non-plated Kent 1 1/16th oz #5 shot shells -against a 30 in pattern circle at 40 yards.
(The highest percentage of any of the 5 test shotguns-out of the right barrel-.048
choke constriction, also the greatest amount of constriction.)

As to my 30 inch Super Fox, two Long Range LC Smiths, and a Parker 3-in VHE--
I am going to be even more selective about which non-toxic shells go into their chambers for geese and even more so about shells fed to them -while chasing the elusive Eastern wild turkey.

[Dean Romig]

Bismuth being harder and more prone to fracture than lead, I wonder about the ability (or non ability) or bismuth shot to molecularly adhere to the copper plating in certain tightly choked guns...?





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[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

I think that you have made a very good point , Dean. The constriction or other factors
in the makeup of forcing cone-choking may have tipped the metallurgy scales enough to cause flaking and disintegration of a portion of the copper-plated bismuth shot... at least in this 3-in Fox.

It does beg the question whether Boss research did extensive tests to determine the
end user performance of its plated bismuth against unplated bismuth shot pellets.

But again we come to the old truism that every shotgun is a law unto itself.

[Stan Hillis]

It may well be that it could be determined that above a certain number of points of constriction we get fragmentation, and that below that we don't. It's an interesting concept anyway, and worthy of further examination, IMO.

Henderson, has it been determined for certain that the author's (Jeff) BOSS loads were the low pressure ones? I don't recall the article mentioning that one way or the other, so I actually assumed that they were the standard (higher pressure) ones. One of your posts above made me think that you somehow knew that the loads he used for the testing in the article were the low pressure, fiber wad ones. But, I could have read something into your post that you did not mean.

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Author Stegmeier used Boss copper-plated bismuth 2 3/4 in shells with 1 1/4 oz No. 5 sized shot,
and these appear to be the fiber wad variety @ 1275 fps velocity. He does not mention shell pressure levels in his article details. I have a small number of these same Boss shells.

I am reasonably certain that if shot cup Boss shells were used instead of the fiber wad variety, his pellet shot percentages on target might possibly go up, along with less damaged or disintegrating pellets and copper fragmentation.
While not knowing for certain, I think his velocity achieved indicates the higher pressure
shells offered by Boss.

I am planning on re-testing my own waterfowl/turkey guns with some newer shells
and may test the author's findings in my own Fox and Smiths.