Bismuth

[Doriboy]

Last night I shot a teal well in range (20yds ish) with an Eley VIP 32g 4 bismuth through half choke. The shot was bang on hitting the duck hard. It flew off. This is not the first time this has happened. I usually use my own steel homeloads but bought a box of bismuth and was given another two boxes to use in my sxs. I have now fired them through this gun, my over under and semi auto, and more often than not they are not killing. I really don't like this. Is this a freak, just me or is bismuth a load of ****? I've tried Eley in 32g 4, 32g 5, and 28g 5. I have patterned these through quarter, half and full choke, this is not the issue. I was also given some Kent impact tungsten matrix and both times I fired these they killed stone dead at decent range.

[fuzzypigeon]

I found bismuth was very poor I prefer tungsten

[Wildfowler12]

I actually quite like bismuth, although I only use it now in my guns that arn't proofed for HP steel.

 

IMO eley produce some of the best bismuth loads available (VIP/Forest). I can't imagine a duck flying away if it was hit 'hard' with bismuth 4's at 20yards? Having said that I shoot with some people who hate the stuff!

 

Perhaps it was hit by a stray pellet rather than the full pattern? I had a rant last year about some cartridges that where 'naff', passed them my mate and he knocked eveything down with them. The problem was me, not the cartridge

 

Of course, you could have a faulty batch?

Edited November 29, 2012 by Wildfowler12

[Guest cookoff013]

i`ve used old bismuth, quite frankly i refuse to use it now.

i have had multiple times where they just didnt perform at all. not even at silly close ranges.

 

bismuth imho is the worst value for money cartridges out there.

[Teal]

I've not used many bismuth (as I can shoot steel in my o/u), but I wouldn't hesitate using them, as they performed well for me. Seriously expensive though.

[Beretta28g]

Theyre all good. Take it from me teal at 20 yds would be dead if you had hit it in the patern.

 

7.5's 28g steel compitition loads will kill teal at 20 yards easy.

[mudpatten]

Statistically, Bismuth, and I know this because I did the field research,is one of the more effective NTX materials.

 

Presuming you don`t have a duff batch of cartridges, and that can happen with any make, it is most likely that you hit the bird less centrally in the pattern than you first guessed.

 

It is a great pity that it has become rediculously expensive.

 

I must say that the recent improvements in the performance of steel have largely rendered bismuth redundant except for use in older guns since the difference in performance between the two materials is now far less than it was originally.

 

If any one else has any Bismuth cartridges that they don`t believe will work in the field and want to give them away, please let me know. I`ll be happy to use them.

[Guest cookoff013]

Statistically, Bismuth, and I know this because I did the field research,is one of the more effective NTX materials.

 

Presuming you don`t have a duff batch of cartridges, and that can happen with any make, it is most likely that you hit the bird less centrally in the pattern than you first guessed.

 

It is a great pity that it has become rediculously expensive.

 

I must say that the recent improvements in the performance of steel have largely rendered bismuth redundant except for use in older guns since the difference in performance between the two materials is now far less than it was originally.

 

If any one else has any Bismuth cartridges that they don`t believe will work in the field and want to give them away, please let me know. I`ll be happy to use them.

 

i ditched 100 bismuth loads 36g #4, that were very old. patterned them, the shot just "dusted" couldnt even get a pattern.

Edited November 29, 2012 by cookoff013

[guest1957]

I was speaking to someone about this last year and gather from them that the very first bismuth shot had a habit of shattering on contact, however this problem was ironed out long ago.

 

Chances are you are catching them on the edge of the pattern.

[fenntay]

I was given some eley 42 grm 3' s when they first came out and they just fragmented on impact when hitting pinks square in the chest when dressing birds out loads of blood and like shrapnel wound no good at all

[wildfowlingmad]

I have had some bad experiences with bismuth very similar to yours. I am very happy using steel which is aslo way way cheaper. just get something you are confident with and try to stick with it!

[roughshooter]

I am loading 10g and 12g bismuth but using fully enclosed wads and buffered loads. Patterns are excellemt and speeds in the 10g 1 7/8oz are 1400 fps which is good for Bismuth

 

Early bismuth loads were made the same as lead and bismuth is different

Regards

Graham

[IEH]

When I first used Bismuth I tried the 32g loads in 5 shot. They knocked duck down OK but I wasn't getting clean kills. Moved up to the Alphamax load 36g in 4 shot and have found these a really effective cartridge.

 

Now have a steel proofed gun though and very pleased with Gamebore Mammoths so far.

[Fal]

I would have thought if you hit any duck properly from 20 yards its down. Early Bismuth or newer, I have shot high mallard with the first version of Bismuth and have not had any issues with it. I picked some up cheap from a local gun shop recently and although its the early version it still works fine.

 

I would rather use it than any steel load I have tried, my friend only uses Bismuth and pays a lot for it as he finds it so good. If money were no object I would use it for all my wildfowling. To be fair, unless you have an old gun, the new steel loads are working quite well for me, just keep a realistic distance I use No1's in steel for all my duck shooting, this works very well.

[B B]

I rate Bismuth i make my own shot in an old Royal shotmaker , it will only produce up to shot size 3 english, and i have no option but to buy or mould large shot. Moulding gets me AAA for my Evans double 8 bore but it is very time consuming.

Bismuth can be purchased in many forms for droping your own shot, steel works get it in pellet form and it is quite cheap but Bismuth is drossy (dirty) and losses can be significant, It is perhaps best for anyone wanting to try and drop some Bismuth shot to buy it in ingot form from minor metal supliers , i have used this company Lowden metals of Halesowen, many times before and they will sell it in 20kg ingots or small ingots you could put straight in to the melt with whatever percentage tin you decide upon.

Lowden Metals Ltd

 

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