[gooser]

For most practical purposes, I think that steel shot is as good as any within its range. Hevi shot,platinum and bismuth all have there advantage and disadvantages.
What type of shot do you prefer for water fowling? :-\

 

[Specklebelly]

Steel if fine for duck hunting. It always amazes me to see people using the high $$$ stuff for these type of fowl. They key is just get them close.

Now for geese it is a whole different story. Steel still works and I use it often, however with the longer shots and bigger birds I love to use Hevi Shot. Especially for the wary birds that won't decoy.

 

[Doc T]

I prefer Hevi-Shot, but I am shooting a 20ga. It is a great equalizer. In a blind with 3.5" 12ga steel shooters, I don't feel handicapped at all with Hevi-Shot and my trim 20 gauges.

Doc T

 

[dukkillr]

I shoot steel. I simply can't stomach the cost of the others. I can afford it, I just refuse to pay it.

1 1/4 oz 3" 12ga Steel 3s is what I consider the "best" if you don't anticipate geese and you intend to kill mostly big ducks.

If you don't care about the rules, 2 3/4" lead 4s would still be the most lethal load I've ever regularly used.

 

[SHOOTALL]

HEAVYSHOT ! nothing else comes close ! and yes i have tried most of the others . even the junk they sell in Canada .
when you figure the cost of every thing else the cost of shells is a fraction and the result of using junk is a spoiled season or hunt !

 

[RaySendero]

3" 1&1/4oz Steel #2s for Ducks

 

[lewdogg21]

Whatever load is in my gun. If I hit them in the body and they fly off thats on me. Sometimes I want to blame the load but if I'm not breaking wings or head shooting and they get away well I blew it.

 

[SHOOTALL]

SO why use a load that is limited to distance by half of other shot types ?

 

[gooser]

quite simply, because you can get them within the effective range of the gun/ammo that you are using.
and thereby costing you less to take your your game, as compared to higher priced ammo. Now I agree that you can't always get them where you want them, so that's where selective shooting comes in.

 

[SHOOTALL]

I'll stick with heavishot !

 

[mcwoodduck]

I agree with Shootall and Heavy shot has it hands down. I actually think it ends up being cheaper in the long run. Two years ago I turned my father from the steel to Heavi shot. He moaned and groaned about the price so I bought him his first box. The day before we were Woodduck hunting in the swamp on the farm and dad was hitting the birds with the first shot but had to shoot at least once more to kill the bird with his 12 ga and he was using 2's. I bought him a box of 2 3/4 #6 heavi shot in 20ga. The next morning a bird flew over me and headed to dad. He shot once. I asked if he missed. His return was "this stuff is great. like god hit it with lightning". So if you take a box of steel and start adding up ducks per shell the Heavy shot is not that expensive.
Last April I anchored a turkey with the heavi shot 3" #4's at 80 paces. I would like to see steel do that. I use these for long range duck hunting now. The larger pellet count does wonders.

 

[mcwoodduck]

Oh yea I just got back from Bass Pro last week with 4 boxes of #4 3" mag 12ga and a box of #2 3.5" mag and 2 boxes of 3" #4 20 ga. For my duck and goose hunting needs this year.

 

[SHOOTALL]

hevi-shot is the new standard that all others are compared to ' a fact of hunting now !
so why handicap yourself by using less ?

 

[lewdogg21]

Oh yea I just got back from Bass Pro last week with 4 boxes of #4 3" mag 12ga and a box of #2 3.5" mag and 2 boxes of 3" #4 20 ga. For my duck and goose hunting needs this year.

I think the heavi shot argument is not just steel vs. heavy but how much a guy shoots. A good year for me means I'll shoot over a case of steel. Plus I get good deals on bulk orders from Estate with some of my dad's friends.


If it was the same price I'd shoot the more dense stuff but of course I grew up shooting steel and don't know the heydays of lead.

 

[SHOOTALL]

i grew up shooting lead , was forced to shoot steel , then other stuff the hevi-shot came out , then steel got improved !
over the last 6 years i have shot over 4 cases of hevi-shot , 3 steel and 2-3 mixed other stuff .
i honestly believe i could take someone who never shot geese before and let them try all the different shot and they would walk away knowing hevi-shot is best !
I will not be buying steel unless hevi-shot becomes unavailable and then i would use tungsten matrix first if i could get it !
for a fact i can't remember not having to shoot most large ducks and geese twice with steel at short range where with hevi-shot can't remember needing a follow up shot . its just that simple !
so for anyone wanting advice here goes - if you like to kill ducks use hevi-shot !
but if you like to shoot alot and hear the gun go off by all means get steel !

 

[mcwoodduck]

I too started hunting in the lead area. There was steel that we had before it was mandatory but you needed to up size the shot by 3 or 4 shot sizes. This is the era when T and F shots came out. Lead was good. Heavi shot is better than lead. You can down size by one shot size than what you used in lead with the same or more killing power. When you down size you increase pellet count and have denser patterns. Dense patterns result in less wounded birds and more recovered. The birds also fold up on the first shot and more shells are not needed.
Lewddogg,
I understand that you may shoot a lot more then I do and I'm jealous. I wish I could get out more and hunt more than southern California occasionally and NC for a week. I also wonder if a single shot with heavi shot accounts for me only needing a little over 100 rounds for the year while you need 2.5 times what I do.
Try a box. You may change your mind.

 

[Specklebelly]

This is the era when T and F shots came out.

I remember those days. Everyone thought T and F were the way to go. I don't even know if F is still available. Anyone still use them? What do you get something like 40 pellets? I will use T if desperate but usually stay will BBB to 1 when using steel for honkers.

 

[mcwoodduck]

According to my Federal Shot size ruler. They offered:
BB .18
BBB .19
T .20
TT .21
F .22
FF .23
I do not know what they still offer as I have stopped looking at steel.
I did see a Box of BBB in steel for the 10ga but the price per box of 10 ga it's the same as Heavi Shot or Bismuth.
To have the same killing power and a whole lot more shot you could use 4's .13 or 2's .15 in heavi shot and get real dense patterns.

 

[SHOOTALL]

lets face it , the shot has to be larger , still has less range , a 10 ga. or 12 ga. in 3-1/2 mag. is needed to have same pellet count with larger size shot . now if you need so many band-aids what have ya got ?
steel shot was a poor answer to a ? problem

 

[SHOOTALL]

and for the record , shot a deer with F 's once ! at point blank it worked ok !
Before everyone goes off , a friend and i were in a field blind in some short pines . We had the geese pegged and were in their flight path ! we were also in a 6 pointers flight path ! he knocked my friend into me and all three of us ended up on the ground , since the deer seemed like he didn't know what to do and wasn't leaving , and deer season was in you might say we had a turf and feather dinner later !