Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Favorite steel load?

Just wondering want steel shot load people have had good luck with for ducks and geese. I have been using Kent fast steel 12g 3&1/2 #1 and it works very well even at 40 yards +.
I use the 1&3/8 oz load that says it does 1550 fps. The speed really seems to help with steel. I chronied them the other day and out of my 26" beretta extrema I got around 1450 fps. Not quite what the box days but they work great.

For ducks that are decoying, an 1-1/8 oz load of #3 or #4 steel works fine. For geese that are flying over the decoys, I've only had success with 3" T and F steel. But if they're backpedalling into the decoys, even #4 will work.

grouseman

Forget steel, try some of the alternatives. I finally tried some last year, a world of difference. Just have to get used to the price. I shot about 60 ducks with Kent Tungsten, did not lose one bird. Every bird hit, was stone-cold dead with one shot. It really knocks the crap out of them. I used the #5's, shooting over decoys. I will never shoot steel shot again.

I dig the Remington Nitro Steel BBB 1 3/8... I think it's rather slow, like 1350fps, so if you're getting 1450 out of the Kent, that's cool. Seems to be able to smack geese pretty far out though. That said, I'll probably switch to #2 Hevi-shot next year.

Hawk Driver,

I'm with you! I can't use steel, due to being an old gun freak, but wouldn't use the stuff even if I could. I've seen enough steel in action to not like it. I use both Bismuth and Kent Tungsten/Polymer matrix. The Kent #5's over decoys this fall was a hammer!

Jeff

Depending on the hunting if the first shot is inside 35 yds I load fast steel for the first shot then follow up with Hevi-Shot to save on cost. I don't have faith in steel outside 35 yds. Bismuth and Tung are also effective choices.

I've taken 70 birds so far this month and I can say, without a doubt, steel shot injures and cripples more unretrieved birds than lead ever poisoned! :-(

I've crippled almost every bird I've taken past twenty-five yards with steel. That's even using the Kent Fasteel load. Maybe its just me, but that's the facts, Ma'am! :-)

I've recently been shooting Hevi-Shot 2 3/4" #4's with GREAT success! The birds, when you hit them, crumple like they've been hit by a truck. No cripples, yet.

I'm sure my results are gleaned from a variety of factors, but I'll never shoot steel again!

You're maybe just using shot that is too small. I've used mostly #2 and BB Steel for geese over decoys in the past, with spotty performance which I blamed on my shooting. But when I tried some 3" T and F, the big birds started dropping out of the sky stone cold dead from 30 yards away (guesstimate). So now it seems I've got enough duck loads to last a lifetime.

But I've never tried anything other than steel.

grouseman