What steel loads do you use?

[creecher]

The cheapest 3.5" #2s I can buy typically, coupled with a wad wizard supreme choke tube.

[Frosty]

under your post says your a feild staff for zink?
Heavy metal sponsers zink. Wonder how freddie would like hearing a guy was saying not to use a company that sponsours there show

That just means that you should respect what he said about that load even more, and he's right, Heavy Metal is junk, heavy shot, tungsten and bismuth all have their place its proven by guides who have to act as cripple cleanup crew, they can produce an extended killing range - no doubt, but those Heavy Metal loads just pattern terribly, it takes two things to effectively and repeatedly kill birds, projectile energy and pattern density, you can increase one of the two but if you sacrifice the other, more cripples will result.

So for most of us meager shots, find reasonable quality steel shot that patterns well out of your gun and limit your shots to 40 yards and you should do very well, if you want more, step up to the 10 gauge and find reasonable quality BBB and T shot that patterns well and you can add 10 - 15 yards to that for big geese or snows...

Frosty.

[Sinker]

The most important part of any shell is the guy pulling the trigger. If you cant center up your birds in the pattern, you'll have cripples with any load.

I'll take pattern density over velocity any day, personally.

That just means that you should respect what he said about that load even more, and he's right, Heavy Metal is junk, heavy shot, tungsten and bismuth all have their place its proven by guides who have to act as cripple cleanup crew, they can produce an extended killing range - no doubt, but those Heavy Metal loads just pattern terribly, it takes two things to effectively and repeatedly kill birds, projectile energy and pattern density, you can increase one of the two but if you sacrifice the other, more cripples will result.

So for most of us meager shots, find reasonable quality steel shot that patterns well out of your gun and limit your shots to 40 yards and you should do very well, if you want more, step up to the 10 gauge and find reasonable quality BBB and T shot that patterns well and you can add 10 - 15 yards to that for big geese or snows...

Frosty.

[Frosty]

The most important part of any shell is the guy pulling the trigger. If you cant center up your birds in the pattern, you'll have cripples with any load.

I'll take pattern density over velocity any day, personally.

Agreed Sinker, but much below 1300 fps at the muzzle it's a proven fact that steel #2's pretty much bounce off big birds at 40 yards, at least they are far far less effective than at 1500 fps, I don't see the need to take one over the other, speed vs pattern, just pattern the shazzizle out of your gun till you find a fast choke/load combo that patterns well out of your gun, in my guns these loads aren't usually the flashy, gimmicky expensive loads! After a weekend of patterning I'm back to the SBE/WW/Kent 3" 1-1/4oz #1's in the 12 and Gold Light/Briley .740/Win Drylok BB's and T's in the 10.

For me in the 10, it was almost a situation of choose the ammo then switch the chokes in order to find one that will shoot the ammo you want to use, usually it's the other way around.

But I agree gotta centre the bird to kill the bird, some days that tall git makes me look silly !!!!

[Dead Ringer]

I switched from Winchester and Remington stock loads to Kent only b/c I had some duds with those other brands. Seems the Kents hold up better in the moist duck hunting environment. I shoot 2s when targeting both ducks and geese, BB for geese only hunts.

[Dead Ringer]

Agreed Sinker, but much below 1300 fps at the muzzle it's a proven fact that steel #2's pretty much bounce off big birds at 40 yards, at least they are far far less effective than at 1500 fps, I don't see the need to take one over the other, speed vs pattern, just pattern the shazzizle out of your gun till you find a fast choke/load combo that patterns well out of your gun, in my guns these loads aren't usually the flashy, gimmicky expensive loads! After a weekend of patterning I'm back to the SBE/WW/Kent 3" 1-1/4oz #1's in the 12 and Gold Light/Briley .740/Win Drylok BB's and T's in the 10.

I wonder if there's any test data on actual velocity on target for these speed loads. Everyone gets worked up about 200fps, but that's muzzle velocity. What's the speed (and hence momentum) difference on target?

[Gadwall]

My thought has always been, practise kills birds. Find a load, speed and weight, that you fell comfortable with and stay with it ... constantly changing shells leads to missed or crippled birds, and frusteration with misses ... you will form a natural memory for your lead and pull if you stay with the same shells. It seems to me that not all shells that state the same speeds for the load shoot the same, maybe the wadding is making the difference ... but I find the Winchester my least favorite, I find the Kents and Challenger shoot similar for the same load shells, and 90% of the shells I shoot are Kents, 1 1/8oz when primarily shooting divers and 1 1/4oz when primarily shooting mallards ... but that is just my preference, I like the faster shell for the faster duck and denser pattern for the slow, heafty, fat birds.

[IH8ATTN]

Got a flat of kent magnum #2's and BB's to try this year. For the price and the reviews should be a solid choice

[Maarsey]

Thanks boys didn't mean to cause any contraversy with this subject. I have always used federal 3-3.5 BB out of my gun and they have always worked for me just have seen a lot of hevi metal on videos and pictures Latley thought I would ask! Thanks a lot for input fellas! My spelling an grammar isn't vet good hope yas don't mind lol!

[bucky]

#3 kent's.works on ducks and geese over dekes.i only shoot the expensive loads that i get for christmas. lol