steel shot cartridges

[BLACK-GUN]

The UK Proof House will confirm that steel shot pellets have caused gun damage on occasions where they have been in contact with either the chamber, chamber cone, chokes or barrel wall with the material hardness of the steel pellets and the pressures involed, this is inevitable.

 

just read this in the pull mag page 45 cartridge test, makes you think twice about useing them.

[Guest cookoff013]

yeah the end of the chamber takes a beating, thats a fact.

[BLACK-GUN]

yeah the end of the chamber takes a beating, thats a fact.

 

always had it in my mind that steel shot cartridges were bad for shotguns, i will never use them. unless you have a **** gun you dont mind recking DONT USE THEM.

[Beretta28g]

For those of us that dont have the pull magazine could someone upload the article here?

[Cake444]

Are they not trying to phase lead out due to environmental reasons?

 

I friend of mine put a 40g Steel BB load through his old SxS. The chamber was a real state afterwards.

[Catweazle]

Are they not trying to phase lead out due to environmental reasons?

 

I friend of mine put a 40g Steel BB load through his old SxS. The chamber was a real state afterwards.

 

Large shot size are particularly damaging. My Beretta manual defines HP ( High Performance ) Steel as shot size over 3.5mm, and only barrels and chokes specifically designed as HP can use them.

[huffhuff]

So what do us 'wildfowlers' do? I'm not paying for bismuth.

[motty]

So what do us 'wildfowlers' do? I'm not paying for bismuth.

Us wildfowlers carry on using steel.

[motty]

always had it in my mind that steel shot cartridges were bad for shotguns, i will never use them. unless you have a **** gun you dont mind recking DONT USE THEM.

I've used plenty of steel through my silver pigeon iv and my xtrema. Both guns are fine.

[Totsy]

Its an excellent article. I think its the 1st in a series on the +/- of steel. I hope it turns out to be unbias.

 

Ta, Lee.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Totsy

[Beretta28g]

Where is it then can someone please post/link it here!

[poontang]

Where is it then can someone please post/link it here!

 

Seconded

[Totsy]

Its the monthly comic you get with the CPSA called 'pull'. I dont think it is online.

 

Ta, Lee.

[Beretta28g]

But some of us aren't in the CPSA

[Whitebridges]

I suppose i've fired 50 or so steel cartridges at live quarry over the last 20 years and detest the stuff. I'm very sure i've used the right loads and shot sizes. 50 carts or so is hardly a fair trial I agree, but too many runners and watching the results of others puts me off. OK the American's get on with it but I don't. Lead, Bismuth and ideally Hevishot for me. Just stop buying steel it will soon go away.

BG it will definately balls up a gun if the user has no clue on choke and how to feed a decent gun.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Whitebridges

[Beretta28g]

Hevi-SHot is the muts nuts for geese and long range duck but for flight ponds i tend to use steel.

[BLACK-GUN]

can anyone give any information on my other post, in other types of shooting regarding lead shot please. thanks joe.

[poontang]

can anyone give any information on my other post, in other types of shooting regarding lead shot please. thanks joe.

 

Done

[poontang]

Its the monthly comic you get with the CPSA called 'pull'. I dont think it is online.

 

Ta, Lee.

 

Lee,

 

Can you scan the article and post it on here please?

[anser2]

There is so much rubbish talked about steel shot on this forum its unbelievable. I have shot several thousand pigeons , duck and geese with steel and am very happy to use it , but there some rules that need to be followed.

 

Steel is not load for load as good as lead , but adjust your load and within sensible 40-45 yard ranges it does the job fine with no more wounded birds than lead.

 

Use the right gun for the load. I am not surprised cake 444 damaged his gun. Putting 40 gr of steel through an old gun is madness.

 

If you use a 2 3\4 chambered gun then make sure its in good condition and do not use loads exceeding 32 gr. For high performance loads make sure the gun is steel proofed for the load you want to use.

 

Use a good quality steel shell. There are some useless makes out there , but Remington , Winchester and Gamebore loads will do the job fine.

 

Go up at least two pellet sizes compared to lead and do not be afraid to go three if you are expecting tall shots , but remember you will need heavy loads to keep the pattern. I sometimes use US size no two shot for high mallard with very good results.

 

Use a steel after choke such as a American Undertaker Turkey choke for big shot such as BB or BBB.

 

Do not fire steel through any choke more than 1\2 unless you are using a proper after market choke made for the job.

 

Steel will not give you the fluky 60 yards kills that you can sometimes pull of with lead but within its limitations of 40-45 yards it kills just as well as and gives no more wounded birds than lead. But stretch the range and you will be running all over the marsh after wounded birds.

 

I use the following steel sizes.

 

Pigeons 32 gr of 4s or 3s.

Teal and wigeon 36 gr loads of no 3

Mallard 36 gr loads of no 3 or if I know they are going to be on the high side 42 gr loads of no 2

Geese 42 or 44 gr loads of BB or BBB , but only with a full steel choke with a constriction of .007 and made specifically for BB or BBB steel shot only.

 

Given the choice I would use Tungsten matrix or Hevi-shot for my wildfowling , but costs rules them out. Most of my shooting is coastal wildfowling along with pigeon shooting where you need high performance shells and steel is a good cheap alternative that doesnt burn too deep a hole in my pocket.

 

I shoot about a thousand steel shells through my guns a year have a shots to kills ratio of about 2.5 shells for every bird in the bag ( about the same as lead ) and use three different guns none of which have suffered any form of damage , but then I do not exceed the recommended load for the gun.

 

 

You may have to buy a new gun to use steel , but use the right equipment and it will do the job time after time. If it does not then its more likely to be the man behind the gun rather than the shell thats the problem.

Edited August 26, 2011 by anser2

[motty]

There is so much rubbish talked about steel shot on this forum its unbelievable. I have shot several thousand pigeons , duck and geese with steel and am very happy to use it , but there some rules that need to be followed.

 

Steel is not load for load as good as lead , but adjust your load and within sensible 40-45 yard ranges it does the job fine with no more wounded birds than lead.

 

Use the right gun for the load. I am not surprised cake 444 damaged his gun. Putting 40 gr of steel through an old gun is madness.

 

If you use a 2 3\4 chambered gun then make sure its in good condition and do not use loads exceeding 32 gr. For high performance loads make sure the gun is steel proofed for the load you want to use.

 

Use a good quality steel shell. There are some useless makes out there , but Remington , Winchester and Gamebore loads will do the job fine.

 

Go up at least two pellet sizes compared to lead and do not be afraid to go three if you are expecting tall shots , but remember you will need heavy loads to keep the pattern. I sometimes use US size no two shot for high mallard with very good results.

 

Use a steel after choke such as a American Undertaker Turkey choke for big shot such as BB or BBB.

 

Do not fire steel through any choke more than 1\2 unless you are using a proper after market choke made for the job.

 

Steel will not give you the fluky 60 yards kills that you can sometimes pull of with lead but within its limitations of 40-45 yards it kills just as well as and gives no more wounded birds than lead. But stretch the range and you will be running all over the marsh after wounded birds.

 

I use the following steel sizes.

 

Pigeons 32 gr of 4s or 3s.

Teal and wigeon 36 gr loads of no 3

Mallard 36 gr loads of no 3 or if I know they are going to be on the high side 42 gr loads of no 2

Geese 42 or 44 gr loads of BB or BBB , but only with a full steel choke with a constriction of .007 and made specifically for BB or BBB steel shot only.

 

Given the choice I would use Tungsten matrix or Hevi-shot for my wildfowling , but costs rules them out. Most of my shooting is coastal wildfowling along with pigeon shooting where you need high performance shells and steel is a good cheap alternative that doesn’t burn too deep a hole in my pocket.

 

I shoot about a thousand steel shells through my guns a year have a shots to kills ratio of about 2.5 shells for every bird in the bag ( about the same as lead ) and use three different guns none of which have suffered any form of damage , but then I do not exceed the recommended load for the gun.

 

 

You may have to buy a new gun to use steel , but use the right equipment and it will do the job time after time. If it does not then its more likely to be the man behind the gun rather than the shell thats the problem.

I agree with all of the above, but just want to add a couple of other points. Loading your own cartridges has added benefits, meaning you can add extra velocity to your loads. A lot of people don't realise that by volume, steel has many more pellets per ounce, meaning that a 1 1/2 oz load of steel has the same amount of pellets as a 2 1/8 lead load, or 1 1/4 oz steel equates to 1 3/4 of lead by volume. Therefore you can up the velocity (say 1600 fps) to that which you can't with lead and still have very potent load. So, a 1 1/4 BB steel load at over 1500 fps would compare very favourably to a magnum lead load.

[chrispti]

The UK Proof House will confirm that steel shot pellets have caused gun damage on occasions where they have been in contact with either the chamber, chamber cone, chokes or barrel wall with the material hardness of the steel pellets and the pressures involed, this is inevitable.

 

just read this in the pull mag page 45 cartridge test, makes you think twice about useing them.

 

A clay shooting mag ay.....

 

Steel has caused damage on occasion ............ Id bet the guns that were damaged on ''occasion'', were tightly choked and probably not proofed for steel.

[Cake444]

Use the right gun for the load. I am not surprised cake 444 damaged his gun. Putting 40 gr of steel through an old gun is madness.

 

Hey wasn't my gun and wasn't me like i said, wouldn't catch me putting steel through mine.

[Chard]

But some of us aren't in the CPSA

 

Well you can't read it then

[Guest cookoff013]

There is so much rubbish talked about steel shot on this forum its unbelievable. I have shot several thousand pigeons , duck and geese with steel and am very happy to use it , but there some rules that need to be followed.

 

Steel is not load for load as good as lead , but adjust your load and within sensible 40-45 yard ranges it does the job fine with no more wounded birds than lead.

 

Use the right gun for the load. I am not surprised cake 444 damaged his gun. Putting 40 gr of steel through an old gun is madness.

 

If you use a 2 3\4 chambered gun then make sure its in good condition and do not use loads exceeding 32 gr. For high performance loads make sure the gun is steel proofed for the load you want to use.

 

Use a good quality steel shell. There are some useless makes out there , but Remington , Winchester and Gamebore loads will do the job fine.

 

Go up at least two pellet sizes compared to lead and do not be afraid to go three if you are expecting tall shots , but remember you will need heavy loads to keep the pattern. I sometimes use US size no two shot for high mallard with very good results.

 

Use a steel after choke such as a American Undertaker Turkey choke for big shot such as BB or BBB.

 

Do not fire steel through any choke more than 1\2 unless you are using a proper after market choke made for the job.

 

Steel will not give you the fluky 60 yards kills that you can sometimes pull of with lead but within its limitations of 40-45 yards it kills just as well as and gives no more wounded birds than lead. But stretch the range and you will be running all over the marsh after wounded birds.

 

I use the following steel sizes.

 

Pigeons 32 gr of 4s or 3s.

Teal and wigeon 36 gr loads of no 3

Mallard 36 gr loads of no 3 or if I know they are going to be on the high side 42 gr loads of no 2

Geese 42 or 44 gr loads of BB or BBB , but only with a full steel choke with a constriction of .007 and made specifically for BB or BBB steel shot only.

 

Given the choice I would use Tungsten matrix or Hevi-shot for my wildfowling , but costs rules them out. Most of my shooting is coastal wildfowling along with pigeon shooting where you need high performance shells and steel is a good cheap alternative that doesn’t burn too deep a hole in my pocket.

 

I shoot about a thousand steel shells through my guns a year have a shots to kills ratio of about 2.5 shells for every bird in the bag ( about the same as lead ) and use three different guns none of which have suffered any form of damage , but then I do not exceed the recommended load for the gun.

 

 

You may have to buy a new gun to use steel , but use the right equipment and it will do the job time after time. If it does not then its more likely to be the man behind the gun rather than the shell thats the problem.

this is a fantastic post !

 

i wish other people actually thought about what they post like anser.

reloading and shooting steel needs a complete and utter mindset. completely different. even the "going up 2 shotsizes" rule is not a rule of thumb. most lead loads go at 1300fps.

comparing lead and steel loads for a like for like basis is a waste of time too. they are like VHS / betamax, DVD / bluray ... completely and utterly different.

1oz loads of steel is a magnum load. its a huge payload for the 12gauge. only the 3.5" magnum can handle 40grams of steel.

 

lead cant be shot faster than 1500fps, i wouldnt use loads like that because in all honestly they wont pattern great. steel can, without a doubt be shot in excess of 1800fps. and still pattern better.

 

as with the 2 shotsize up rule cartridges manufacturers put smaller shotsizes in the cartridge, and advertise it as bigger. l******* e****** #4 is american 5. i cut open some cartridges, weighed an ounce of shot and counted it. they do this to apear to have performance cartridges, when they really dont. and to get the loads past the shotsize limit imposed by the cip governing body.

the cip have a speed limit of 1400fps for steel shot - all steel shot.

 

 

Gamebore use correct shotsizes and push it faster up to the limit. they should be applauded for there steel shells. they have ballistic advantage anyway due to bigger shot

 

even going from a steel #5 to #4 is almost the equivalent of .5 shotsize difference... there is no point !

 

what i advise

 

for shooting ducks, #2 and at 1500fps, 32g shot or 1oz will do,

geese BB minimum. maybe lessers with B or #1s and 36g loads.

 

just dont even think about it. just shoot the loads above and have fun.

 

you can even use #4 steel to shoot clays, doesnt that tell you some thing about the shotsize?

 

come on guys use your common sense and ask ANSER "what steel shells should i be using?" he`ll give you a straight "whats hot and whats not"

 

it`ll be unbiased oppinion not poo from poo cartridge manufacturers

Edited August 27, 2011 by cookoff013