I started guiding for geese in the late 80's when steel became mandatory. It was pretty poor back then- almost as poor as the shooting ability of the clients- so one learned how to decoy and call to bring birds in close. Wings out and feet stretched to land made for a big easy target at 25 yards. T and F sizes were the rage and they worked much better up close than at a distance as so many believed back then. This was with 3" 12 ga guns or a 10 ga auto. The service I worked for was given the Mossberg 835 and Federal 3.5" shells to test before it went to market but I didn't care for the recoil. At the ranges we were shooting birds, I saw no need for a larger payload. We were split down the middle on this new load, some liked it, others didn't.
I began reloading steel shortly after and was able to get some in the 1450 fps range. Loaded with 2 for ducks and BB For geese it was an improvement over factory. When Winchester came out with their Supreme line I stopped loading steel. I have found a steel 3" 12 ga load traveling 1375-1450 with a appropriate shot size will do about anything I need for waterfowl. 15 years guiding and a like time span hunting heavily for myself has me trusting these loads. In the 10 and 12 ga I am satisfied with steel as it works for me whether shooting early season teal in Iowa, snows in Canada or Texas, or giant Canada's in Rochester in December.
Much of this probably has to do with my experience with a scattergun- I have shot sporting clays competition for better than 3 decades as well as skeet and trap for longer. Not to count shooting pigeons, starlings, English sparrows, and other hunting. Put better than 10,000 rounds down range for a couple of decades and one can put the pellets where they are needed or know why just as an experienced rifleman can call his shots. It is also why I like that moderate velocity- leads look the same as with my lead target loads and recoil is not a problem. The latter can be important when laying in fields on a good day. 3+ boxes in a morning can happen if the snows cooperate.
Now, in the smaller bores there is no denying the other non-toxics rule the roost. I use steel if I have no alternative but treat it as if it is the 80s. The only exception is for doves and other small birds for which steel is adequate. I also prefer the other non-toxics in the 2 3/4" 12 ga as payload can be tight with the larger shot sizes.
