Steel shot??

[Fowler1990]

My Summary of steel

Use less choke, 1/4 is fine. Steel doesn't compress as well and tighter chokes dont reat help patterning in my usage/seldom tests.


Don't take the buiscit with ranges you ar shooting at. (Same applies for lead)

Go up at least 1x shot size from lead for quarry.

Purchased a large quantity of eley lightning steel at the time of the unpoliced lead ban.

Ran out recently and after 5 years they have been fantastic. Really cant fault them, clean kills at some impeccable distances on pretty much everything you can shoot in the UK, providing your using a shot size or 2 less than you usually would.

No 5 became my preferred pigeon partridge and crow cartridge.

Not sure if thats down to fammiliarity or consistency of me using the same thing but there's nothing wrong with steel for killing stuff.

All work fine on ducks and geese once they have landed 🍽🍽🍽

Also to add, less choke is required to obtain the same constricton of the shot cone in comparison to lead. I have found 1/4 ample for killing game and fowl with conviction. Im not atomising clays. I want a nice even spread of pellets at sensible.distances I expect to shoot stuff. If its a bit further than id like it gets both barrels.

 

[Liveonce]

My experience as well. Steel does shoot slightly different to lead. Indeed different brands of lead cartridges will shoot differently and we have all seen or experienced a gun who can’t hit anything blame the cartridges he is using.

When ones gunmaker made you a gun one would specify ones cartridge of choice. The gun was regulated to shoot those cartridges and when one mounted the gun the shot would hit where you look. Your man would always make sure the right cartridges were always in the cartridge bag.

Different loads recoil differently which in turn will affect if the shot goes high, low or to one side compared to where you point the gun.

Different loads will leave the barrel at different velocities therefore time of flight to the target will differ, which will have an effect on how you swing through the bird.

Fortunately the brain is very good at learning these sorts of things - its called muscle memory - and a little trial and error will soon get things back in sync. Sometimes it may not and a bigger change is required, but mostly with a change in cartridges a box or three will sort things out.

Those who spit the dummy out after trying just a few - well hardly surprising they don’t work. By a slab of new cartridges, stick them in the cartridge bag and think no more of it. Just go and shoot.

Not sure if some of this is fact or fiction, may be many years ago when cartridges were far less consistent and loaded with black powder. These day less so, especially as a manufacture can and do change a component within your cartridge of choice and you most likely do not know they have done so.

Then yes velocity may alter time down the barrel but in milliseconds I doubt the human brain can comprehend the variation to make an adjustment that has any impact on hitting the target.

The little round ball has a very poor BC and quickly loses velocity, steel shot faster than lead, so after some few yards regardless of muzzle velocity for same size pellets they are all traveling at virtually the same velocity, the difference being negligible.

So given the poor BC only shot size and projectile mass has a major impact on the terminal velocity and energy.
Hence why 2mm diameter very heavy tungsten based shot is so lethal down range, not because of its initial muzzle velocity but because it’s tiny size diameter and mass retains far more of that velocity and hence energy at the target, plus the small diameter likely helps its penetrate the target.

 

[dutchgus]

In Holland lead shot was banned some 30 years ago. Despite all the theory, I'm shooting nearly all my game with a 50 years old Miroku trap gun that is half and full choked. Like most of my friends I'm shooting the standard Gamebore super steel 32 grams no 5. It works fine, my old Miroku is still going strong and I'm old enough to know that lead shot really was not much better than the modern steel cartridges.

 

[Smellydog]

In Holland lead shot was banned some 30 years ago. Despite all the theory, I'm shooting nearly all my game with a 50 years old Miroku trap gun that is half and full choked. Like most of my friends I'm shooting the standard Gamebore super steel 32 grams no 5. It works fine, my old Miroku is still going strong and I'm old enough to know that lead shot really was not much better than the modern steel cartridges.

Have you noticed a drop in range or a different approach to how to shoot with them?

I'm told to go up two shot sizes but being a long standing believer in multiple strikes have preferred smaller shot sizes in lead. I have not tried it with steel (yet) because I just did as suggested. I'm now wondering if it skewed my results.

How do you guys deal with plastic wads?

 

[Liveonce]

majority of holland is flat country, so unlikely to have high bird shoots, but happy to be told otherwise.

 

[dutchgus]

In Holland it is prohibited to release game birds, so we do not have the bird shoots like in Britain, but I can assure you that pigeons, crows, duck and geese can fly high enough.
In response to Smellydog: don't worry about a drop in range and yes, go up 1 or 2 shot sizes. I'm very happy with the 3 mm no 5 shot for almost everything, but if it's especially for geese, you better go for no 3 or 4. Plastic wads are a bit of a problem and I'm still waiting for a decent alternative.

 

[skypie]

My experience of steel is pretty good. Fiocchi 70mm 35g no 2 and 4 for geese and work well. But I have never shot lead at wildfowl so can’t compare. Eley and gamebore have both worked well for me in the past too. But never got on with lyalve express steel. But that could just be me having a bad day and blaming the cartridges.

I have used 32g eley bio wads and can’t really tell the difference for rough shooting. Perhaps some more meat damage.

 

[timbrayford]

In Holland lead shot was banned some 30 years ago. Despite all the theory, I'm shooting nearly all my game with a 50 years old Miroku trap gun that is half and full choked. Like most of my friends I'm shooting the standard Gamebore super steel 32 grams no 5. It works fine, my old Miroku is still going strong and I'm old enough to know that lead shot really was not much better than the modern steel cartridges.

I'd have to go on a body building course to use your trap gun, 6 1/2 lbs is quite heavy enough for me

 

[Smellydog]

Fiocchi 70mm 35g no 2 and 4 for geese

Ever had this?

Fierce little buggers!

 

[skypie]

Never seen that. My dog used to chew the empties when I used the auto .

 

[Apthorpe]

Your dog is perhaps lucky you use Fiocchi then. I think Fiocchi is possibly the only maker of non-lead primers, and empties would be fairly heavily contaminated with lead styphnate combustion residues, which are probably more toxic than chewing the lead shot.