Anyone loading bismuth?

[Milton C Starr]

So I been playing with a little bit of bismuth I pulled from a few RST loads which was painful as they were $3.50 a pop. They pattern so well though I was curious how they were loaded and what the quality of bismuth looked like. I measured a powder charge of about 29gr-30grs these are 1 1/4oz at 1250fps according to the box. The powder is the same shape and size as Bluedot but alot darker. I think this bismuth is perhaps from rotometals as you can see sprue marks on it from casting and I read rotometals casts their bismuth shot #2 and larger. It looks almost identical to nickel plated lead shot a slightly different hue to it though. I decided to plier test them since modern bismuth shot should be alloyed to alleviate the problems it had in the past. Its quite interesting how it "fragments" it basically breaks up into 3 equally sized jagged pieces doesn't turn into dust like I have heard. If you have seen any of the solid copper hollow points sold for self defense where the nose breaks up into 3 jagged shards essentially like that. Now I have read some hunters like this about bismuth as it rips through the inside of the bird and kills quicker I have seen it compared to how blindside shot works.

Oh yeah I weighed the pellets as well compared to the same size lead pellet, I got 4.9-5grs with #2 lead and 4.7grs with a #2 bismuth. According to a muzzle energy calculator at a modest 1150fps this would be 15 ft lbs of muzzle energy for the lead and 14ftlbs for the bismuth. The RST loads look to be loaded with a SP-10 wad.

From what I could roughly estimate it would cost me around $2.40 per shell to load bismuth if I had bought tungsten matrix recently when it was on a closeout sale for $10/lb it would be around $1.80 per shell. I would still probably keep some RST loads on hand since my NH grade seems to prefer them over anything I have yet handloaded .

[oskar]

I've been shooting bismuth and ITX for a number of years. ITX I load 7/8 oz in my 2.5" 12ga and 1 oz of Bismuth 5's in the same. These are my main waterfowl loads but work well in non-tax upland areas. High volume on doves I keep little CZ Bobwhite 20ga around to shoot steel.

[6pt-Sika]

I load Bismuth for the 10 1 1/4 , for the 12 1 1/8 , for the 16 1 , far the 20 7/8 and even some for the 28 . I’ve only so far killed anything with it in the 10 and 20 . I keep sizes 1 , 2 and 4 on hand oh yeah and I got a bag of 4.5 recently but haven’t loaded any so far .

[Milton C Starr]

I was looking for some information on loading tungsten matrix without a shotcup in theory it should be fine but couldnt find anything concrete. I know bismuth will work without one, I plan on trying some more bismuth down the road since it can be bought in small 1lb bags to try. I read boss will sell their copper plated bismuth as loose shot if you call them so that might be worth checking into as well.

A few reasons I am looking at bismuth is I would like some versatile loads I could use for different game and my 10 gauge patterns it pretty good. So probably I will order some #2 bismuth and I see BPI has nickel plated 5s back in stock id like to try out as well. I also want to try ordering some paper 8 gauge cases but the shipping for 10 hulls is $78 ouch. I picked up a digital measuring wheel yesterday so next time I go to the range I can get a accurate 30-40 yard distance.

[Keith Doty]

Milton, I load bismuth in 10, 12, and 16. #5 is my choice, primarily for ducks. Way better than steel, doesn't damage vintage guns, and kills'em like the lead of my youth! Those 40 to 50 yard shots really make a difference on big ducks, steel vs. bismuth. 1200 FPS is my goal for all with as little pressure as I can get. I'm sure I've paid for at least one new outboard motor testing with Precision but money well spent.
Rotometals has consistently been the best source.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Keith Doty

Milton, I load bismuth in 10, 12, and 16. #5 is my choice, primarily for ducks. Way better than steel, doesn't damage vintage guns, and kills'em like the lead of my youth! Those 40 to 50 yard shots really make a difference on big ducks, steel vs. bismuth. 1200 FPS is my goal for all with as little pressure as I can get. I'm sure I've paid for at least one new outboard motor testing with Precision but money well spent.
Rotometals has consistently been the best source.

Never gotten any from Roto . First I got was #1 from Precision Reloading also the most expensive . I’ve since bought #2 , #4 and #4.5 from BPI . I am however considering a bag of #5 and a bag of #6 from Midway . . Seems to me what I got from Precision was 6.6 pounds and I believe the BPI was the same amount and what Midway has is five pounds . Price on this stuff seems to have down a bit , the first bag was $200 plus the second two were if memory serves about $125 a bag and these slightly smaller from Midway are $99.99 .

[Milton C Starr]

Originally Posted by Keith Doty

Milton, I load bismuth in 10, 12, and 16. #5 is my choice, primarily for ducks. Way better than steel, doesn't damage vintage guns, and kills'em like the lead of my youth! Those 40 to 50 yard shots really make a difference on big ducks, steel vs. bismuth. 1200 FPS is my goal for all with as little pressure as I can get. I'm sure I've paid for at least one new outboard motor testing with Precision but money well spent.
Rotometals has consistently been the best source.

We cant really use outboards here anymore so now its either run a go-devil or prepare to get a arm workout and some paddles. I assume by precision you mean Precision Reloading? I was wondering when they test shells for you if they send back the empties? Eventually id like to get some brass shells tested but they are too expensive not to get them back.

[Milton C Starr]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

Never gotten any from Roto . First I got was #1 from Precision Reloading also the most expensive . I’ve since bought #2 , #4 and #4.5 from BPI . I am however considering a bag of #5 and a bag of #6 from Midway . . Seems to me what I got from Precision was 6.6 pounds and I believe the BPI was the same amount and what Midway has is five pounds . Price on this stuff seems to have down a bit , the first bag was $200 plus the second two were if memory serves about $125 a bag and these slightly smaller from Midway are $99.99 .

Craig a few weeks ago I found a online store that was having a closeout sale on tungsten matrix 20 gauge loads for 500rd cases for $350 which I added up was 35lbs of TM or $10/lb. At normal prices though I dont see TM being worth 2-3x the cost of bismuth.

Im trying to consolidate some of my reloading needs so I dont have 10 bags of different shot sizes/types. I dont really do enough high volume shooting at the moment for it to add up. Although if I keep shooting 25rd boxes of 8 gauge ammo during range trips that may change haha.

[Stan Hillis]

One and a quarter ounces of #4 bismuth at about 1200 fps is the duck killingest load I've used in a long time ........... since lead was outlawed, actually. Three years ago in AR I killed a six duck limit with six loads, with my HE SuperFox. It is bad medicine for big ducks.

That said, I'm anxious to try out some Nice Shot (TM) next season (and a few loads of TSS through a modern foah-ten, for woodies).

[Keith Doty]

Originally Posted by Milton C Starr

We cant really use outboards here anymore so now its either run a go-devil or prepare to get a arm workout and some paddles. I assume by precision you mean Precision Reloading? I was wondering when they test shells for you if they send back the empties? Eventually id like to get some brass shells tested but they are too expensive not to get them back.

I have never requested the emptys back but I'd bet that if you sent a prepaid shipping label they'd return them. Drop a dime, call and ask would be my first thought. I'm with you on wanting the brass ones back!