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Copper coated shot


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I have some, sufficient to test some patterns with my 410 and if there is an improvement on pattern AND PENETRATION, then I would be looking to purchase some.

I assume from you saying not necessary that you have tried it ??   Obviously going to be more expensive so it has to be a big step up on basic lead shot for live game.

 

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6 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

I have some, sufficient to test some patterns with my 410 and if there is an improvement on pattern AND PENETRATION, then I would be looking to purchase some.

I assume from you saying not necessary that you have tried it ??   Obviously going to be more expensive so it has to be a big step up on basic lead shot for live game.

Yes the Game cartridges I use have it and just like lead they kill pheasants, it just costs more with CPS.

 

I look forward to your pattern and penetration tests.

CH12HF.jpg

Edited by TIGHTCHOKE
SPELLAGE!
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Manufacturers added the copper for some reason.  When this awful weather ceases I will try them out and report back. Blowing a gale again this morning here in West Leicestershire and the ground everywhere is a marsh.  I do have a fair few pheasants in the freezer still in the feather so may donate one to a penetration test. Will remove sufficient feathers to note previous hits obviously.

Edited by Walker570
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21 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Manufacturers added the copper for some reason.  When this awful weather ceases I will try them out and report back. Blowing a gale again this morning here in West Leicestershire and the ground everywhere is a marsh.  I do have a fair few pheasants in the freezer still in the feather so may donate one to a penetration test. Will remove sufficient feathers to note previous hits obviously.

Perhaps a clever bit of marketing.

Personally I cannot see it being any better than non coated lead as the coating will be so thin.

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1 hour ago, old'un said:

Perhaps a clever bit of marketing.

Personally I cannot see it being any better than non coated lead as the coating will be so thin.

Probably is but they were bringing down some serious high cock pheasants Dead that the gamebore were only just touching when I was using them 

although I now find the sipes better still 

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Copper has more self lubricating properties than does lead. Google "Copaslip" assembly paste. This helps the passage of the shot as it passes up the barrel pressing and rubbing and all the rest against the neighbour pellets it is in contact with. This reduced friction then gives a better pattern as supposedly the pellets are less deformed by those stresses.

The same reason I'm told why premium clay cartridges used nickel plated shot. Anti-friction.

So yes you could use nickel pellets on a game shooting day and get a good pattern and copper pellets on a clay shooting day and get a good pattern. But because the terminal ballistic effects of copper plated shot are more effective on game than are the terminal ballistics of nickel plated shot copper shot gets used as a premium shot on game rather than nickel shot. 

OTOH dead is dead and some have used nickel shot on decoyed pigeons and swear by it.

Edited by enfieldspares
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1 hour ago, enfieldspares said:

Copper has more self lubricating properties than does lead. Google "Copaslip" assembly paste. This helps the passage of the shot as it passes up the barrel pressing and rubbing and all the rest against the neighbour pellets it is in contact with. This reduced friction then gives a better pattern as supposedly the pellets are less deformed by those stresses.

The same reason I'm told why premium clay cartridges used nickel plated shot. Anti-friction.

So yes you could use nickel pellets on a game shooting day and get a good pattern and copper pellets on a clay shooting day and get a good pattern. But because the terminal ballistic effects of copper plated shot are more effective on game than are the terminal ballistics of nickel plated shot copper shot gets used as a premium shot on game rather than nickel shot. 

OTOH dead is dead and some have used nickel shot on decoyed pigeons and swear by it.

Yep, agree with the first highlighted word. Wash is a more accurate term than coat.

Re the second highlight, I take it that you're saying that both treatments are more effective than plain lead - even a quality lead pellet (obviously you don't wash a poor quality pellet). I've always thought - albeit without any good reason or evidence - that this might be the case and was advantageous in one particular aspect. Could you explain briefly what these enhanced effects are so I could add rhyme and reason to my idea? Many thanks.

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1 hour ago, enfieldspares said:

Copper has more self lubricating properties than does lead. Google "Copaslip" assembly paste. This helps the passage of the shot as it passes up the barrel pressing and rubbing and all the rest against the neighbour pellets it is in contact with. This reduced friction then gives a better pattern as supposedly the pellets are less deformed by those stresses.

The same reason I'm told why premium clay cartridges used nickel plated shot. Anti-friction.

So yes you could use nickel pellets on a game shooting day and get a good pattern and copper pellets on a clay shooting day and get a good pattern. But because the terminal ballistic effects of copper plated shot are more effective on game than are the terminal ballistics of nickel plated shot copper shot gets used as a premium shot on game rather than nickel shot. 

OTOH dead is dead and some have used nickel shot on decoyed pigeons and swear by it.

In theory yes, in practise I doubt the average shooter would notice any difference in their kill to cartridge ratio (if on target) I also doubt the copper coating will stop the lead from deforming, Gamebore’s own research as shown that more important is the antimony content in a lead pellet.

 

Interesting article on copper coated shot…https://fieldsports-journal.com/article/copper-coated-shot-demystified

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I don't really know WYMBERLEY as there have been, supposedly, advances in the quality control of shot that our Victorian and Edwardian ancestors would have envied (and adopted). Certainly I can remember that game cartridges used to load a softer shot with less antimony content than then then premium clay cartridges.

Indeed there was a murder involving a shotgun way back in the 1970s where the evidence to convict was based on what the prosecution called "trap shot" being in the victim and in the perpetrator's loft a box of Eley game cartridges that had been wrongly loaded by Eley with "trap shot".

But I also think that the use of 5 1/2, or 6 1/2 shot or 7 1/2 also must give a better pattern as the grading of that half size must give a better regular even shot size than when the next grade between the holes in the sorting sieve isn't a whole size but a half size.

The second point is that, supposedly, the shot used for being copper plated is less antimony content than the shot used for being nickel plated. Therefore if it strikes bone it flatten rather than penetrates. But I think it's more in the mind than in the reality.

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Thanks OLD'UN for sharing that link. I think that it proves that if you hold the gun straight and centre the bird that it's dead regardless of the shot being plated or not. Personally I tried Eley Classic Game in my gun (I only shoot side-by-side and my two "go to" game guns...my own Boss and my late father's Henry Clarke BLE he had in 1919 when on his twelfth birthday) are all bored at improved cylinder) and went back to using standard lead cartridges as perceived that the Classic Game didn't appear to me to kill as well despite the premium price. But I think that it's interesting that your linked article also seems to say as much as I thought it was maybe just my own personal bee in my own personal bonnet.

Edited by enfieldspares
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4 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

Copper has more self lubricating properties than does lead. Google "Copaslip" assembly paste. This helps the passage of the shot as it passes up the barrel pressing and rubbing and all the rest against the neighbour pellets it is in contact with. This reduced friction then gives a better pattern as supposedly the pellets are less deformed by those stresses.

The same reason I'm told why premium clay cartridges used nickel plated shot. Anti-friction.

So yes you could use nickel pellets on a game shooting day and get a good pattern and copper pellets on a clay shooting day and get a good pattern. But because the terminal ballistic effects of copper plated shot are more effective on game than are the terminal ballistics of nickel plated shot copper shot gets used as a premium shot on game rather than nickel shot. 

OTOH dead is dead and some have used nickel shot on decoyed pigeons and swear by it.

But with the exception of gamebore diamond shot, all other normal lead shot is covered in graphite and graphite has exceptional lubricating properties better than copper? I would think so.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I only use copper coated lead for game now.  I was involved in a blind test and we could tell the difference between plain lead and copper coated in identical cartridges by the kills.   
 

there are a few suppliers I tend to use Cheddite now but used a load of Hellfires. 

Edited by welshwarrior
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