Steel shot cartridge for game shooting

[London Best]

As a big advocate of No.7 in lead I am leaning more towards the Lyalvale in No.5 rather than the Eley in 4’s. More pattern for partridges. Sound useful to me because they are 2 1/2 inch.
Shot lotsa duck and geese over the years with Lyalvale Hunting Steel 32 gram 4’s, but they are 70 mm, 2 3/4 inch rated. Also tried Eley Eco wad 3’s on duck but not extensively yet. Unfortunately, also 2 3/4 inch.

[Smudger687]

On 12/09/2021 at 18:13, Fellside said:

Cheers for that.

Has anyone bought these yet - have experience of using them? 

I've got some but haven't had a chance to use them yet. The size 3's are a true size 3 at 3.56mm, unlike the eley eco wad series which are labelled as size 3 but are in fact 3.25mm. 

I'm also not convinced that the plastic they use is actually biodegradable in the real world - bioammo's patents show that the main polymer constituent is polylactic acid. While bioammo like to label this as biodegradable and compostable, the regulations that they say their material complies with only has to show that the material degrades in an industrial fermenter at 60 degrees celsius, conditions that aren't going to be found anywhere in the real world. There's also a fair amount of research online showing that polylactic acid actually degrades at a similar rate to ordinary plastic (i.e very slowly). I've contacted bioammo and shooting star to see if they had any test data that showed the wads degrade under real-world conditions, but so far, silence. 

If you're wanting to play it safe you can actually go with the standard Eley Eco Wad cartridges as they're a standard steel shell, or there's bismuth which though expensive will at least get you a similar range as lead would have. 

[claysandgame]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

As a big advocate of No.7 in lead I am leaning more towards the Lyalvale in No.5 rather than the Eley in 4’s. More pattern for partridges. Sound useful to me because they are 2 1/2 inch.
Shot lotsa duck and geese over the years with Lyalvale Hunting Steel 32 gram 4’s, but they are 70 mm, 2 3/4 inch rated. Also tried Eley Eco wad 3’s on duck but not extensively yet. Unfortunately, also 2 3/4 inch.

Partridge is what I used them for and they killed them cleanly without damaging the carcass excessively. I think I prefer them slightly to the Eley Gran Prix Eco Wad for most of the shooting I do but perhaps later in the season for Pheasants the Eley would be better. 

[stockybasher]

12 hours ago, Smudger687 said:

I've got some but haven't had a chance to use them yet. The size 3's are a true size 3 at 3.56mm, unlike the eley eco wad series which are labelled as size 3 but are in fact 3.25mm. 

I'm also not convinced that the plastic they use is actually biodegradable in the real world - bioammo's patents show that the main polymer constituent is polylactic acid. While bioammo like to label this as biodegradable and compostable, the regulations that they say their material complies with only has to show that the material degrades in an industrial fermenter at 60 degrees celsius, conditions that aren't going to be found anywhere in the real world. There's also a fair amount of research online showing that polylactic acid actually degrades at a similar rate to ordinary plastic (i.e very slowly). I've contacted bioammo and shooting star to see if they had any test data that showed the wads degrade under real-world conditions, but so far, silence. 

If you're wanting to play it safe you can actually go with the standard Eley Eco Wad cartridges as they're a standard steel shell, or there's bismuth which though expensive will at least get you a similar range as lead would have. 

For info, from Clay & Game website:

Most non-toxic shot such as power shot, ITX and steel shot is governed by the steel shot size chart. Due to the manufacturing process and CIP/SAAMI regulations, steel shot is very precise in its sizing and must be within a ± 0.05mm tolerance.

 

Shot Size	Diameter in mm	Diameter in Inches	Pellets per oz.
8/9	2.29mm	.09
7	2.54mm	.10	422
6	2.79mm	.11	315
5	3.05mm	.12	243
4	3.25mm	.13	192
3	3.56mm	.14	158
2	3.81mm	.15	125
1	4.06mm	.16	103
B	4.32mm	.17	87
BB	4.57mm	.18	72
BBB	4.83mm	.19	62
T	5.08mm	.20	52

[TIDES EDGE]

I have used the Eley Eco wad 32gm 5 on partridge through my Bretta Silver Pigeon and they work as good as lead and the wads do dissolve  after a few days  not so good on high duck no3 would be better or it could have just been me being a poor shot.

[Smudger687]

1 hour ago, stockybasher said:

For info, from Clay & Game website:

Most non-toxic shot such as power shot, ITX and steel shot is governed by the steel shot size chart. Due to the manufacturing process and CIP/SAAMI regulations, steel shot is very precise in its sizing and must be within a ± 0.05mm tolerance.

 

Shot Size	Diameter in mm	Diameter in Inches	Pellets per oz.
8/9	2.29mm	.09
7	2.54mm	.10	422
6	2.79mm	.11	315
5	3.05mm	.12	243
4	3.25mm	.13	192
3	3.56mm	.14	158
2	3.81mm	.15	125
1	4.06mm	.16	103
B	4.32mm	.17	87
BB	4.57mm	.18	72
BBB	4.83mm	.19	62
T	5.08mm	.20	52

The eley pro eco steel are marketed as a standard steel cartridge. The CIP regulations state that for a 12 gauge cartridge to be classified as standard steel that:

1) The maximum momentum is 12 Ns at 2.5m from the muzzle

2) Maximum velocity of 1395 fps at 2.5m from the muzzle

3) Maximum allowable shot size of 3.25mm

Point number 3 would mean that either the Eley Eco 3's are a true 3.56mm and therefore not standard steel, or that they are actually are standard steel and they've just fudged their shot sizes. I suspect the latter, as 3.25mm is roughly an English size 3, and Eley marketed their cartridge pretty hard as being safe for all guns.

 

 

[Stonepark]

11 minutes ago, Smudger687 said:

Point number 3 would mean that either the Eley Eco 3's are a true 3.56mm and therefore not standard steel, or that they are actually are standard steel and they've just fudged their shot sizes. I suspect the latter, as 3.25mm is roughly an English size 3, and Eley marketed their cartridge pretty hard as being safe for all guns.

 

 

Some cartridge manufacturers use steel shot sizes which are American shot size, not British... Anyone buying No3 for duck is actually shooting English no1, No4 is an English no3, No5 an English no 4 and no6 an English No5...... But there again appears to be no consistency between manufacturers

 

Therefore most people selecting steel cartridges to replace lead are not going up 2 sizes but in fact 3 sizes with the resultant reduction in pellet numbers per load, poorer patterns and more winged birds.

 

In reality, due to this you only need to go up 1 size... I.e. no6 lead (270 pellets per Oz) to No5 steel (243 pellets per Oz) but you have to check to make sure.

 

So much for standardisation........

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, Stonepark said:

Some cartridge manufacturers use steel shot sizes which are American shot size, not British... Anyone buying No3 for duck is actually shooting English no1, No4 is an English no3, No5 an English no 4 and no6 an English No5...... But there again appears to be no consistency between manufacturers

 

Therefore most people selecting steel cartridges to replace lead are not going up 2 sizes but in fact 3 sizes with the resultant reduction in pellet numbers per load, poorer patterns and more winged birds.

 

In reality, due to this you only need to go up 1 size... I.e. no6 lead (270 pellets per Oz) to No5 steel (243 pellets per Oz) but you have to check to make sure.

 

So much for standardisation........

Yep, good to go unless matching the energy level of lead 6 is a requirement for whatever reason.