Shot comparsons - Steel V lead

[anser2]

When steel first came out it was useless , but steel cartridges of today from makers such as gamebore are in a very different league. I will make this offer to an experienced shooters who are disbelievers in the effectiveness of steel . When I start pigeon shooting after the harvest come with me for a days decoying on the stubbles and try steel out. But then be prepared to post your results on this forum. You will need to use good quality steel shells such as Gamebore or RC in 3s or 4s ( forget Lydale\Express ) and with a bit of luck we should aim for a reasonable bag of 40 + birds. If your are interested PM me. I live in North Norfolk so you will need to live reasonably close.

Edited April 14, 2010 by anser2

[David BASC]

I hope someone takes you up on your offer, as I have said the proof of the pudding is in the eating. As was written in the BASC mag last month, views on NTS are based on experience or hearsay.

 

I understand there are concerns voiced about steel / soft iron and ricochets, but I can assure you that I have had to deal with plenty of insurance claims caused by lead shot ricochets. Lead too will ricochet off branches – so be safe, and take care regardless of what type of shot you are using!

 

David

[mpk]

david basc, turned up in the post yesterday . Very imformative and greatly appreciated .............Top man

 

cheers

[mikee]

a ban on lead shot for all types of shooting would be a nightmare but as usual the shooting community would overcome the set back just like it did for wildfowling.

when the ban came in before a few uf us from the club bought all the different types and makes of non tox shot to try, ITM was far and away the best at the time but far too expensive, the original bismuth was pants although i understand the recipe has been improved since to make the shot less brittle, steel was ok ish if you bought the right make, its not the shot material that made it poor it was the loads available unless you could get some yank shells like the remmy of winchester drylok then they were ok.

If you really want to get the best from steel you need to load your own then you will really see how good it can be, the yanks have had a lead ban for years longer than us and were light years ahead they had developed loads, powders and components specifically for steel.

When i started to reload i as most uk reloaders tried to cram as much shot in the case as possible just like lead shot but it didnt work like that, steel need to go fast to be really effective and to do that you need light loads, I found a US reloading site and bought all the components etc thay used, got some ally steel powder and some good european powders like TK8 and CSB0 and developed loads that would out perform most lead shells, I have got a 7/8oz 70mm load that does way over 1700fps and with #3 shot kills ducks clean to 50yds, a 33g load in 76mm that does 1600fps with #2, 89mm in 12b is a waste of time, you cant get the required velocities with the amount of shot needed to fill the case, for gese in 10b 89mm i used steel "T" size shot in a 40g load doing 1600fps and the pellets will go through a goose at 50 yds, and kill them cleanly to 60-70 and probably further, the trick is to get the pattern to hold together at those ranges which can be done by using modified wads and special chokes.

the real down side to an outright lead ban would be the huge number of perfectly serviceable guns that would become useless because they cant take the higher pressures needed to achieve the higher velocities also the additional fannying about having to reload all ammo would be a real **** of a job, so we really need to lobby hard to stop any attacks on ammo and BASC and all the other bodies need to do the same ASAP

 

mikee