Shooting Steel

[DaveT]

Used these the other day for driven duck, hit well and had clean kills, would happily use on pheasant later in the season, they are HP steel though, so need the right proof

Ultimate High Performance Steel Game 32 grams Wad - Lyalvale Express

The Ultimate High Performance Steel offers the highest Lethality in a Non-Toxic steel game cartridge. With the new “Greencore” Wad that is 100% Biodegradable Compostable it offers an excellent alternative to lead. Apart from it’s non-toxic credentials, the custom-made iron alloy shot conforms to...

www.lyalvaleexpress.com

 

[StephenToast]

Interesting the selection of steel that kills ducks fine but there are people still saying it's no good on pheasants and partridges. I'm assuming that's because the keeper is fitting them with a kevlar jumpsuit.

 

[enfieldspares]

If anyone is near Leicester I have acquired a slab of 250 Gamebore Silver Steel (3" case, 32 grams viz 1 1/8 ounce, of #4 steel). I am happy to let people have a box of 25 at just above what they cost me. So £14 a box collected with valid SGC.

 

[Liveonce]

in reality shooting driven birds picking wads by human hands is pretty easy , most of the time . Generally in an arc of you up to 30 yards in-front

May be on a working man’s DIY shoot it might have a very slim chance but I have in the past been a beater on a shoot where the guns arrived by helicopter and very expensive cars, they could not even be bothered to take a brace away so absolutely no hope of them picking up wads. These being cooperate entertainment shoots, some ten year back now.

 

[Bowland blades]

May be on a working man’s DIY shoot it might have a very slim chance but I have in the past been a beater on a shoot where the guns arrived by helicopter and very expensive cars, they could not even be bothered to take a brace away so absolutely no hope of them picking up wads. These being cooperate entertainment shoots, some ten year back now.

Well the obvious answer comes to mind when beaters , pickers up and basically everyone is paid - PAY SOMEONE !

 

[Liveonce]

Well the obvious answer comes to mind when beaters , pickers up and basically everyone is paid - PAY SOMEONE !

With your experience the jobs yours

 

[Bowland blades]

With your experience the jobs yours

Well it took me about 5 seconds to get the obvious so my pay grade is gonna be a tad higher than some !

 

[Liveonce]

Well it took me about 5 seconds to get the obvious so my pay grade is gonna be a tad higher than some !

However as beaters we were not paid much as the real benefit was the beaters days.

I can just see it, Guns pay attention you paid 50p for your steel shot cartridge and now must pay £2 for each cartridge fired to enable us to collect the wads or pay £1.50 for a bismuth cartridge with fibre wad.

Should nicely drive up the sales of bismuth

 

[Bowland blades]

However as beaters we were not paid much as the real benefit was the beaters days.

I can just see it, Guns pay attention you paid 50p for your steel shot cartridge and now must pay £2 for each cartridge fired to enable us to collect the wads or pay £1.50 for a bismuth cartridge with fibre wad.

Should nicely drive up the sales of bismuth

Come back when you have thought though your own comments on the thread previous. However there are steel plastic wads sold now for steel that break down in the wet or made with a heavy duty fibre shot cup

 

[Cootmeurer]

We’ve been shooting steel as mandatory for waterfowl since 1992 here. As such, Ive shot a pallet of it at least. We now routinely (and sometimes also mandatorily) use it for upland game on most state and federal game lands.

Tremendous amount of options out there, but this is what we have settled on.

Early season thin feathered birds
7 shot for doves/pigeon
4 shot for teal or quail.chukar
3 shot pheasant/ducks
2 shot Canada geese
Speed is important so we want a load that runs at least 1450 fps. Much faster than that doesn’t seem to provide much improvement and often results in blown patterns

By late season with fully fledged birds we tend to use no shot smaller than 4 for small birds
Nothing smaller than 2 for ducks
And move up to BB for geese.
Some even go to BBB to T for geese but I think this results in much weaker patterns

 

[Heym SR20]

We’ve been shooting steel as mandatory for waterfowl since 1992 here. As such, Ive shot a pallet of it at least. We now routinely (and sometimes also mandatorily) use it for upland game on most state and federal game lands.

Tremendous amount of options out there, but this is what we have settled on.

Early season thin feathered birds
7 shot for doves/pigeon
4 shot for teal or quail.chukar
3 shot pheasant/ducks
2 shot Canada geese
Speed is important so we want a load that runs at least 1450 fps. Much faster than that doesn’t seem to provide much improvement and often results in blown patterns

By late season with fully fledged birds we tend to use no shot smaller than 4 for small birds
Nothing smaller than 2 for ducks
And move up to BB for geese.
Some even go to BBB to T for geese but I think this results in much weaker patterns

Really useful thank you.

To UK shooters do note that there a subtle differences between US, UK and European shot sizes. Useful comparison chart in link below. The only real definitive is the actual shot diameter in inches or mm. Also note the significantly greater of pellets per oz of shot with steel compared to lead. So an oz of steel No 3 has similar number of pellets to lead No 5.

Shot Size Chart

 

[Bowland blades]

Really useful thank you.

To UK shooters do note that there a subtle differences between US, UK and European shot sizes. Useful comparison chart in link below. The only real definitive is the actual shot diameter in inches or mm. Also note the significantly greater of pellets per oz of shot with steel compared to lead. So an oz of steel No 3 has similar number of pellets to lead No 5.

Shot Size Chart

the USA sizes include number 2 but 3 is rare , BBB and other rare sizes in the uk . number 2 steel is actually very good on duck / goose sessions . Steel also looses very , very few pellets from the pattern because of the fact it doesn't get squashed / deformed on firing or in flight

 

[enfieldspares]

If anyone is near Leicester I have acquired a slab of 250 Gamebore Silver Steel (3" case, 32 grams viz 1 1/8 ounce, of #4 steel). I am happy to let people have a box of 25 at just above what they cost me. So £14 a box collected with valid SGC.

NO SOLD! ALL OF THEM.